Archive for the ‘Hotels’ Category

Further to our recent blog posts on the Stansted Express and Luton Airport Express we thought it would also be useful to write a blog post for those travelling to London for the first time via Gatwick Airport.

Situated approximately 29 miles south of central London, you would be wise not to take a taxi into London as it would cost close to £80.00.  In general, any form of road transport is going to be tedious and takes considerably longer when you have to contend with heavy volumes of traffic going in and out of this metropolis. So the only other and most sensible option is travelling by rail. Here you have a couple of options.

Gatwick Express: This non-stop 30 minute service runs every 15 minutes from London Victoria station to Gatwick airport. You can pay for your ticket at the airport or on board the train. However, you can take advantage of a 10% discount when you book online in advance on either their own website or through AerLingus.

• Gatwick Express Single online fare: £15.20 per adult / £7.60 per child (5-15)
• Gatwick Express Return online fare: £25.80 per adult / £11.00 per child (5-15)

As you can see there are considerable savings (£4.60 per adult) if you purchase the return ticket rather than two separate single fares. Note, groups of three or more person can avail of 50% special offers such as 4 for the price of 2 or 3 for the price of 2.

Southern Railway: Another rail alternative to the Gatwick Express service and can save you several pounds.  Just like the Gatwick Express this service runs every 15 mins but takes 8 minutes longer. However, when you book in advance and travel off-peak (after 0930hrs) you can get single fares for as little as £3.75 each way!

First Capital Connect: These trains run up four times each hour and the journey to London (London Bridge, St. Pancras) takes between 30 and 45 minutes depending on how crowded train is and of course the time of day. Single fare advance ticket costs from just £5.00!

In a nutshell, choose from the above three options and make your decision based on price and/or journey time.

The CityHotels.ie Team

Unlike the other popular London airports such as Stansted, Gatwick and of course Heathrow, London Luton airport is not attached to any rail lines. You could always make the 32 mile journey into London by bus/taxi but you are looking at least a 90 minute journey and a £80.00 fare! So on that note take the train. It’s a no brainer ;)

The nearest station is the Luton Airport Parkway Station which is only 1.8km from the terminal. The Luton airport authority runs a frequent free shuttle bus service from the terminal to the station. This journey takes approximately seven minutes.

Although there are numerous platforms and operators, the quickest journey into London city centre from Luton Airport Parkway is via the Luton Airport Express. There is a regular service operating in both directions. The total journey time to London St. Pancras station is just under 30 minutes. From here you can simply connect to the London underground network and finish out your journey.

Adult single: £11.90
Adult return: £20.40
Child single: £5.95
Child return: £10.20

These prices can vary slightly depending on whether you travel peak or off peak times. For exact up to date fare information go to their website .

CityHotels.ie is delighted to announce the acquisition of the holiday apartment website NewYorkApartments.ie. We will be providing our CityHotels.ie customers with a wide variety of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom holiday apartment accommodation in prime areas in Manhattan such as Times Square, Midtown East, Central Park, United Nations, Fifth Avenue.  All apartments are handpicked and are very modern and come with all mod cons you would expect for a holiday apartment. All apartments have 24 hour doormen security and some apartments even have access to their own private residential pool. This is exciting especially for those CityHotels.ie customers travelling in small groups looking to experience and live in New York just like a local New Yorker! For more information go to www.newyorkapartments.ie

Seeing as we’re having another beautiful day and I’m working from home I decided to take the laptop out to the garden so I could soak up the rays while being productive. Unfortunately my crafty plan was soon foiled by the fact that my WiFi doesn’t stretch that far.. booo! However it did inspire me to root around and find out where in Dublin offers free WiFi if I fancied a change of “office” some other afternoon.

There are alot of Dublin city centre locations to choose from and it’s impossible for me to locate and list them all but hopefully this list provides a wide enough variety for most tastes…

The Bald Barista, 55 Aungier St, Dublin 2
Fallon and Byrne at 11-17 Exchequer Street, Dublin 2
Irish Film Institute, 6 Eustace Street, Dublin 2
Science Gallery, Trinity College, Pearse Street, Dublin 2
Trinity Capitol Hotel, Pearse St, Dublin 2
The Globe, 11 South Great Georges Street, Dublin 2
Bia Bar, 28/30 Lower Stephens Street, Dublin 2
Leeson Inn Downtown, 24 Lower Leeson Street, Dublin 2
Cafe Ciao, Bagget Street Bridge, Dublin 2
Chester Beatty Library, 2 Palace Street, Dublin 2
Front Lounge, Parliament St, Dublin 2
Kylemore Cafe, St Stephens Green, Dublin 2
Renard’s Bar, South Frederick St, Dublin 2
Solas Bar, Camden St, Dublin 2
The Globe, Great Georges St, Dublin 2
West Coast Coffee, 21 Lower Camden Street, Dublin 2
Cafe Novo, The Westbury Hotel, Harry St, Dublin 2
Readers Cafe, 7 Dawson St, Dublin 2
Milk and Honey, 68 Aungier St, Dublin 2
Yamamori Sushi, 38-39 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1
The Odean, 38-39 Lower Ormond Quay, Dublin 1
TB Smiths, 9-10 Jervis St, Dublin 1
The Academy Plaza Hotel, 10-14 Findlater Place, Dublin 1
Pembroke Library, Anglesea Road, Dublin 4
Dylan Hotel, Eastmoreland Place, Dublin 4
Bewleys Hotel (downstairs in the bar), Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4

A little further out on both sides of the city I found a few more spots providing free WiFi…

Village Cafe, 170 Rathmines Road Lower, Dublin 6
Wilde & Green, Mount St. Annes, Milltown Road, Dublin 6
Dice Bar, 79 Queen Street, Dublin 7
Phibsboro Library, Blackquire Bridge, Dublin 7
Organic Flower Power Tea Rooms, 9 Berkeley Rd, Dublin 7
Leopardstown Inn, Brewery Road, Stillorgan, Co. Dublin
Mugs Cafe, 61a Castle St, Dalkey, Co Dublin
Brown’s Bar, Citywest, Dublin 24

Unfortunately finding an outdoor location providing free WiFi is proving more difficult, so perhaps soaking up the sun while working isn’t an easy option. Apparently if you stay close enough to any buildings in the UCD campus you’ll pick up WiFi but I haven’t tried it and other than that I couldn’t source anywhere else. If you know any perhaps you’d like to comment below and share the knowledge!!

We are asked on a daily basis what is the cheapest and best way to get from Stansted Airport to (central) London? So, we thought we would post this for those people visiting London for first time via Stansted Airport.

Most people flying into Stansted Airport from Ireland will most likely be flying with Ryanair as Aerlingus only fly to either Heathrow or Gatwick. The most efficient way to get into London from Stansted is via the Stansted Express. Stansted Express trains operate every 15 mins between 5.30am and 11.45pm. The journey time from Stansted Airport to Liverpool Street Station takes approx 46 mins.
So where do you buy your ticket? Here are a number of options…

Option 1: Buy your Stansted Express ticket online. Strange as this may be…ticket prices on the Stansted Express website are more expensive than the price you pay at their ticket desk or on board?
Ryanair passengers (using 6 digit flight reservation number) can purchase discounted Stansted Express tickets via their website.  A single journey ticket via Ryanair website costs £18.00 £15.00 saving you £3.00 (16%). A return ticket costs £26.50 £21.50 saving you £5.30 (20%)! Note that you only need the ticket confirmation number contained in the booking confirmation email along with any credit/or debit card when collecting your ticket  from any of the ticket machines at Stansted Airport, Liverpool Street Station and Tottenham Hale Station.

Stansted Express Tickets

Option 2: Buy your Stansted Express ticket in flight. Ryanair cabin crew sell discounted Stansted Express tickets on board all Stansted bound flights. Same prices as above. Tip…you can pay in Euro and save more money by requesting to collect your change in Sterling (depending on cabin crew’s mood!)

Option 3: Buy your Stansted Express ticket at the airport ticket desk or on board the train. A single fare purchased either at the ticket desk or on the train works out £1.00 cheaper at £17.00 vs £18.00 online. This option is probably best for those who are not travelling with Ryanair.

Note: Children under 5 years of age travel free!

Last minute availability for Paris hotels for the World Cup Qualifier between France and Ireland on November 18th 2009.

Getting to Stade de France is straight forward enough. It is located close to the district of St Denis which is approx 9km north of Paris. You can take the Metro line 13 to St Denis Porte de Paris (slower option) or  take the RER (quicker option) B or D line from either Gare du Nord or Chatelet les Halles stations. Journey to Stade de France should take less than 20 mins. Get off at either Stade de France St Denis or La Plaine Stade de France. Be sure to travel 90 mins before kick off. Alternatively, get in early and have a few pre match drinks in the various bars right by the Basilique St Denis stop which is one metro stop after the Stade de France.
Free Paris Metro and RER Map>>

France v Ireland

LAST MINUTE DEALS ON HOTELS IN PARIS!

2 * Kyriad Hotel Paris €75 per night (hot buffet breakfast included)

2 * Eurohotel Sovereign St Denis €47 per night (cold buffet breakfast included)

3 * Magellan Hotel €93 per night (cold buffet breakfast included)

3* Best Western Acadia Opera €109 per night (cold buffet breakfast included)

4* Royal Elysees €112 per night  (cold buffet breakfast included)

4* Park Lane Hotel Champs Elysees €155 per night (room only)

more hotel deals at www.parishotels.ie

For those of you who haven’t heard of us already, CityHotels.ie is a brand new Irish owned hotel reservations company. We are based in Dublin and we offer discount rates on tens of thousands of quality hotels worldwide.

After some good quality research and feedback from customers, the team here at CityHotels.ie are only too aware of the valuable time people can spend searching and trawling google to book a hotel securely with a reputable and trustworthy Irish company that won’t surprise you with hidden charges and booking fees.  We recognise that customers want hassle free instant access to a choice of nice clean hotels, well connected with public transport, close to the  major attractions and landmarks and most importantly good value for money.

So, with all that in mind and to help you find that perfect hotel and avoid all the messing about, the team at CityHotels.ie have created Ireland’s largest online travel network of individual city hotel reservation websites.

It’s quite simple really! Once you have a city in mind all you do is type the name of that city in the internet address bar and add hotels.ie after it! e.g. parishotels.ie  manchesterhotels.ie ….How simple is that!

For your convenience, our design team has ensured that all of the 60+ dedicated city hotel reservation websites are layed out in the exact same way.  That way you can find the perfect hotel a lot quicker.
Have a look for yourself…

Berlin Hotels – berlinhotels.ie
Amsterdam Hotels – amsterdamhotels.ie
Boston Hotels – bostonhotels.ie
Manchester Hotels - manchesterhotels.ie
Las Vegas Hotels – lasvegashotels.ie
Barcelona Hotels – barcelonahotels.ie
and so on…

Here is a snapshot of the CityHotels.ie network of dedicated destination hotel reservation websites….there are over 60 sites here covering the most popular cities in Europe, North America, UK and Ireland.

Remember if you are looking for hotels in a  city that does not have a dedicated website on the CityHotels.ie network e.g. Bangkok, Sydney, Bilbao  you can access them all on CityHotels.ie

Thats all folks!

The CityHotels.ie Team

Just a quick post to let you know about the offer we have been running via our Facebook and Twitter pages.

To support the Boys in Green in their massively important World Cup Play-off match against France in November we are offering a special discount on all Paris Hotels. So if you or anyone you know is heading over to Paris for the away leg then simply enter the following promo code to avail of this great offer! PLAYOFF2010

The airlines may be hiking up there prices to Paris but we are reducing our prices to help support the boys!

This offer ends today (21st Oct) – the away leg takes place on November 18th in Paris at the Stade De France.

COME ON IRELAND!

All this talk of the very important Lisbon Treaty that is coming up got us thinking about what a fantastic city Lisbon itself is and how we really should run some special hotel deals for Lisbon given the week that’s in it!

Lisbon is the capital and largest city in Portugal, full of history, culture and entertainment. A trip to Lisbon is a must with so much to see and do all year round. Some of the sights we suggest you visit are The Elevador de Santa, The Oceanarium, Belem Tower and Castello de Sao Jorge. For a more detailed information on the things to see and do in Lisbon you can browse, select and build your very own Lisbon City Guide

Now back to the hotel deals we mentioned above

We have lowered our prices on all Lisbon Hotels with prices from as little as €31 per room per night.  On top of that we are giving away some free nights on selected Lisbon Hotels such as:

• Olissipo Lapa Palace 5 star hotel. Stay 4 or more nights get 1 free!
• Real Palacio 5 Star Hotel Stay 4 or more nights get 1 free!
• Real Parque 4 Star Stay 4 or more nights get 1 free!
• Evidencia Astoria Creative 3 Star Stay 7 or more nights get 1 free!
• Res Jardim D Amadora 2 Star Stay 5 or more nights get 1 free!
• Avenida Liberdade (superior) 4 Star Stay 3 or more nights get 1 free!

New York is still and will continue to be the most popular long haul destination for Irish people traveling abroad. In 2008 the majority of the 694,000 Irish that visited the US chose New York City as there destination. It seems that shopping and dining out top the most popular things to do when in NYC.

The Big Apple due to its sheer size and volume can be incredibly daunting, even for a frequent NYC veteran, not least to somebody traveling over for the very first time. Although an absolutely fantastic holiday destination it can be so easy to get a little overwhelmed by the multitude of choice your confronted with with almost everything you do! Although part of the fun when traveling to a new city is figuring stuff out for yourself, there is also no harm in seeking a bit of advice from a trusted source.

For any question whatsoever on New York city then we recommend you check out Ireland’s very own New York Expert over on Ireland’s only dedicated New York Website – www.VisitNewYork.ie

Its also a handy way to grab a few tips from the previous questions that have been asked.

Enjoy the weekend!