Very disappointed with our stay here over the weekend.

We chose to stay here for several reasons; 1) I’d stayed here before a few years ago and had a lovely time, especially in their large foyer area with a few drinks which is one of my favourite things to do when I go to hotels. 2) Our friends had stayed the week previous and said that they had had cocktails in the foyer for 2-3 hours prior to their dinner reservation, and that it had a lovely atmosphere.

We were really looking forward to our stay; we’re both frontline workers, working in the hospital and have not been away for a single night since our engagement last year and as were due to get married in several weeks now; we really wanted a night away to at least mark the engagement.

We didn’t really have much planned for the night, all we really wanted was to watch the all Ireland final and then go out for dinner which we booked in the city.

On arrival we were very happy how the hotel was regarding the covid restrictions; appropriate signage, stickers on the floor etc. We were asked if we wanted to book in for lunch /dinner, when we said we wanted lunch they told us to simply ring the bar and reserve a table (they made no indication that it was entirely booked up already)

We rang the bar as soon as we had arrived to the room to be told quite snarkily that the restaurant was booked for the entire night. We decided to order food via the click and collect (a stone cold pizza). When we went downstairs to collect it, we saw that the large foyer was completely empty and did have a small tv. We asked at reception if it was possible to watch the game there with a drink or two.

The conversation that followed was so frustrating and entirely full of contradictions; we could have tea and coffee and sandwiches etc in the foyer but couldn’t have alcohol (due to covid). We could have alcohol if we had a dinner reservation. We weren’t allowed to have a drink as the were expecting the pre dinner drinks ‘rush”. She then said that patrons with dinner reservations were firstly allowed to drink both before and after the meal but then she corrected herself to say that they were only allowed to drink in the foyer after the meal. Then we were told that no alcohol was allowed to be consumed in the foyer as it was a public area. We thought that this might have been for the 'substantial meal’ policy, so we asked could we not have a drink given that we have in fact just purchased a ‘substantial meal’. We were told no.

We were also informed this information was sent out to us in an email prior to our arrival, but after reviewing the email sent there was no such mention of anything about needing to prebook tables at the bar or any information around restrictions in the foyer.

We spent the remainder of the evening watching the match in our room, and only left to get drinks as part of the ‘click and collect service’ which I will say is well run. I will also say that the rooms were very tidy and comfortable.

The situation was extremely frustrating and it put a dampener on the entire night. The foyer restrictions had absolutely no logic to them and seem entirely arbitrary. It was bureaucracy for the sake of it. When we returned from dinner there were a large number of guests in the foyer drinking (presumably they had dinner reservations before).

We felt we were essentially confined to our hotel room for the evening and were made to feel like our request to watch a match in the foyer with a drink was entirely ridiculous.

We will not be staying again.

I recently visited the Essence Spa at the Clayton Hotel Cork and availed of their ‘Head to Toe’ package. From the time of making my booking just the day before through to leaving reception, everyone was friendly, Covid-aware and very welcoming. The warm oil back, neck & shoulder massage given by Eimear was the best I’ve ever had. Well worth the visit just for that! The mini-facial & hydrotherapy bath were also super. I was fortunate that the gym & pool were not heavily in use during my visit so the common changing room after my treatment was quite & relaxing.

A super over night stay in the heart of Cork City. The friendly and helpful staff made it such a pleasant stay. Could not do enough for us. The bar staff were lovely and Kerry was the nicest waitress I have met. I would highly recommend this hotel.