[PatJordan]

Over the past two decades, my family and I have had a great many visits to Red Cow hotel, and the Red Cow Inn. Without exception, each and every visit has been very enjoyable indeed. Therefore having had such good experiences in the past, our expectations were that of a similar standard.

On Wednesday 22nd November 2017, my wife and I arrived at the Red Cow Hotel to attend a two day conference. On checking the information display in reception, I was surprised to note that the meeting was taking place in the Red Cow Inn, in the Marley Room.

Notwithstanding the appalling weather that particular morning and the inconvenience of having to venture outside in to heavy wind and rain to walk to the Red Cow Inn, I was concerned to note that a meeting was being held in a function room.

When we arrived at the Marley Room it was immediately apparent that the room was completely unsatisfactory:

• The lighting was dim
• It was very warm (which hindered concentration on the very important issues being discussed)
• The projector screen was hanging in front of the bar shutter
• The instructor could not find a plug for the laptop & projector. The bar shutter had to be opened for this purpose.
• The projector was difficult to align to the makeshift screen: this was partially resolved by using a couple of saucers to prop up the projector. Most unsatisfactory, and the resulting view was far from perfect.

As a conference participant I found the room highly unsatisfactory. It was also apparent that the makeshift facilities presented difficulties for the presenters. Most importantly, the conditions in the room were such that I found it unpleasant and this had an adverse impact on the enjoyment of the event.

We had arranged to have the evening meal @ 7.30pm at Tom’s Table, the main restaurant in the hotel. Our group presented on time, and an area had been reserved for our use. The menu on display was two courses (main & dessert) and seemed to be the same set menu as available for all patrons. There were jugs of water on the tables, but at no stage did anybody offer breads as is the norm in most restaurants. Indeed it was clear to see several trays of bread on an adjacent counter. It took a long time for the orders to be taken, and a number of our party specifically asked if the mains were accompanied by potatoes or chips: the answer was in the affirmative.

Over half an hour after we sat down, I asked a server if it would be possible to have some bread while we were waiting for our meals. Several minutes later a selection of breads was placed on ONE table, with butter, but NO PLATES: these took another few minutes to arrive.

When the mains were eventually served, they were only lukewarm.

After another period of several minutes had passed, a server told us that the vegetables would be out “in a few minutes”. And after a few minutes, the vegetables did indeed arrive……by which stage the majority of our (famished) group had almost finished their meager main courses. At no stage did any potatoes arrive.

When a server came to clear the table, she asked whether we had enjoyed our meals. Several of our group expressed dissatisfaction with the aforementioned issues. A supervisor was summoned and was distinctly uninterested. So much so that during a conversation with one of our group, he walked away when he was being spoken to. This was seen by the entire group and judged to be abject rudeness.

Some minutes later the supervisor returned with a duty manager. Whilst this manager was being briefed about our complaints, the supervisor was seen (by a number of our group) smirking and shrugging his shoulders. Once again, a demonstration of utter rudeness from a supervisor (in a service industry) which offended me greatly.

The duty manager offered fulsome and repeated apologies, and promised to pass our concerns to the next level.

I (and others) had made the point more than once that after our meagre meals, we were still hungry, and this was the case for the vast majority of us. It took several attempts to make the manager understand this and eventually an offer was made to provide finger food for our group.

After some time trays of finger food were served to us, but without any dips or sauces. When everybody was almost finished eating sauce sachets were put on the table. In truth the quality of the finger food was mediocre at best, and despite the glass of wine (we were told it was not possible to have a drink from the bar) offered to each of us, it was felt that the finger food was arranged and served with as little grace as possible.

The desserts were served, and were acceptable, but one or two of our group ordered coffees, which were lukewarm too.

This was one of the worst ever meals I have ever experienced, not to mention the breathtaking rudeness of the supervisor. That members of an organisation which places a lot of business with the Red Cow Hotel are treated in such a fashion is totally unacceptable.

As an individual, I am deeply disappointed with this experience.

Having had so many previous (and very good experiences) here makes this episode inexplicable.

Would be visit Moran’s Red Cow Hotel again: very unlikely

Would we recommend Moran’s Red Cow Hotel: No:

[PatJordan]

The above relates to experiences as part of a group. Separate to this were the experiences my wife and I had before and during the two day event. I have copied these below in the form of a letter sent to the hotel management:

The General Manager,
Red Cow MoranHotel,
Red Cow Complex,
Naas Road,
DUBLIN 22YX80.

Dear Sir,

I wish to raise a number of complaints about the Red Cow Hotel.

I must preface this letter by saying that over the past two decades, my family and I have had a great many visits to both your hotel, and the Red Cow Inn. Without exception, each and every visit has been very enjoyable indeed. Therefore having had such good experiences in the past, our expectations were that of a similar standard.

On Sunday 19th November 2017, my wife and I visited the cocktail bar at approximately 6pm with the intention of having a meal. I also wanted to make an enquiry about accommodation for a two day event which was being held by my employer, the Irish Prison Service on Wednesday & Thursday 22nd & 23rd November. I wanted to find out whether we would be staying in the old wing (where we had many pleasant stays in the past) or in the new wing. The gentleman at reception was most helpful and advised that rooms were allocated at check-in, and I should enquire at that stage. We then went to the cocktail bar to have a look at the menu.

We duly sat down, having no difficulty finding a table, made our choices and waited for somebody to take our order…….

After waiting for over 15 minutes without anybody coming to take our order, we decided that we had waited long enough and went elsewhere. Had it been a busy evening, we would have been quite content to wait, but the bar was far from busy on this occasion. This was the first time ever that we had to leave the Red Cow Hotel hungry.

We checked into the Red Cow Hotel at approximately 1.30pm Wednesday 2017. I followed your colleague’s suggestion and asked the receptionist if it would be possible to have a room in the new wing. I was told in a very brusque manner that all the rooms for the Irish Prison Service delegates were already allocated in the old wing.

I began to explain that I had spoken to somebody a few days earlier and was acting on his suggestion to ask for a room in the new wing when checking in. The receptionist repeated her statement (in a slightly louder voice) and issued me the keys. My wife remarked how taken aback she was by the surly attitude and demeanour of the receptionist.

I spoke to a more senior member of staff who immediately apologised for this experience and explained that he was in the process of mentoring the lady in question who was newly appointed. He went on to allocate us room 2117.

We were delighted and were greatly impressed with the room. However, as the evening passed, we became aware of some small deficiencies in the new room:

• The moisturizer bottle was broken
• There was very little toilet paper in the bathroom (as it turned out there was barely enough for our stay
• The absence of Air Conditioning is most surprising omission in a newly built hotel development. We had to open the window during the night to cool the room. It would be unpleasant in the summer, I imagine.

However, the new wing is a very nice development, and we appreciated the gesture of switching our room.

Yours sincerely,

Patrick Jordan

[Author]

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