We booked this hotel with vouchers we had purchased on Pigsback.com and in fairness at €65 or so, the value was excellent with bed & breakfast, a 2 course meal in the evening, and a bottle of wine to share per couple.

I knew we were staying right on O'Connell Street, and at the price we paid I really wasn't expecting to stay in the lap of luxury but I wasn't quite prepared for the state of the room that we checked into, and had I read the reviews on Tripadvisor before my stay, I would almost certainly have settled for the meal and wine, and a bus back to Drogheda!

As others have said, the one thing that this hotel has going for it, is it's location right beside the Spire on O'Connell Street. It also has to be said that this hotel has two different standard of rooms, so it is very much pot luck how a guests experience turns out. Had we been booked into the second room that we ended up in later in the day, I don't think we would have had the same impression of the place.

The room we had first (Room 31 on the 3rd floor) was very scruffy, with no headboards over the beds. Some of the lampshades were battered out of shape. There was a skylight covered by some sort of accordian pleated blind, and this was badly stained and dirty looking. The two armchairs by the window were very stained and quite disgusting to be honest. You would certainly not sit on them without covering them with something clean. There was a small old fashioned 14 inch portable TV with 4 Irish channels. The remote control didn't work though. Most worrying of all was the fact that the fire alarm sensor was missing, with just the wiring exposed, and having since read the Tripadvisor reviews I was concerned when I read that there had been some concerns with fire during the nights. If there was a genuine emergency I think that those in room 31 might end up fried!

On the contrary, the second room that we finally got moved into was quite pleasant with nice tall ceilings. The windows would not open however, so there was no chance of any fresh air, and again going back to the fire risk, there would be no chance of escaping from the room if the door in was not an option.

The bathroom was clean though as was the double bed. There was just one flat pillow each, but at the end of the night we had had a bottle of wine each, so we slept like logs! We had 3 towels to share, and they were clean and fluffy. No hand towels, face cloths supplied, and no towel mat for the floor, so we ended up having to use one of the bath towels to stand on. The shower was good and powerful, and there was plenty of hot water when we showered just before 9am. We had to remove the refill of body shampoo to use it, as the dispenser would not release it no matter how hard either of us pushed on it.

There was a lovely room to the front of the hotel, overlooking O'Connell Street, and at some time I think this was a Residents Bar. It was now just used for housing the one shared computer available for guests, but there were a few chairs here andtables there for guests to sit around, so we were happy to retire there after our evening meal and enjoy our wine and conversation.

I have to say that with a serious investment of funds the hotel could turn itself around, but it would not be easily achieved, and I could not imagine anyone undertaking this in the current economic climate.

The best thing about the hotel was its very friendly and helpful manager, who did his best to look after our needs. The young man at Reception was also pleasant when we checked in but I imagine the staff find it hard to deal with most complaints as there isn't a solution to most of the problems, without the place having a major overhaul!

I would agree that the need to leave baggage strewn around the Reception desk was not very acceptable if you had anything in your luggage that you didn't want to get pinched! Anyone passing by the front door of the hotel would have ample opportunity to grab whatever bag they wanted even if the Receptionist was within a few steps of the desk.

Food wise we found Cafe Carlo very good. We had a lovely evening meal, having garlic mushrooms, soup and Ceasar Salad to start with. 3 of us had the salmon on mash, and it was really lovely, and our friend had the steak which he was happy with. The house wine included with our Pigsback voucher was very acceptable indeed.

Breakfast was basic but acceptable, with the only criticism being the cold plates that our fry was served on. I really don't understand why any restaurant would not appreciate the need for warm plates!

When all is said and done, we had a very pleasant time during our overnight stay at Lynams hotel, but I would be very reluctant to recommend it to other travellers, and after reading about the bed bugs, even if I were planning a return trip to the city, I think I would actually give the place a wide berth.

Photos of our initial room are included, but I did not get a chance to photograph the second room as we moved in just as we were getting ready to go out for dinner, and vacated first thing the morning after breakfast. Suffice to say though, that the second room did not look anything like the photos that appear on the hotel website, although they were in keeping with a budget hotel, and as I said before, had we been allocated this room upon arrival I would have quite a different experience of Lynams.

Stayed in this shambles of a place for 1 night, 05/12/2011. Arrived on Mon afternoon with my wife & two year old baby and was shown to a room right at the back of the hotel. First thing we noticed was how shabby the room was - No tea or coffee facilities. The little portable TV had a broken aerial sticking out of it but no cable tv. Also the babys cot was still in its bag & hadn't been set up.We soon noticed that the window wasn't closing properly & a seriously cold draught was coming into the room. Contacted reception & the guy came to the room & said he would get a maintenance guy to fix the window. As far as I was concerned the only way to fix the window was to replace it, so I asked to be moved to another room. He told me they were fully booked out but he would see what he could do. A while later he returned & moved us two doors up to a smaller room. After receptionest left we noticed things were just as bad in this room but we decided to stay as we couldn't be moving all day & all rooms were probably just as bad. We stuffed two spare pillows against the draughty window which lessened the draught. I then decided to have a shower & found there was no soap in either the shower or sink dispenser. Luckily I had some of my own. My wife then wanted to shower but we then realised there was only one small bath towel which I had used & one small hand towel. Contacted reception again and told him about the soap & towel situation. He told me they were waiting for deliveries of both & they hadn't a single spare towel in the hotel and there was nothing he could do. Needless to say I found this incredible. We were on a voucher for the night which included 2 course dinner. The starter was a few chicken wings which tasted ok but were too few. The main course was a 6oz dried piece of steak with absolutely nothing else on the plate. It came with a side portion of chips. To me this wasn't a meal. They had this separate menu for people with vouchers and as far as I could see all they had on it were a few snacks. Returned to our room after our 'snack' and noticed the rad was barely warm (remember this was a cold December night) but decided it was pointless talking to the receptionest. Slept as best we could - it was extremely noisy - made worse by the window not closing properly. Headed to breakfast next morning & noticed by the lift a laundry cabinet full of clean towels. Said this to the receptionest & he informed me that they had only come in that morning. I asked why he didn't send some to our room as he had promised he would do when they arrived. He just shrugged his shoulders. The breakfast wasn't bad but had to wait for ages for our toast to arrive. On checking out mentioned all these things again & receptionest said he would take note for our next stay in Lynams. I thought he must be joking but he wasn't & I informed him I or anyone I know would never ever stay in this hotel again. How this hotel is 3 stars makes a joke of the star rating system. This excuse for a hotel is not even a 1 star. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

This was booked last minute- my Wife nand I needed some time together.
It's not the Ritz but yes I have stayed in worse. The main plus is an unrivalled location close to the shopping and the nightlife. One can leave thew last bar and be in bed minutes later. Its just next to that new eyesore in O'Connell Street. The wonderfully colourful taxi driver told me it is called the stilleto in the ghetto- even he was taken aback when I told him I had heard it was the erection at the intersection.
We were promised complimentary in room wifi- 'oh that came off last month and it is now chargeable ( and far from cheap). Advising we had booked the room this month did noit change the pleasant but rigid reception 'oh you will have to see the manager but its an error on the website'. Rooms are reasonably warm. Beds could be more comfortable.Not facing the street we would have been reasonably quiet other than for a full blown domestic next door; soundproofing between rooms not adequate either then or when we could hear undisputed evidence of restoration of intimate relations next day.
TV small, reception poor, safe in room did not work, no tea/coffee maing machine in room. Nonetheless this was last minute and it was at the less expensive end of the scale in what remains a pricey destination.
I suspect I will be looking elsewhere when I next visit this wonderful city.
My message to the management: you have a good property in a fantastic location. Spend some serious money and get this updated for this has the potential to be a superb boutique hotel as opposed to the dosshouse is is now.

I stayed in this hotel for one night in a single room for 79 euro. The room was advertised as stylish, with tea/coffee making facilities, wifi, and cable tv. None of these were available in my room. The room was relatively clean but the furniture was damage or ripped and the room was in serious need of some painting. I was attending a function in the city that night and when i returned to the hotel i was left standing outside in the cold waiting for five minutes the receptionist to open the door while too homeless guys asked me for money. The receptionist could be seen chatting on his mobile while i waiting. The room was way over priced and i discovered after tjat i could have stayed in the four star, fabulous Greshim Hotel for the same. Very disappointed and would not recommend it of stay there again.