Summerhill House Hotel - Bray, Ireland     

OK, so the fact I was staying at Summerhill because the Ritz-Carlton at Powerscourt (where I was attending a conference) was full wasn't a great start. But really, this hotel is not very suited to anyone travelling on business. The courtyard rooms look OK at first glance, but there is no phone or internet access at all, the sitting room contains two chairs and a little table, nowhere sensible to work, and the bathroom, although new, is badly designed. No central heating/aircon? Dimplex heaters? In a newly built facility? Clearly the place makes its living from weddings. That's OK, but when - on a Monday of all days - there is a function with screaming kids running around the place until two in the morning and a band until not far short of that (they were pretty good though!) the hotel is hardly usable for anyone else. Not recommended.

We stayed at the Summerhill House Hotel as an end of college year treat, having booked a weekend getaway online. It was the most painfully terrible experience I have ever had. The hotel seems to prioritize its weddings over any guests staying for a weekend break. The service was appalling, the staff rude and unfriendly. The room was filthy, to say the least, and after much toing and froing between reception we were eventually offered an alternative which was a just- built chalet in the grounds - they call it a courtyard but it has the look and feel of a car park. That room was serviceable and at least clean (possibly because it was brand new). There ensued a catalogue of stupid and unnecessary mishaps and horrors, from no electricity in the room to a strange man letting himself in with his card while we were lying on the bed watching TV, he was another guest who had mistaken the room number but it was disturbing, to say the least to find that his card worked on another room. There were plenty more mishaps, over a stay of two nights we had twenty incidents to complain of. When we did complain no manager could be found, we were promised a call back but no-one called us back and then we were told the manager was away for a week. We called head office and a woman there was most sympathetic, but still three weeks later has not phoned us back. All I can say is: unbeliveable! The cost for this torture was ?261.00 euro for two nights with a free dinner and wine - not worth it, they should have paid us.