If you want to sleep 2-3 hours a night this is a great place to stay.
The staff lie and misrepresent noise levels. Tuesday night we had Karokee Night until 3.00 a.m. - the walls shook with booming base noise. I was about to check out next morning with my family when I was informed that the hotel would be, "Quiet as a mouse on Wednesday night." Well guess what - they lied! Wednesday night we had an undergroung disco blaring until 3.00 a.m. We had an early flight back to the US next morning and my wife and I and my two kids had probably about 1.5 hours sleep. I wondered when I checked in why a hotel in such a spectacular location was so quiet. Don't be fooled by this one - it's awful.

We have just returned home from Ireland after staying in the White sands Hotel on the weekend of 27th June 2008.
We booked our Wedding there and family and friends travelled from Glasgow,London,Northern Ireland and Dublin to share our Wedding weekend with us.
The property itself is beautiful!!! While there are still some rooms in the old wing which are slightly "tired" looking, the rest of the hotel is refurbished,modern, extremely comfortable and the sea views are absolutely breathtaking. The food menu has something on it to suit everyone and the carvery MUST be tried. The hotel does have a Nightclub attached, however, we didnt hear anything from it any of the nights we stayed there. Some of the party had even voiced concern when they were made aware of this at the time of booking. Yet not one of them heard anything from the club during their entire stay.
Last but certainly not least...The staff...Housekeeping, reception and restaurant staff went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. Always cheery and personable throughout our entire stay. The Deputy General Manager Mr Colm McDonnell exceeded all expectations and made the hotel a DREAM venue for our wedding. No matter what we asked for Colm was on hand, somehow managing to please everyone. In my view the hotel can only be commended and has been STRONGLY praised by all who attended our special day. I would highly recommend The White Sands to anyone who should be lucky enough to be in the Portmarnock area

Having recently returned from a short stay at this hotel I have decided that I will never be back. There are lots of problems with this hotel, the condition of the rooms, poor quality breakfasts, staff that don't really care if you have a problem, and it is extremely noisy. We booked a non-smoking room and we were given a smoking one - and to a non smoker it really stinked! So when we asked for another room as we had booked a non smoking room, we were told that the hotel was fully booked and it wasn't possible. Our room was big, but badly in need of some attention. The carpets were dirty, there was a layer of dust on almost everything, the toilet pan smelled of pee and there was lots of black bacteria around the shower basin (which could have easily have been removed with a good scrub after every use!) and the wash hand basins, and pink bacteria on the tiles in the shower and on the wall. Our room - although it did have a nice view over the sea, was facing the front and was extremely noisy. The locals use the hotel bar and there is a nightclub joined onto the hotel - so it is noisy until the early hours of the morning with people shouting, young people singing and taxi's breaks screaching as they are picking up the people leaving the club. This goes on till about 3.30 am and is extremely loud - loud enough to wake me up! Breakfasts are basic - not like the traditional irish fare you would normally expect at an irish B&B. There is a choice of a few cereals, the usual sausages and bacon. There is a lack of cutlery and plates, which we had to ask for. We had an early flight and had to leave the hotel around 6.45am - breakfast is not until 7.00am, so when we asked if we could have breakfast (just some juice and cereal) a little earlier we were told 'that's just unfortunate that you have an early flight and can't make breakfast' When I challenged the receptionist on the fact that I had paid for bed and breakfast I was told 'it's up to yourself if you take breakfast or not, there's nothing else we can do, sorry'. Not exactly what you expect when you hear so much about the great irish hospitality. I would not stay in this hotel again. If you want a clean room that is quiet with friendly service and advice with a good breakfast look for a good B&B in the area - of which there are many of - and avoid this hotel. At €70 per person per night it is not good value for money, considering the cost of a well-run B&B. Avoid if possible.

Beautiful guest rooms, friendly staff. Excellent pub with great food.