I stayed here for two nights and enjoyed my stay. I was in a 4 person room and it was fine. i met a lot of other young travelers. they have free internet which is nice. you do have to pay for lockers but i had no problem leaving stuff in my room. its close to stephen's green, and about a 10 minute walk from the temple bar area. i had no problems. the breakfast was nice and there is a busstop that goes to the airport right near by. They do play loud music in the lounge area so if you're not into that, it might be a bother to you. its definelty a hostel, don;t go here expecting an 4 star hotel. It served my purposes well, a clean bathroom, a soft bed, and a place to relax when needed. its a good budget option.

Was staying in Dublin for a week for an academic conference; spent my first night in one of the 4 bed dorms (on the top bunk, which was very wobbly and had no bars on the open side to stop me falling out) and the rest of the week in a single room, sharing the bathroom. Generally, the place could do with a brush-up, especially the bathrooms, and the lift was out of order when I was there too. Breakfast was a bit meagre, some grilled sausages and bacon wouldn't go a miss.

But full marks for security (swipe card entry to get anywhere), the ban on alcohol and smoking (which keeps the noise down), a well-stocked chocolate machine and the wireless internet - should have brought my laptop.

Avalon House was very much a budget option for us as we were in Dublin for a gig and had already shelved out a fair old whack for airfares and tickets in this most expensive of Euro-capitals.
I'd been a wee bit perturbed by some treviews which didn't paint our pending digs in the best of lights but we decided to give it a go as, after all it was the proverbial one night only. (I might add the first hostel I'd looked into-slightly nearer the concert venue bafflingly stipulated a minimum two night stay.)
Plus point number one is the situation of Avalon House, especially as it's on a direct bus route from Dublin Airport. Skip the 6 euro Airbus and hop aboard the 2 euro 19a-also outside the terminal instead. The route is a little circuitous around the Northside and takes just under an hour in traffic but leaves you two minutes walk across the road.
Avalon House is in a fantastic location south of the river Liffey, close to Dame Street, Grafton Street and Stephen's Green. Aungier Street and George Street are full of good eateries plus the super-atmospheric pubs for which Dublin is so rightly famous. There's also a Dunnes Stores supermarket nearby, a boon to the self caterer.
The big front door is shut over and looks a tad forbidding. However, Avalon House is a beautiful old building and the side entrance is rather more inviting. When we checked in at 2pm, reception staff -who had courteously and promptly replied to my e-mail stating time of arrival two days earlier-were doing their best-multilingually- at a busy time when many rooms were becoming available. There seemed to be a security conscious vibe afoot and those -like myself -whose heart sinks on hearing the words "party hostel" may be reassured by the smoking and drinking ban that applies.
The twin occupancy room we were given was thankfully on the first floor as the lift was broken. There were more grim first impressions in store inside. My first dismayed thought was that the gaff was crying out for a makeover as I eyed the royal blue bunk frame clashing acutely with a deeply faded ethnic -look duvet cover. However, it was clean, pleasantly warm at night and bedding was surprisingly comfortable. Moving onto the en suite, this was very much up to scratch and not without modern fittings. Yes, the shower is pokey and on the dribblesome side. Then again, it was deep enough to avoid flooding and there was hot water at 5.45 am .
Breakfast is free apparently and it was part of the experience we were unable to road test as we had a bus to catch back to the airport. And again , the sheer centrality of Avalon House came up trumps, with a stop paces away.
In a sense, AH is an easy target for snipers. It's not exactly state-of -the- art to behold, its lift is seemingly non-operational as a matter of course and it appears a little under-resourced generally. As a hostel, It would not not necessarily invite me in for a longer stay and if travelling alone, it probably wouldn't be my speed unless I could bag a private room. But as a cost-effective alternative to the Fair City centre's super-pricey hotels, Avalon House managed-against some odds-to hit the spot.

Booked 2 beds in a 12 bed dorm, and upon arrival was given two beds. I paid and signed for the beds. We went to the beds, and they were messy and someone's stuff was on them. The clerks said the beds were actually already booked. Then they tried to give me other beds which were in a worse location, even though I'd already paid and agreed to the original situation. I said no, that doesn't work for me, I'll go somewhere else. They didn't give me a refund, even though they had doublebooked the beds I paid for. I left immediately- the place was a mess. The clerks were rude, patronising and wouldn't give me a refund even though they double booked beds. Also, the room was really cramped- there were too many beds in that room. The door handle of the room was also kind of broken. In all, it just seemed like a trainwreck to me. The place I ended up staying was way better, especially in terms of customer service!