Loud music was emanating in the reception area as we entered the Riverhouse Hotel at 10.30pm, nite of Jan 14, 2012. We were staying in room 3rd floor and went to bed early (10.30pm) following a long day of travel for my partner returning after a long days flying of near on 22h hours. We are a young couple in our 30’s.
Giving it a chance we waited and waited in the hope of same ending..By 12 midnight the music was still as loud as ever, by 1am we had had enough so I went to reception and asked what the situation was with the music. I was told by the gentleman at reception that it is a band playing next door/in the building..(Turns out it is belong to the “Hotel”). .I stated it is impossible to sleep - even for us on the 3rd floor and asked when music would stop, who the owner/manager was and wrote a note for the owner to indicate that I had in fact had to leave our bedroom at 1am to come down to reception.
I returned to my room - the 1st band had a female singer and when it seemed to finally end another "rock" band commenced thereafter. THIS ROCK MUSIC CONTINUED UNTIL 3AM IN THE MORNING.
Don’t get me wrong I LOVE MUSIC but just not in my bedroom until 3 in the morning.
We did not manage to get to sleep till circa 6am and that was scrappy up to 9am with a 3 hour drive the following day.
When we went to reception next morning to "Hilda" the owner...I can definitely state that had I not raised the matter to Hilda the lady was most definitely not going to mention same, which is deplorable. Cleary avoiding the issue??? Even an apology would have been nice to hear.
I outlined the situation again to Hilda (she said she was aware of my note) and our lack of sleep through the nite and that I would like a refund. She point blank refused me a refund -I had paid immediately when i checked in on the evening of 14/01/12 at about 3.30pm) based on the noise issue saying "noise" was not a good enough reason for my refund. She then went on to say that on the website it states "the hotel is in the vibrant, lively area of temple bar and that there is live music in the hotel" ..I agreed with what she detailed to me but while the area can be vibrant and alive etc....that is not a valid reason for the noise to revertabrate into our 3rd floor room till 3am. Vibrant and alive on the streets -yes but strangely we could not hear one sound from the streets!?? It all came from inside the hotel. Is this not Total DENIAL on the owners part?
Perhaps we were not put on floor 1 or 2 for valid reasons....but floor 3 was no better.
We paid 69euro (no breakfast) in addition to parking (€38).... For the price we paid in addition to parking we could have stayed in another hotel (most probably a 3/4star) equal in value and not received such a bad service and unwillingess to accept the fact that we did not get what we paid for . Surely when one books a hotel you are entitled to the most basic as a night of sleep!!! Plenty of premises can have LIVE music without interfering with the residents staying.
Our main interest was location which met our requirements but not the above disgraceful lack of service and severe lack of customer satisfaction.
Notably the bathroom was "rough" with tiles loose on the floor set loosely on a bad cement job and the shower door was coming off (which we fixed ourselves)...the skirting in the bathroom had "gunge" on it.. The plug connections for the telly and kettle were attached to a suspended adaptor - surely a fire safety hazard...carpets were in need of cleaning. It’s a shame I did not take the photo’s… As on the website it states "modern" rooms - don't think the meaning of the word is understood - it is antiquated old furniture! with a bed in a "box" feel type room.
Unfortunately, I never read the reviews re this hotel....and "noise" was an issue with past customers.
“this should be classed as a hostel not hotel with a much lower price circa €10/person and an owner who understands customer care/service and who does not blatantly take your money knowing what goes inside her own building. *Note to owner – don’t blame the Temple Bar area –the area on the streets was not noisy at all just simply only inside your “hotel”

Following my complaint to the hotel to both the owner on vacating the property and then through the website I booked through…The website contacted the owner based on my complaint and her response was and I quote “ Guest has already put her 'review' on your site, so any chance of a refund/discount is gone. “
Interesting response I thought.