Lonely Planet article criticising Dublin as tourist destination ‘doesn’t make for pleasant reading’

Morning, TripAdvisor is but one tool and resource to check reviews, there is many. What I tend to do and a little extra leg work needed to get an objective view, is compare reviews on Google, Booking.Com, Trivago etc.

I'm not saying reviews on TripAdvisor are always questionable, they have improved dramatically, verification processes but I look at up to 3 separate sites to compare and contrast reviews . If there's obvious conflicting reviews, it raises a red flag, if consistent, I then make a determination.

Honestly, no review sites are 100% accurate, reviews are subjective , I might like the room in a hotel, you might hate it. Someone might say fantastic views, others will say no windows in the room etc.

What to look out for is Vitriol, Exaggerations are easy to spot but the best way to determine if a review is genuine, wether it be bad or good, look for owner /Management interaction, responses and how they deal with a complaint and indeed good review, this gives a real indication about how a venue is run and managed. Finally look for recent activity / reviews, people sometimes tend not to notice how old the last review was, if there's been no recent reviews, ask yourself why, if I'm looking at a location for consideration in 2022, I'd be a liitle concerned the establishments last review was in 2018 (just as and example), obviously be mindful of Pandemic years to be fair were litter no reviews were posted anywhere. 😏

15% of all hotel beds are filled with refugees at the minute. I doubt there is a hotel that hasn't been approached already to be block booked yet.

I reckon a lot of hotels are just fleecing whoever they can this year n whenever it dries up they'll sign up with the government. It's not great for the tourism industry long term tbh.

Again I don't disagree but straying into an already contentious issue is perhaps unwise, just a personal opinion, I'm not being critical of you so please don't assume I am, I'm simply saying I do agree it's relevant but concerned focusing on this issue as perhaps the primary cause of what the Lonely planet article addresses is wrong and I won't continue to partake in this thread if it slips into being another thread on the Refugee Crisis, personal choice, not a critism of anyone.

I don't actually know to be honest have an idea, but it's a mess, no doubting that, Bizzarely the predicted global recession will actually have more of an impact in the interim on Tourism generally.

I predicted elsewhere 2022 would be a Tourism wash out, its no mystery why many hotels did deals re refugees, they saw the booking numbers. Oddly there's actually very little tourism taking place it's primarily focussed on Dublin City and specific tourist destinations.

When this particular issue in Dublin City calms down, the damage done will actually create more long term reputational damage, along with the predicted global recession, 2023 wasn't looking particularly positive anyway, I predict no chaos next year because few will actually be coming and I think we can guess what even more hotel rooms will be used for from November onwards. Hospitality sector can't even rely on staycation market as too many were stung when they chose it last year.

I'll go further, 100"s of restaurants will close permanently, many are Already in serious trouble with legacy rent debts, Warehoused revenue and supplier debt, Running costs through the roof and staffing crisis will not be fixed anytime soon.

There'll be a Major new landscape in this sector in the coming three years, much less restaurants, possibly bars too, perhaps a correction long over due but at a minimum there's an even more Rocky Road ahead and Government won't be bailing anyone out. Restaurants particularly are making Hay whilst the sun is shining, so to speak and at a cost to customers. Yes their costs have risen but at a basic level some of the prices being changed, along with new mysterious additional charges, are outrageous.

All of course in my humble opinion 😏

Anyone else at Pride today? Great buzz around Merrion Square and Capel St, absolutely packed with people of many nationalities and creeds enjoying themselves. Dublin was looking great today.

And you could buy yourself a nice hooker with the money you've saved on the hotel.

It's a rugby thing

I couldn't agree more. They need to stop treating the city centre, especial the North city central area, as a human dumping ground and drug treatment center.

And the streets and pavements are filthy.

Clean it the **** up especially Dorset st.

They are discriminating against the North side in particular and they are not fit for purpose.

Strange that I have been on O'Connell St at all times of day and night and felt perfectly safe. It's always busy during the day and bustling so no danger there.

At night it's a different crowd but still busy. These drunks people talk about? Are they just going around attacking people? Never seen this, people who are drinking are either going for food, more pints or on their way home. They don't hassle people walking down the street.

Same for junkies. The number that are there is exaggerated by people here but they don't hassle people.

Dublin is a very safe city and the statistics bear this out but for some reason Irish people, especially from outside Dublin just love to knock it..

Go on You Tube and watch videos of travel vloggers who have recently visited Dublin and they are all very positive.

I read e16.30 n said not bad!! 5.90 for Guinness in croker yesterday, 6.20 for rockshore- I doubt there's actually alcohol in that rockshore- just yellow coloured water!

A few fellas I know would usually come up the Saturday n stay the night before the match n maybe Sunday night too weren't about yesterday - gone too pricey altogether.