The Clarion

The Clarion Hotel has arisen smack in the middle of Dublin's financial quarter and, walking inside, its computer-grey colour scheme and its steely office-style fittings set the tone for a space where ­ they hope ­ you head to after you trade and deal in the IFSC.

Form and function marry well here, to create a calming, relaxed space that is easy on the eye. The lobby of the hotel is a clever series of modern desks made from white oak, and the various fittings on the doors and in the rooms echo the theme of the Big Solicitors' Practice, which the end rooms overlook.

In the rooms the beds and plain grey sofas are comfortable. The pervasive use of paleness in colour is bulleted, like a cleverly laid out document, with bold coloured paintings, cushions and pillows.

But, for the business traveller, is this office-like ambience not simply more of the same from which they have just emerged, we wonder? Perhaps the hard working executive might be looking for something softer and more domestic, or something more surprising, more Starckish.

When we visited, the people down at breakfast were not in fact high-flying financiers at all (perhaps they were all skipping breakfast in favour of a jog up and down to the toll bridge). The walnut coloured dining room was mostly populated by Northerners, all eating a large fry, whose main financial acumen was simply an accurate understanding of the sterling:punt ratio. "Smile if you think I'm sexy" said the t-shirt of a blonde shapely shopper, down to devote a weekend in Brown Thomas - hardly the stuff of business cool.

We spotted a number of the sort of focused, thirty-something business types that we would have expected in the hotel - but they were all local Dubliners using the smart basement gym.

The Clarion is not as funky as the Morrison, nor as chic as the Clarence. It's not as solicitous as the Four Seasons nor as intimate as the Morgan. It will be interesting to see where the Clarion finds its niche: will it stay business cool, à la wallpaper*, or turn out to be a haunt for visiting weekenders?

Their restaurant, Sinergie, will have to improve considerably if it is to serve as a stand-alone destination address, but the staff are splendid.

Website: www.clarionhotelifsc.com