We paid in full a 7 day stay close to $10,000 with 22 other guests a year ago for our wedding this upcoming September. With no warning, Ballyhannon cancelled our reservation. This not only affects our stay, but all of our guests, including those not staying at the venue. 90% of them have already purchased plane tickets for the specific times and expectations of the castle stay, including dates, locations, specific room arrangements, types of beds (couple vs individual beds and rooms), not to mention those that weren't staying at the venue and had already arranged other accommodations. Everything was set. Our wedding was on. We have paid our deposit for catering of hundreds of dollars, purchased hundreds of dollars for invitations with Ballyhannon Castle as the location, and planned our day trips/group events/activities around this location, including already paid for tours. Now with 5 months to go, we must start pretty much from the ground up, planning an international wedding within 5 months. Other venues either are located well out of distance to accommodate these trips/events and already paid for tours), not offering the dates we need (some offer partial days if at all) or extremely out of our price range. We have 24 people just at the venue who have invested in this trip under a specific set of circumstances, many who can not afford to make further commitments or alter them for financial reasons. We have guests that are showing up at the beginning but leaving early and other guests arriving mid-week and leaving late – our castle dates accommodated this overlap. We can’t alter them, but we have no choice. We must change our invitations. We must let our guests know they are now responsible for finding room and board outside of the dates we no longer can accommodate. Ballyhannon Castle has not only caused extreme turmoil and grief under this house, but our other 22 guests and extended guest list are now far more stressed and upset than I ever would expect a guest to a wedding need to be. When searching for other accommodations, the general consensus is that a good and moral business practice would be to honor their current paid commitments before choosing to alter their business practice for any reason other than dire financial strain, which we were told by the owner that this was not. One of the researched castles explained to us for instance, that while they are planning a year long sabbatical and not taking further bookings, they made sure to push it out to accommodate all their customer commitments before doing so. How many weddings, vacations, Birthdays, reunions, have been ruined by this? I know our wedding will survive, now a wedding nightmare, with a lot of strain and impossible re-coordination. Ballyhannon Castle has caused us all heartache and headache beyond imagine. I would encourage anyone who would book at least the Carriage House in the future (The castle no longer for rental), to know what type of business this is, to have ruined so many peoples once in a lifetime days, to most, the most important day of anyones life.…
With no warning they cancelled our stay here. No apologies, no excuse. Please go to Airbnb and see how many people they have been cancelling on! This is horrendous customer service. BEWARE! Do not trust them to follow through on commitments!
We rented Ballyhannon Castle for my 40th birthday. It was perfect in every way. The trip of two lifetimes, really. The castle is brilliant, the coach house magnificent, County Clare without peer, and hosts Margaret & Liam a dream come true. That was in 2006. And we came back. We took our 3 girls to Ireland for Christmas this year (they were 5, 3 and a gleam back in 2006) and stayed at Ballyhannon again. It is even better now, with new heaters, WiFi and other updates, but the same 500-year old magical ambiance. Margaret and Liam are as vibrant and wonderful as ever. So stop looking. This is it. This is the one. Ballyhannon Castle. You will love it.
An idyllic Castle and Coach House set in the tranquil beauty of the Clare countryside. A great place to stay if you are planning on touring Shannonside and the West coast. Spacious with modern amenities set off the road on a quite boreen with wonderful views. Perfect for large family gatherings and special events.
We stated at the Ballyhannon for 7 days in July 2017. It was just my wife, daughter & myself. The west coast of Ireland is one of our favorite travel destinations and in the past we've stayed at traditional B & B's or hotels. We wanted to try something completely different for lodging. We were not disappointed. The fact that this structure was built in the 15th century and we were able to stay here is a testament to the craftsmanship of that era and the current owners taking great care in keeping the castle up to date and clean. The spiral staircase was amazing and I thought of all the Irish nobles that ascended those stairs each time I went up and down. The great hall was magnificent. The bedrooms had more than enough space and the dinning hall was something out of Game of Thrones. Beds were comfortable & clean with plenty of linens & blankets. The kitchen was modern with all the necessary cooking utensils. Washer/dryer worker well. Bathrooms were clean. Location was great. No noisy neighbors. Excellent location. Short drive to the coast & the surf towns such as Lehinch. If the Aran islands are on your destination I would recommend taking the Doolin ferry as it was a easy drive from the castle. Loved the little town of Ennis, had dinner there twice. Shopping in Ennis was a lot of fun. My family called it "Little Galway". If you need more action Galway itself is a short drive and don't miss eating at "The old Barracks" resturant in the little town of Athenry which is just outside Galway. We thank Margaret & her family for sharing this treasure!…
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