Having stayed here a few years previously, I was raving about it to my wife (who hadn't stayed) especially about the Canadian hottub outdoors...
We arrived and checked in, all fine, they made us pay up front which I thought was strange. But not to worry. As it was the weekend before valentines we thought we would have a romantic time..
Don't get me wrong, the senery out the windows was breathtaking. That's about all that was breathtaking about this hotel. We had a premium room or suite, situated in the top corner of the building. The room was FREEZING, there was a breeze coming in from the windows somehow, the heating was not on... we were bitterly cold. This is Feburary on the west coast of Ireland, you can imagine how cold it was. Next morning, no hot water. We complained and were told that the boiler 'went' during the night and apologies... fair enough we grumbled to ourselves, things happen... well things happened two nights and mornings in a row, freezing again and no hot water again.. we were told the heater 'went again' by the receptionist. Not happy in the slightest.
In the meantime, before the freezing nights, while my wife was getting a massage (which she said WAS wonderful) I decided to try out the Canadian hot tub. It was FILTHY, airs everywhere and even a band aid floating in the bubbles.. they have made the pool/gym etc accessable to the public for a small membership fee and seems every Tom, Dick and Harry is using it. The pool was dirty, the Steam room grubby and cold and the sauna barely adequate, the showers were so grubby i decided to shower up in my room afterwards (which by now was luke warm) rather than use the ones there.
We went to the restaurant that night, food was excellent although the venue tacky, with horrible valenines decorations, which made it feel like a roadside cafe rather than upperclass restaurant. But as i said, the food was indeed great. Shame about the shabby false ceiling roof tiles...
So, upon check out and explaining our various complaints.. they agreed to knock €50 off our bill.. which really isn't acceptable seeing as 1) We paid a premium price for the beter rom AND due to the holiday weekend (Valentines) and 2) we spent two freezing nights and in the mornings had no hot water....
We won't be going back and urge you to take this review as an honest and frank account of what happened.. we went wanting and urging the Connemara coast hotel to do well, instead it failed miserably.










