The Merrion Hotel

My wife and I stayed at the Merrion twice recently, for three nights at the beginning of our travels in Ireland and then one night at the end of our stay before heading home. This is a gorgeous hotel with a lovely and impeccably trained staff. The property itself and the people who make it your home away from home are at least as amazing as the grounds and the staffs of the best hotels I've been privileged to visit over last decade. Our Merrion "experience" began weeks before our arrival. Both our reservations agent (Mia) and the concierge (Anna) were warm and helpful. They did their respective jobs, of course, but they did them with engaging personalities and enthusiasm that helped build our anticipation of our stay long before we checked in. Upon arrival, we were not disappointed. Everyone we met lived up to the standards Mia and Anna set. Our two different rooms were each exquisite, and both were larger than I'd expected for a center-city hotel crafted from restored Georgian townhouses. (Both showers were a bit tight by my standards, especially given that the bathrooms were quite large - an interesting design choice!) The cleaning staff, who came in twice a day, couldn't stop themselves from doing everything you can imagine and more. At one point, we asked for a light blanket because we found the standard duvet too warm. When we next saw our room, the bed had been entirely remade from scratch with the blanket instead of the duvet: that blanket was carefully arranged between the top sheet and the sheet-like top spread. It wasn't just a bed; it was a work of art. Were they "just" doing their jobs? Sure, but contrast that to another hotel that, in similar circumstances, left the duvet, and just threw the new blanket, still folded, at the foot of the bed, almost as an afterthought... This is what service and luxury is all about. The Garden Room is a very pretty, light-filled restaurant just off the lobby. We didn't eat lunch or dinner there, but did enjoy very nice breakfast buffets, overlooking, as you might expect, the courtyard garden. Bar 23, also right off the lobby, is a gorgeous, sun-filled space where we enjoyed drinks on several late afternoons. IMHO, though, the hidden gem is the out-of-the-way Cellar Bar, in the original 18th century wine vaults of the main building. It's a very cool space of brick arches and nooks, and always seemed to be empty. The Merrion's fine-dining option is Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud. That's worth a separate review of its own, but suffice to say here that (i) my wife and I both like to eat good dinners when traveling and (ii) I was a little leery of the 2 Michelin stars this restaurant sports. My (perhaps too limited) experience is that "Michelin" translates into English as "very small portions of very expensive food served by very stuffy people." To our delight, though, we had plenty of indescribably good (and, yes, very expensive) food, and loved chatting with our host and our servers, who were as warm and unpretentious as one could imagine. It was the perfect ending to our stay in Ireland.