Upper Lake

Complete nightmare, not clean, not helpful, wouldnt even bother to call a taxi.

I booked RIU Plaza The Gresham Dublin for my husband and me during our Ireland trip (August 19-23, 2026). The location is excellent, but our stay was overshadowed by poor communication, inconsistent information from staff, and a lack of accountability when issues arose. At check-in, we were told we would receive a call or email when our room was ready. No notification was ever sent. When we returned later that day, we were simply told the room was ready. My husband is a cigar smoker and fully respects a hotel's non-smoking policies. The issue was not the policy itself but the conflicting information we received about outdoor seating and terrace access. Different employees gave different answers, and when concerns were raised with a manager, the response felt defensive rather than helpful. We were also concerned when my husband and four other guests became trapped in an elevator for several minutes. The emergency speaker system was difficult to understand because of excessive rattling. The Wi-Fi registration process was unnecessarily complicated compared to every other hotel we stayed at in Ireland. On our departure morning, we asked a buffet employee if we could sit just outside the buffet entrance so we could remain with our luggage and were told yes. Later, two employees loudly confronted my husband for bringing food outside the buffet area, despite the permission we had already been given. Thankfully this was the only one of five hotels in Ireland that was bad.

BEWARE: DO NOT BOOK HERE ON A WEEKEND NIGHT IF YOU'RE LOOKING TO ACTUALLY SLEEP. We had a terrible experience here this past Saturday night. The room was nice enough (though the carpet was basically soaked through from check-in to check-out, likely from a recent carpet cleaning). The real issue was the ridiculous noise from a DJ set going on at the hotel from ~2pm until midnight, hosted by the hotel without any mention on their website or booking sites. This was EXTREMELY loud on the deck basically just outside our window until 9pm, when they moved it inside after our second request that it stopped. At this point it went from a blaring DJ set to a dull but still very audible thumping that lasted until at least midnight. I'm not one to leave negative reviews, but this was one of the most ridiculous experiences I've ever had, especially when paired with the history of the hotel and the expectation of a peaceful visit. It's one thing to cater to a younger crowd looking for this sort of nightlife, but not when there is no mention of it anywhere, especially in a such a small hotel where it should be obvious hotel guests looking to rest will be forced to deal with thumping club music throughout the night. Come to this place if you're looking for a hotel run by Chris Kattan's character in Night at the Roxbury.