Review of Castle Dargan Hotel 4*

We stayed in the apartments beside the hotel. As a whole the apartments are well below the standard we expected for the 4 star rating. We arrived to find all rubbish and laundry from the changeover sitting outside the apartments. This remained there for several hours even though the cleaning personnel had left. All the doors rattled throughout our stay making the stay v noisy. The carpets are filthy, badly in need of shampooing and cleaning. The fittings and fixtures are in bad repair, at least one bulb in each room was blown, the many door handles we broken or loose and many window latches were broken and sitting on the windowsills. A lot of work is needed to bring these apartments up to standard and finish them properly. The wedding we attended went off without a hitch but this was where the standard of hospitality ended. On the second day at breakfast our Coeliac friend asked about the gluten free options as listed on the menu, the waitress said the option was to remove the sausages and pudding from the breakfast. This is not a gluten free option this is just the removal of a few items from an already very small offering. When she asked the waiter was there anything else that could be offered instead a second very rude waitress came to the table and stated "you order from the menu only" and then walked away. On the second night, a group of the wedding party including us arrived back to the hotel. We were told there is no residents bar in the hotel although we had a residents bar the previous evening. Then eventually we were told there was a residents bar but we could only buy bottles. One woman asked for a vodka and mixer and was told to "buy the bottle (of vodka) from €150" if she wanted that drink. Then when she chose a bottle of beer the barman short changed her buy €4 because he did not have the change. When another person ordered some crisps, the barman crossed the bar cursing all the while to get the crisis and as he rammed them towards the person who asked for them said "anything else you can get it yourself from the vending machine". This is a sub par 4 star hotel. It's most apparent and obvious failing is the complete lack of hospitality shown by its staff and management. We left right after breakfast on the third day after paying our bill in full as we just wanted to get out of there. I cannot recommend avoiding this hotel more and if it were possible I would like to give it less than a 1 star review.