We stayed at the clare inn hotel for a short break before christmas with our kids and had a great time, the food, service and staff were great and went out of their way to make our stay a brill one. young lady at reception organised our day trips for us and even booked santa at allawee caves for us ( a must). area in general is great for short breaks with so much to offer. found the activities for the kids great and in general were very pleased with the stay - a very family friendly hotel. liked that it is off the main roadway with lots of garden, wood and green areas for kids to play in.

we had a great christmas at clare inn with staff, food and accommodation all very good. Like others i did find some areas outdated but in generall we had an excellent time with the kids. we were on a 2 night package incl. dinners and b'fast and enjoyed all meals very much. kids loved kids club & activitie and we will def be back. great deals & site on internet for hotel.

I don't know why this place is getting such mixed reviews, but we found it TERRIBLE. We didn't have kids, there were about a dozen of us staying to attend a wedding in Drumoland Castle, and we all had similar opinions: The rooms were unclean, the TV in ours was broken, soundproofing is AWEFUL - onversations can be clearly overheard from other rooms, the breakfast was yuk (it's hard to mess up a fry, but they did) and the ladies who were 'cleaning' the rooms were actually rude. Our room smelled aweful, the sheets were stained (common complaint?) and the bar staff were untrained and rude as well! I'd never go back, and certainly not for the money they're asking. We've stayed all over Ireland, and this is the worst value for money yet.
Give this place a miss!

My experience of this hotel is firstly of having to walk down seemingly endless cold corridors (external doors propped open). The room initially seemed clean but there were childrens crayon marks over the radiatiors, and I found the door hard to shut, as did the many drunks returning in the middle of the night! The bathroom was terrible IE permenant "brown you know what" in the the overflow, a tap that leaked, and fan that didn't work, together with pealing paintwork. I also considered the bar food over priced.
I didn't complain to the hotel because we only stayed one night, but certainly won't go anywhere near it again. I can't appreciate the enthusiasm of other reviewers here, they must have very low expectations.