We have just spent a super weekend at The Tralee Hotel. As members of a group of 67 booked in for a weekend function we found the hotel to be excellent value from the very good three course meal served on the Friday evening to the 5 course banquet dinner. Rooms were comfortable and clean with the management eager to please - repairing a faulty shower within ten minutes of it being reported.

I’d stayed at The Tralee a few times 5ish years ago and booked it on the basis that I knew it was a pretty good place. I then read the reviews on TripAdvisor and was slightly concerned. My overall view is that most of the points made by others seem to be justified. We (2
adults and a 2 and a 5 year old) stayed in a family room weekend after Easter 2007. Clientele were a fair mix of middle-aged couples, families and others and were all fairly respectable. No sign of stag parties.

We struggled to sleep on the first night as the room was so hot. Only
one of the 3 windows would open. At midnight we changed to a room
“miles” away in the “West Wing”. This appeared to be a suite and was much more spacious and cooler than the first room. Apparently all rooms along the front of the building are hot all year round and they don’t know why.

The Good Points – Excellent location close to town and zig-zag path to the beach. Nicely redone ground floor reception and bar area (yes the reception area does look a bit cheap, but no problem with that – it’s functional). Friendly and helpful staff. Reasonable amount of free car-parking (though probably not enough when hotel is full). Spacious and tasteful dining area.

The Bad points – Accommodation could do with a lick of paint, particularly the doors and hallways. Many of the windows are rotten and do not open – it seems that each room has the minimum one opening window. Some of the room furniture is shabby – bed settee in first room had wooden frame showing through the fabric. Bathrooms are OK but showers and hot water are hit and miss. Water in rooms was not fit for drinking. Cooked breakfast was limited and lukewarm (cold fried bread – ugh!). Continental breakfast very limited – no pastries or cold meat or breads). Mattress in 2nd room lumpy and uncomfortable and not changed as requested. No chalk available for pool table. Remote control did not work.

The Tralee used to be a very good 3 star but has definitely suffered from lack of investment. I would say it still looks better than many of the other 3 star places in Bournemouth but a few million pounds investment wouldn’t hurt. It is a huge place!

Well said wedding guests. I stayed at the Tralee last year, wrote to the manager who didn't even bother sending a reply to our complaint. The Tralee is sadly now nothing more than a wannabe bed & breakfast. It was much better when it was privately owned 5 years ago. Simon & his then team couldn't do enough for all the guests & we looked forward to our annual break. We would never go back there ever again. Shame, as it used to be a nice hotel.

We had our Wedding at the Tralee. The conference manager actually changed 3 times due to Youngs selling two of their four hotels and the manager we initially saw went with them, so we struggled to get what we had initially agreed. The new conference manager thought it not necessary to turn up for even 5 minutes on the day to make sure we were happy, not did she feel it appropriate to be there when we brought the table decorations the day before. Staff were taping down pieces of carpet whilst the drinks reception was underway. The table favours were placed on the wrong tables.The Master of ceremonies was not been briefed and so kept having to interrupt us as we mingled with our guests. The Honeymoon suite was like an ice box, the heating in the room had not been turned on nor could we get it to work. The water was not drinkable and no bottled water was provided. Property that we could not locate the morning after, that we presumed had been kept safe for us was found in the bin after we requested the bins be searched. The standard of food was not what we expected for a wedding. The figurines from the cake were thrown away and they will not replace them, nor are they willing to offer any sort of compensation after we gave them a grand total of £5,400. I would defianately not receommend this hotel for a wedding, nor would I recommend it as a hotel to stay in for any length of holiday stay. I would go over the road to the Highcliff Marriott, as the only thing going for the Tralee Hotel is its location. Hopefully Youngs will sell the remaining two Hotels and let the professional hoteliers show chains like Young Hotels how its really done.