Guest User
May 8, 2024
Our one night stay at Emlagh House started nicely. We were greeted within minutes of arriving by a very friendly woman who accepted payment and gave us a set of keys. The house looks like an old country estate, but is actually only about 30 years old and was built to be a small hotel, although without any staff after regular business hours. Breakfast was included, but we were told to come to breakfast at 9am because there was a tour group coming for breakfast earlier, which we thought was a little odd. Wouldn’t you allow your paying guests to breakfast during a certain time period, instead of restricting that time because a tour group was scheduled? Anyway, dinner recommendations given by the woman who checked us in were great and the town is LOVELY. This is where it ends. The next morning, my husband got up first to find that the WiFi was down. Not terrible. Yet. Then, he went to shower, only to find that there was no hot water. He went downstairs to tell the only person he could find- an older woman who was busy serving breakfast, I assume to the tour group? She came up to our room a few minutes later to say that a plumber was being sent for “straight away.” I don’t know where you live, but where we live, that could be hours. We didn’t have said hours, as we had a long drive to Kilkenny ahead of us. While he took a cold shower, I went down to ask if we could get some coffee. The same woman who was informed about the lack of hot water directed me to the parlor, where I was welcome to make my own cup of instant coffee. French press pots were on the tables of the people eating breakfast. I told her that I would rather not have instant- could I have fresh, and she then offered that I sit in the dining room, I showered and in my pajamas. Apparently, guests without hot water aren’t given any accommodations. I returned to our room, washed up with cold water the best I could and we went downstairs to leave. She had the audacity to ask if we wanted breakfast. She then said that the lack of hot water had been fixed “in two minutes” and that this had “never happened before” and “what do you want? I said I was sorry.” This is absolutely unacceptable. This woman was rude and seemed to act like our expectation of hot water was some sort of insult. Hot water is not a luxury, especially at that price. We left. That same day, I received a phone call from the owner. I told him what had happen and he said he would “investigate” and get back to me. That was a week ago. I’m still waiting. Stay somewhere else in lovely Dingle. I imagine even the hostel has hot water.