The Marker Hotel

Beyond The Marker Hotel’s striking checkerboard facade, you’ll find a buzzing rooftop bar, an of-the-moment restaurant and 187 of the most design-forward hotel rooms in the city.

• The hotel’s unforgettable design scheme
• The sunset views from the roof
• The super sexy spa and its dark-stone motif

If Dublin was missing something, it was a truly modern hotel. This was rectified in April 2013 when The Marker Hotel opened in the up-and-coming Docklands neighborhood after years of delays. While other properties of similar acclaim have taken great pains to create a more traditional luxury experience, The Marker took the design-forward approach. Arriving at the hotel, guests will be confronted by a checkerboard exterior that only hints at the angular, sculptural visual experience within the hotel. This property is all about Dublin of today.

Rooms are swathed in subtle grey and white textiles to anchor the dark wood furniture, cobalt blue carpeting and the occasional burst of neon. Beds are large and topped with a cozy quilt. The plain, white headboards ensure that there aren’t too many things happening at once. Beautiful marble bathrooms are stocked with Malin + Goetz products and are outfitted in black or white marble, the latter of which has better lighting. Overall, each room feels like the kind of smartly decorated space you might design for yourself.

There are plenty of out-of-room amenities here, too, including The Brasserie, a happening, light-bathed haute cuisine restaurant on the ground floor. In addition to an impressive fitness center and large indoor pool, there’s also a full-service spa with plenty of unexpected treatments like the Moor Mud Wrap, where thermal moor mud is used to brighten skin and rejuvenate weary muscles. The rooftop bar and lounge is a massively popular hangout for the millennial techies that work nearby at big-name companies like Google and Facebook.

If you’re looking to get out of the hotel, classic Dublin destinations like the National Gallery and Trinity College are a walkable distance. Or you can borrow one of the hotel's bikes and cruise around the neighborhood.

Design mavens and younger business travelers have been known to stay here. And those who appreciate an up-and-coming neighborhood will love exploring the Docklands area.