Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin review

Often, when you use points to stay at a hotel in a popular international city such as Dublin, you have to make choices. Do you want a hotel in a walkable location? Do you want an upscale design and desirable amenities? Do you also want to pay a reasonable number of points?

You can usually have two of those things at once, but it’s tough to find all three in one hotel.

However, at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin, you can come pretty close the finding the trifecta of location, design and amenities, and affordability.

Ahead, find out what a stay at this Hyatt hotel is like (spoiler alert: I would totally recommend it and stay there again).

What it’s like at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin

Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin is actually the first Hyatt in Dublin, and it has only been open for a few years (since 2019). It still feels pretty fresh, modern and stylish.

But even though the hotel is still on the newer side, it purposefully highlights the history of this centuries-old area of Dublin.

The Liberties neighborhood is close to lots of things a tourist would likely want to see, do, eat and drink, but it’s not an intensely busy neighborhood in and of itself. I’d say it is no more than a leisurely 20- to 25-minute walk to many areas of Dublin you’re likely to want to visit as a tourist, which means it is close without being in the thick of it.

Speaking of tourists — judging by the bleary-eyed crowd that grew in the lobby each morning, as overnight arrivals landed at the airport and came to the hotel hoping for early check-in, I’d say this is a popular spot with international visitors.

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From here, it is about a 25- to 30-minute car ride to the airport on average, which you could do in an Uber or cab (this will cost around $25 to $35, and both were readily available). Otherwise, you can save some cash and take the Dublin Express bus for about $11.

How much Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin costs and how to book it

I lucked out and booked a stay here when it was just a Category 4 Hyatt and I could use a Category 1-4 certificate; however, it’s now a Category 5 property, which still makes it a reasonable 17,000 to 23,000 World of Hyatt points per night.

You can use points you already have in the World of Hyatt program or make a 1:1 transfer from many cards in the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, such as the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees), or you can transfer points to Hyatt from Bilt Rewards.

If you’re paying cash, rates at this property over the next six months start at around $173 per night.

When booking the Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin using cash, you’ll want to use one of the credit cards that earn the most points for Hyatt stays, or one that offers automatic World of Hyatt elite status for value-added benefits. These include:

Related: Your guide to the World of Hyatt award chart

Rooms at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin

For a long list of reasons I’ll mostly spare you from, we were in a variety of room types while at the Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin.

Most were pretty similar, but let’s start with a peek at the room with one king bed that runs 258 to 279 square feet and has an occupancy of up to two people. This is one of the standard room types that you can book with your Hyatt points (the other being a room with two twin beds).

For a standard room in Europe, I found it to be plenty spacious, and I enjoyed having a real desk and separate chairs.

Then there was the king family deluxe room, which we were not able to book with points. However, it may be the room type you need if you are traveling with a family, as it can hold two adults and one child. It can also connect to a room with two twin beds (you can book that second room with points).

We also had a couple of nights in the king suite using a Hyatt Globalist upgrade certificate. If you don’t have one of those, the suite is also sometimes bookable using cash plus a 6,000-point copay. This room is 527 square feet, and while it isn’t a true suite with a door separating a living room and bedroom, it was very functional for us as it had a separate area in which to hang out or work, which we actually needed while in Dublin.

The bathroom in this suite is also very noticeably oversized, with a pretty huge walk-in shower and plenty of space to get ready without feeling the least bit cramped.

What we ate at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin

The Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin has two adjacent spots to eat and drink: the Liberties Gate Bar, which is open until 1 a.m. for drinks, and the Liberties Gate Restaurant, which is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

A glance at the bar showed it had a warm and welcoming environment, an impressive list of whiskeys, options from local distilleries, and, of course, plenty of Guinness.

While we didn’t have time on this trip to give the bar a proper visit, we did have several meals at the Liberties Gate Restaurant. With full breakfast included each day since we had Hyatt Globalist status — which is one of my favorite hotel elite status perks — we were sure to make good use of that and start the day full and happy.

I enjoyed the smoked salmon and eggs on sourdough and the Centric special, which came with a bit of almost everything, while the kids were big fans of the big pancake stack with toppings such as Nutella and fruit.

Sometimes, exhaustion won out over venturing out for local cuisine, so we also ate here a few times for dinner, especially for the kids, since there were options for them such as fish-and-chips and grilled chicken with mashed potatoes and carrots (both entrees costing around $10 to $12 from the kids menu).

The kids also enjoyed the “No Share” brownie for about $7, which they did share voluntarily … but I absolutely stole bites from.

While the food in the restaurant was good and the servers were friendly, the service was pretty consistently just perfunctory. During multiple meals there, it was very rare that anyone would proactively come back to check on you at any point once the plates of food were delivered.

Amenities and things to do at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin

Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin isn’t a hotel you come to just hang out and enjoy the amenities; it is one you stay at while you enjoy Dublin. As such, there aren’t a lot of extra amenities and things to do on-site. However, there is a gym on the bottom level available 24 hours a day with some basic treadmills, machines and free weights.

However, there are some nearby things to see and do, such as the Guinness Storehouse, Temple Bar and Dublinia (which is extremely close to the hotel).

Insider tips for staying at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin

• There is a great coffee shop right next door, called Soren & Son.
• If you need to do laundry while here, All American Launderette is a few streets over and offers same-day service for a bag of clothes for about $20.
• The oldest pub in Ireland, Brazen Head, is a five- to 10-minute walk away.
• You can take the Dublin Express to and from the airport if you want to save some cash. It will drop you off beside the hotel, and you can board at the Maldron Hotel, which is just a one- to two-minute walk from the hotel.

Accessibility

The hotel has a limited number of accessible room types available on its website, and none that are bookable with points in my test searches. For example, the king deluxe room and the king suite are listed as accessible, though both are nonstandard rooms.

Bottom line

My family had a good stay at Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin and absolutely would stay here again. It is a reasonable number of World of Hyatt points per night, and sometimes a reasonable amount of cash, too, which is especially important if you need a room that can hold three people.

The hotel is modern, clean and pretty well located if you don’t need to be right next to everything, and it has a great breakfast benefit for those with Globalist Hyatt status.

There’s no doubt that if I’m lucky enough to have a return visit to Dublin, the Hyatt Centric The Liberties Dublin will be high on my list of hotels to consider for a repeat stay.

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