It's about four miles from the City Centre on the main Muckross Road. I was a little distracted when I first saw it from the main road as what you see is an old pub beside an old stone house and you think this is the hotel.
However, drive into the car park and around the back and you will see the very grand, new, castle style building that is now the main hotel. Opened in 2006 they have spent a lot of money on this establishment. My initial impressions of the decor were that it was very plush and, for a change, does not depend on the current emphasis on creams and browns.
Check in was immediate and we were shown to our rooms. I was impressed as it was all plush wines and old golds with a canopied bed and plenty of space. There was tons of wardrobe and storage space, together with cable tv, tea & coffee making facilities, a safe etc.
Then came the big disappointment for me. The bathroom. I had an adjoining room with my sister with access from one room to the other through a connecting door. I saw her bathroom first and it was luxurious with a bath, seperate glass fronted shower, twin sinks, fluffy towels and luxury toiletries. My room had......a disabled bathroom. At least, it was classed as such but I have no idea how a wheelchair bound guest would manage to climb into the bath to have a shower. Yes, the only shower was in the bath. Plus there wasn't even a shower curtain. Instead of the twin sinks with tons of storage space that my sister had, I had one of those tiny disabled sinks. Now my Mum is disabled and we couldn't work out how these miniscule sinks benefit disabled people. If either of us tried to wash ourselves or brush our teeth we were showered with water as the tap entirely occupied the sink space.
The second disappointment was the swimming pool. We travelled with two young children and the first thing they packed was a swimsuit. One of the main reasons my sister chose this hotel was because it had a pool. Imagine our collective disappointment the first morning when we arrived down to be informed that the pool here is strictly over 18's only. The reason given is that it is part of a thalasso section of the spa. As we looked with disappointment written all over our faces, the pool was empty.
I must say that there were very many plus items that would, nevertheless, bring us back to this hotel.
The staff are outstanding, and in particular I would have to mention Emmanuel the restaurants manager and Thomas in the residents bar. These two gentlemen did everything they could to make our holiday most enjoyable and they put themselves out to ensure the children were happy.
The restaurants (Blue Pool, G B Shaws, and Molly Darcys) were excellent and will each have a seperate review here. The bars (again Molly Darcys and also the Residents bar/lounge The Monks) are superb. Again I will write a seperate review for each.
The public areas are very lovely, the library/reading room is comfortable and peaceful and comes stocked with board games and a grand piano.
There's plenty of car parking space and assistance with the luggage is prompt and efficient.
