We spent two nights with at the Muckross Park Hotel, Killarney, on the weekend of the 27th to the 29th January. I have to say we were very disappointed with our stay and the reasons are outlined below;
• On arrival at the hotel, we were shown to our room, it was a nice room but was at the back of the hotel, overlooking the car park and the room was freezing. The porter suggested that we take a walk around the hotel until the room heated up. At the very least we should have been offered a coffee if not a drink while we waited, after all this was supposed to be a 5 star stay.
• We tried to get down to the spa to take a look, this was at 18:30, and we were locked out, it does not close till 19:00. We had intended eating in the restaurant on the Friday evening on the ADVERTISED menu of 2 courses for €29-€30 (that was on the website), but were informed that this had been discontinued. As we intended dining with fellow guests on the Saturday evening we wanted a more reasonable menu for the Friday night. At this point our room was still cold so we decided to eat in the bar as we were, however the meal was not very satisfactory. We then returned to our room and it was only just warming up. Overall the pleasure of our stay on the Friday was somewhat diminished, and Friday was my actual birthday and the reason for our getaway.
• On Saturday afternoon we were looking forward to relaxing in the spa before dinner, on arrival at the reception we were told that we could not enter as it was full and that we should have booked, we had not been told that this was necessary, nor had several others that were turned away. When we eventually got a call to say that we could go down, it was to discover that that the out-door hot tub was not in use, and neither the sauna nor the steam room were functioning. The Jacuzzi was not very warm either.
I work as an H&S Officer, and to say the least you need to risk assess your pool and your sauna room. The pool has hidden hazards, steps and railings beneath the water that cannot be seen, and the tiles are loose or fallen off in the steam room. I intend writing to Fáilte Ireland and have already spoken to their Spa Assessor about the rating in this spa, it is most definitely NOT 5 star.
When our friends arrived on the Saturday, we had been so disappointed in our stay so far that we opted to eat out in town, a loss to your hotel of 4 full restaurant meals and several bottles of good wine.
We have 4 young children and it is very difficult to get away, when we do we like to enjoy the leisure of the Spa, especially the out-door hot tub and pool, neither of which you had on offer. The photos of the pool are very deceptive on your web site, it should be made clear that it is NOT a swimming pool. Between the none existent menu, the lack of functioning facilities in the spa and lack of a nice view we have been left feeling very cheated in our weekend away and that there was a lot of ‘False Advertising’ on your behalf.
You have a beautiful hotel with great potential, but you have lost every single customer that we met on that weekend but taking shortcuts to try and save money. You have lost a lot more than you have gained and with one lady writing on trip advisor about her experience you have probably lost some future potential customers, you have certainly lost us and our friends and any other friends that we may talk to about our stay. It is a pity because the hotel could be very comfortable, leaving people feeling pampered and relaxed. We came home feeling a little stressed and vexed after our weekend away.
- Muckross Park Hotel Cloisters
- Muckross Park Hotel
