Jacob's Inn Dublin

Great location, good accommodations, friendly staff
Spent two nights in August, 2008. It's a busy place with lots of younger people there to enjoy the attractions of the city, yet it was very quiet. The building was clean and well maintained. The included mini-breakfast was adequate, but more toasters and a rearrangement of the serving table would make things move quicker. The desk staff were friendly and helpful.

Meh.
I've seen better hostels but this one seemed to be decently clean. I just really didn't appreciate checking in at 2 a.m. and having the guy receptionist ask me if I was traveling alone, and when I said yes, he said "Isn't that dangerous?" Why would he say that? It didn't make me feel comfortable as a young woman at his hostel at all. To boot, I was in a mixed dorm with all guys, no other girls in the room. Oh well.

I stayed there for two weeks (searching for job and room), and, especially in the end, it was like a nightmare. We reserved two beds in a mixed room with my boyfriend, but they put us in different rooms, and didn't even try to help. The rooms are far too small for so many people, there's no air to breath in at night. There's neither place to put your clothes, there was one tiny shelf for twelve people. The kitchen is the worst, it's dirty, nothing works, and it's always stinking of a really horrible lemon-like-scented detergeant (strangely enough, in the end, the smell in the kitchen turned into something like the smell of human sh*t). But it's cheap, has a good location, and nothing was stolen from us during the two weeks.

A very good location close to the main train and bus station. The room was clean as well as the bathroom. The breakfast was rather tiny, but at least something. Enjoyed the stay and can recommend it.

The apartments across the road were fantastic but the hostel itself was really not up to standard compared to others I've stayed in. A three hundred-bed hostel with only a tiny kitchen? Doesn't work. Boca J's was closed for renovations and by the looks of it had been closed for quite some time. No common area to use, the common bathrooms off the main corridors were disgusting and a puddle of water lying in the corridor was still not mopped up after three days! They close the place for cleaning for four hours - I'd love to know what they're actually doing. Closing the kitchen between one-thirty and three p.m. seems a bit daft given that's the time most people prepare lunch. I wouldn't stay here again unless I was able to book the apartments.

It was a dump. The beds were uncomfortable, the bathrooms unclean, and the staff were rude. Avoid at all costs.

It was clean, comfortable and central. Construction taking place on the outside of the building loudly woke me up at 8:30 because the window had been left open. Some of the staff could use a little help on English speaking skills, but, I guess that is why they are in Ireland. Breakfast = 1 decent sized muffin + drink.

extremely comfortable beds and nice showers. rooms on the ground floor are a bit noisy from the streets. the desk staff was pretty bland and not very helpful.

So, don't be mislead by the pictures. When I visited just last weekend (09/02/06), it did not look like this at all. The lobby was painted a horrid bright blue, the beds had cheap metal frames ... I was wondering if this was really the same hostel. And there was construction going on in the hostel AND they had a lockout everyday from 11 to 3. The staff was just OK, but they never fixed the leaky showerhead in my room, placed me in a 10-bed-male, not a 6-bed-mixed likw I reserved and they weren't exactly on top of checking the security passes. I don't think I would stay here again ... I think I could definitely do better.

I only stayed here one night (it was part of a Paddywagon tour), but my room (dorm room) had the comfiest bed ever — and the en suite bathroom was top notch. From what I saw, this hostel is excellent. Great staff, cool common room, and very convenient to the bus station and O'Connell St. Highly recommended.

The hostel itself was great. It's as clean and as nice as any hotel I've stayed in. But the people were odd in the ten-bed room they put me in. They were all old men who looked like bums and snored all night. I've never stayed in a hostel and was unable to meet people my age except for this one. It made my time in Dublin pretty hard since I was alone.

We stayed there last year (2003) in August and it was the worst hostel we experienced in Ireland. Sure, it's cheap, in a pretty good location, with modern furniture, and staff was friendly, but the linens, the bathroom, the floor in the dorm, and especially the kitchen were not at all clean. I can handle a bit of chaos, and I'm not too picky about cleanliness, but this was definitely too much for me. Plus: the key card/lock to our room didn't work and nobody seemed to be able to fix it. We stayed two nights, and the cleaning staff even threw away my bottle of water which was on my baggage (what's wrong with them? They should have rather cleaned the room itself).

Love this place. I have been here twice, and I definitely recommend it. It has a really nice feel, and a good location, with a pub next door. Very fun.

The bathrooms were definitely not clean - more mould in the shower than I have seen in any hostel during my last 4 months travelling Europe. The staff couldn't be bothered, and they had lots of school groups staying, who were noisy. The location was good though - close to buses, the train, and the town.

Good hostel, clean. We had an en-suite bathroom in our dorm, although in a 10-bed dorm it's not much better than not having en-suite. There was a large common room, lots of lockers, and good security. It's very close to the bus station, and very near the Temple Bar area. I would definitely recommend it.