The Clonakilty Hotel

Was here with my family at the weekend. First impressions are good as the outside and lobby are quite nice. We were delayed getting checked in as the computer system was down. Our room was very small although the double bed was comfy. The bathroom was quite shabby and dated, more like what you’d expect in an old guest house. The bedroom wall had a tea or coffee spillage stain dried into the wall so a bit of cleaning and painting wouldn’t go amiss. We ate dinner there in the evening. The food was adequate although my pork belly wasn’t great. It looked more boiled than roasted with no crackling and the gratin potatoes were just baby potatoes sliced up with a minimum of cheese present. The breakfast was very disorganised. There wasn’t enough of the various items such as fried eggs which kept running out, we had to go to the bar to get tea or coffee as the staff didn’t come to the table. Some of the food was cold even though there were overhead heaters. Observing the staff, I got the impression that they were either untrained or badly trained as they made no effort to be proactive or anticipate that some food items were running low or gone without being told. I’d normally point out a problem to staff if I saw one but as the system was so disorganised I could have spent my whole mealtime discussing it. This is a better way of getting an establishment to improve as I assume they’ll read it. I appreciate we’re experiencing a pandemic but there are many hotels in the same boat who are much better than this.