NYX Hotel Dublin Portobello

NYX Hotel Dublin Portobello opened in December 2023 as the first hotel in Ireland under Leonardo Hotels' NYX brand. The group put €31 million into the 175-room building, on the Grand Canal at Portobello Harbour in south Dublin. The hotel manager at opening was Simone Villari. Leonardo Hotels UK & Ireland runs the property, and the group's other NYX and Leonardo hotels at the time were in London, Milan, Madrid and Munich.

The place

Portobello Harbour is a basin on the Grand Canal, in Dublin 8, a short walk south of the city centre. The hotel replaced earlier buildings on the site, including a light-industrial warehouse, so what stands there now is new construction rather than a conversion.

From some rooms the outlook is over the canal and the harbour.

The concept

Art is the point of the NYX brand, and in Dublin it is local. The interior design is by Suzanne Garuda of Garuda Design in Belfast, with bespoke pieces by Irish artists, among them Shane Sutton, Janine Jordan and Art Loves. The decor is described as bold and modern.

The 175 rooms include Superior Star King, Deluxe King and Deluxe Space categories. Every room has a bed made for the hotel by the Irish supplier King Koil, and guests can choose their pillow from a menu. Other in-room details reported at opening are White Company toiletries, a Nespresso machine, a mini-fridge and a 50-inch television with Chromecast.

The hotel holds a Silver Green Tourism badge for its sustainability work.

Dining & wellness

The ground floor has the lobby, a restaurant, a bar and a gym. The bar, called The Bar at NYX, serves an all-day menu and signature cocktails, with live DJs at weekends. The gym measures about 50 square metres.

The operator has not named a chef or a separate restaurant concept in the coverage reviewed, so the restaurant is best treated as the hotel's own all-day outlet.