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A very warm welcome to The Royal Hotel & Merrill Leisure Club, one of the largest hotels in Co. Wicklow with a proven reputation in hospitality excellence for many years.We pride our selves as being children and famliy friendly .
Star ratings are intended to indicate the general level of features, amenities, and services to expect. This property is classified according to Giata.
HOTEL STYLE
Classic
Centrally Located
Languages Spoken
English
Location
The Royal Hotel Main Street, Bray A98 KV77 Ireland
The Royal Hotel
1,667 reviews
Getting there
Somewhat walkable
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Stayed here on a weekend mid February family of 4. Asked for 100 euro deposit on check in which is just ridiculous, then told on leaving it can take up to 5 days to return to your account. Staff in restaurant were very nice and efficient especially one girl. Radiator in room did not turn off even with windows open on storm weekend the room was ridiculously hot. On the 2nd night a group of singles were put next door to a family so we were awake during the night multiple times after 2.30am. Hotel was nice, pool etc was lovely. Breakfast was excellent nice chef there also. Beds were comfortable too. Bathroom shower wasn't in the right place so it was easier to shower after pool use. Check in staff were a bit abrupt.
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Date of stay: February 2022Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Reception staff are lovely, we were given a room in the 4th floor which was very outdated & dreary when asked to move rooms there was no issue. The rooms on the first floor are renovated and very nice. Breakfast was ok, seems to be a lot of new younger staff who could do with some more training. Dinner was amazing we had the prawns for starters & linguini pasta for mains which was exceptional. The swimming pool makes the hotel , there were no wet kit bags in the changing rooms when asking staff for a plastic bag I was told they didn’t have any. There was no hair dryer in the room I had to ring reception twice for a hair dryer when one was brought up I plugged it in and it exploded. Unfortunately no one went out of their way to go above and beyond at any point which was disappointing for the duration of our stay. I would return only because of the exceptional dinner & leisure facilities.
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Date of stay: August 2021Trip type: Travelled with friends
Room Tip:Â Ask for a room on the first floor
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Visited here, as it was only a reasonably short drive, and close to the Glendalough. Was expecting more from the Royal Hotel, which was far from 'Royal'. Check in was a joke, given that we had already supposedly checked in online before travel. The receptionist, Kelly, did not extend a warm greeting that we would expect in our own country. Perhaps Kelly is learning the ropes, but she has a long way to go. We had booked two rooms, and had to pay a deposit of 100 for both, which was an absolute joke, given that they had our phone numbers, addresses, car registration, etc. It would make one wonder what sort of guest frequents the establishment, and sets the tone of a less than classy, and indeed, dodgy establishment. The 'Royal' also tried to charge us twice for breakfast, although we had paid extra for this on booking.com. I had to show Kelly this on my phone, although she would have received the same booking confirmation as we had received. Disgraceful. So, not a good check in experience. The room, very small, smelled a little fusty, though it seemed clean. The bed was extremely comfortable, and we slept well, and were able to block out the traffic noise from outside. We enjoyed a lovely swin in the Meriil leisure centre, and staff there were lovely. There were lovely staff serving at breakfast, and they looked after us very well, and made a lovely pot of tea! The breakfast room needs to be done up, wooden beams on the ceiling were cracking, etc. The breakfast itself was adequate, Some fresh fruit, some tinned. The bacon was hard, had clearly been cooked and sitting there a while, sausage was nice, beans were only cheap quality, bread when toasted had to be pulled apart, and eggs were fine. Overall reasonably okay. I think the check up receptionist sensed that we were not fully happy with our stay, and wished us a pleasant journey home. I did not detect any degree of sincerity. We won't be back any time soon. This place needs better management, and staff need to treat Irish staycationers with more respect. This is the only business for the foreseeable future, so get on with it, and dispense of some of your ridiculous check in policies. We have stayed in several places over covid, and haven't seen anything like this. Time for a re-think here.
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Date of stay: June 2021
Value
Rooms
Location
Cleanliness
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
A lovely hotel in a beautiful old building in the centre of town, nicely decorated, staffed by friendly helpful people. I stayed in a pleasant bedroom on the second floor, a single with a small double bed and a good firm mattress. The room was nicely painted in plain colours, with great curtains which blocked the daylight, some attractive pictures and decorations, and a stylish bathroom. And you could open the window, which is not always possible nowadays. There were two flights of stairs and no lift which would be hard work with heavy luggage, but I have a feeling that the staff would have helped if it was a problem. A couple of niggles reduced 'sleep quality' from 5 to 4 stars. The bottom sheet was not big enough for the mattress and so could not be tucked in at the head or food, which meant the sheet rucked up overnight. Another problem was temperature - I like a cool room and did not turn the radiator on, but the pipes feeding the radiator heated up and made the room quite hot even with the window open. But this didn't stop it being a very enjoyable stay. I especially liked having a glass of wine and bowl of soup in the relaxing bar area; travelling alone was no problem.
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Date of stay: October 2023
Value
Location
Service
Trip type: Travelled solo
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Me and my boyfriend booked a 3 night stay in this hotel we booked through living social and had paid for 3 nights to stay here, when we wore checking in the girl at the reception was so so rude had such a negative attitude and had tried to tell us we are only staying for 2 nights when we had paid for 3 nights she said to us that they needed our room as there was families that booked in which i do understand but you can't tell guests that they can only stay for 2 nights when we paid for 3 nights my self and my partner hadn't been away since covid so we wore really excited to be away, the girl at the reception also did not give us any information about breakfast /dinner never told us anything about where to go honestly just treated us like crap i really do not recommend this hotel as the hotel staff are just rude especially the reception girl with blonde hair her name was Kelly or Reilly something like that. If your going to this hotel don't expect to be treated nicely, i had to ask to speak to 2 managers, the water in the shower is freezing, the staff are not welcoming at all. The only good thing was mecgettins and the scenery outside the hotel. The leisure centre was lovely and staff there was so nice. Just the actual hotel not such a pleasant experience. Avoid this hotel to save yourself the disappointment. Book elsewhere. Will not be returning here.
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Date of stay: March 2022Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Not a great start as had to wait a long time before someone checked us in although there were no other guests there. Had a dinner booked when we arrived we were sat in the bar where a match was on. It took over an hour for our food to arrive the staff were not nice at all and it seems like they don't communicate at all and have no idea what is going on. We were told by the manager to place the order cause the kitchen closes in 15 minutes when we had the order placed ages ago. On check out we figured that we were overcharged, the receptionist was very rude and not helpful at all. After 15 minutes of explaining and showing the booking he refunded us without any apology. Very bad customer service overall. The rooms are very Basic and both lift and rooms need deep cleaning.
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Date of stay: September 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Stayed here for one night. Wasn't sure what to expect as I had read mixed reviews about this hotel. Our hotel room was small but spotless and the bed was comfy and I loved the pillows. The bathroom had a bath and shower, big mirror and a pull out mirror. Little shower gels were supplied and towels. The pool has to be booked in advance . The breakfast had a great choice and they cater for those who are gluten free. The restaurant offers a great choice of dinner as well. If you fancy a few drinks Mcgettigans bar is a lively spot music does be kicking at night, the bar food is fabulous, reasonably priced and the cocktails are fantastic. The staff are friendly and chatty and will have the craic with you. The decor was absolutely amazing, honestly there wasn't one thing that I didn't like. I would definitely go again but if I was ever passing through bray I would gladly stop to have a bite at Mcgettigans pub. I think really that people should go and see for themselves keep an open mind like I did.
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Date of stay: September 2021Trip type: Travelled as a couple
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Google maps wasn't too helpful in taking me to the carpark round the back of the hotel but once I figured it out it's a breeze. There's excellent parking instructions on how to pay for overnight parking. Bit of an odd walk to the reception through the building and restaurant, in fact the whole hotel is a mish mash of a few buildings with the walls knocked down to join them together. It was possible to get to my room via two different staircases just a few metres apart! Reception staff helpful though hard to hear sometimes, what with the accents being obscured by masks and screens. Room was clean and relatively quiet, you can hear other guests leaving and entering their rooms on occasion. The view was pretty disgusting, window ledge caked in bird poo. The gutters haven't been cleaned so when it rained it sounded like someone was having a shower for hours. Having stayed in many hotels around the world I would never rate this is a 3 Star but its location is good and a quiet sleep is all you need for a good start to the day!
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Date of stay: October 2021
Rooms
Service
Sleep Quality
Trip type: Travelled on business
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
this is not a 3 star hotel and the room we stayed in was nothing like the pictures shown on the hotel website. room was old and run down with single glaze windows. ( could hear all the traffic passing by even what they played on the radio). very disappointing. rooms were like something from the 90's. Bathroom was very basic with a small shower head over a bath. (again nothing like the pictures) I found this very misleading and left me with a bad feeling from the get go) no wifi available to guests. no hair dryer available in the room. very bad parking set-up.
myself and my partner got no sleep at all this was mainly due to the poor quality of the room and structure. we were awoken at 12am by a family screaming kids running around banging doors etc. we were awoken again by our other noisy neighbours who had a full on room party from 3am till 6.30am. DISGRACEFUL. we had to cut our staycation short as by 2pm in the day we had to leave bray as we were too tired and had a 2 hour drive ahead of us.
the meal we received in the restaurant was poor and very expensive for what we got. again very disappointing. Not suitable for vegetarians. nothing compared to what we got in the Martello which was amazing.
Will not be recommending to anyone. Very disappointing staycation and set up of a hotel.
The staff are so nice and lovely. The restaurant staff we encountered were so so nice its such a shame.
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Date of stay: August 2020
Location
Service
Sleep Quality
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Royal Hotel , Revenue Management at The Royal Hotel
Responded 25 Feb 2021
Dear Anna O, My sincere apologies in regards to the inconveniences that have been encountered during your stay, we appreciate your comments and please be rest assured that your concerns will not go unattended. Our aim is to consistently provide superior services and facilities; therefore, it is always important for us to receive constructive feedback to enables us target problem areas and take necessary actions to ensure similar situations can be avoided in the future. I apologize once again, and I look forward to welcoming you once again in the near future. Thank You & Regards Flynn Pinto Revenue & Reservations Manager The Royal Hotel & Leisure Centre
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
We stayed for 2 nights from the 9th to the 11th of July in room 207. This was our first getaway as a family of 3 and we loved it!!!! Our room was fab it was refurbished and the bed was comfortable. The heat in it though was very unbearable day and night (we didnt spend much time in the room during the day) I had asked for a fan the first night but they had none which was fine so I asked early the next day and got one but to be honest it was pointless it didnt work very well and was broken. We had dinner and drinks in the bar both nights and the lovely Allangha looked after us she honestly couldnt do more for us we loved and appreciated how amazing she was to us and our family and the rest of the group as there was 8 adults and 5 kids which can be very overwhelming but she just done everything and anything for us with a smile (I hope it was a smile behind the mask 😂) and shes honestly a credit to the Hotel! She honestly made our stay! The reception lady aswell that was there when we were checkin in and out was great always helped with everything (didnt catch her name). And man that was there on both nights delivering us milk for the babys bottle must be a night porter he was always full of chat and banter. I wish I got all the staff names they were just amazing and deserve the recognition a hotel is nothing with out the staff! Have to say room was lovely and clean im just not sure why our bed wasnt changed and a bag off stuff towels coffee milk showergel and everything was just dropped on the floor and the little milks had busted everywhere. We also had to bring our own travel cot but didnt bother us. Our room was facing the main street it got loud at night as our windows were open but it was no bother to us we were just happy to get away.
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Date of stay: June 2021Trip type: Travelled with family
Room Tip:Â Bring own travel cot if needed.
No mini fridge in the room.
Book everything before arrival dinner...
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Response from Royal Hotel , Revenue Management at The Royal Hotel
Responded 13 Jul 2021
Dear Diana, We would like to take the opportunity to thank you for choosing to stay at The Royal Hotel & Merrill Leisure Club and for taking the time to share your comments. It is a pleasure to read your review and see that in more than one aspect we managed to exceed your expectations with the hotel offerings and service. I sure will convey your comments to Allangh and the other team members. With the government guidelines, our guests rooms are not serviced during your stay and if there is anything our guests need they can always call the Reception and request for the items. The items are left out of the room without physical contact hence keeping our guests and colleagues safe following all necessary protocols. We look forward to welcoming you to our hotel in the near future. Thank You & Regards Flynn Pinto Revenue & Reservations Manager The Royal Hotel & Merrill Leisure Club
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This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Dear Martin,
Thank you for your message.
Due to Health & Safety reasons, it is mandatory to wear swimming caps while using the pool.
You can get your own caps or purchase them at the leisure center.
Thank you
Rotherham, United Kingdom177 contributions44 helpful votes
Breakfast at this hotel started at 7:30am and went through to 9:30am. The breakfast here was a very nice full Irish which filled me up for most of the day.
There are more places to choose from in the Bray area.
ALSO KNOWN AS
royal hotel bray, the royal hotel leisure centre, bray hotel royal wicklow, royal hotel wicklow
FORMERLY KNOWN AS
The Royal Hotel Bray
LOCATION
IrelandProvince of LeinsterCounty WicklowBray
NUMBER OF ROOMS
125
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Which popular attractions are close to The Royal Hotel?
Nearby attractions include Mermaid County Wicklow Arts Centre (0.4 km), Bray Bowl Family Entertainment Centre (0.5 km), and The Holy Redeemer Church (0.2 km).