What can I say? It's in the village of Bearna (Irish spelling of what
is known in English as Barna) in Co. Galway. I passed by the hotel on
two occasions in recent weeks and I did not know that there was a hotel there!
Something wrong with the signage? Yes, I think the simple wooden sign
(HOTEL ****) hanging from a tree out front is not enough to catch the
eye. There are many other signs but they are smallish and in two
languages (Irish and English) which causes the eye to miss the
important thing i.e. this is a hotel (a four star hotel). This is a
very special place - and very stylish - it deserves to be advertised
a little bit better for passers by.
I have misgivings about the signage in general as already stated. On
the Moycullen Road there is a sign which states 'Ostain 12' and then
another sign which states 'West' alongside the Irish for restaurant
i.e. 'Bialann' and then 'Bar' alongside the Irish word for Bar i.e.
'Bear' (accent on the 'a'), These signs don't work properly as some
are over fire doors and the West door is closed for many days of the
week. They just do not look right.
The major sign to the front at high level is 'The Twelve' (a lit sign)
and it clearly does not let people know what the product is i.e.
hotel (a similar sign appears on the west-facing gable wall). The
Irish version on the Moycullen Road DOES let you know that
it is a hotel (Ostain 12) but it won't be clear to many people i.e.
tourists who do not speak the Irish language.
Round the corner on the main road the 'Bar Bear' combination appears
again followed by an awning at first floor level with West written on
it and finally there is 'Bakery' followed by the Irish for Bakery i.e.
'Bacus' (accent on the u). I suppose the signage problem was made a
little more difficult as the overall design on the outside of the
hotel is a series of buildings or houses with different finishes/ colours etc.
Some of the 'buildings' or 'houses' have a thatched roof. The archtitect/designer decided
on this street-look consisting of a set of distinct buildings and
that is probably why the problem of introducing uniform hotel signage became so
difficult. If we look at the pub/restaurant across the road i.e.
Donnellys, there is no such problem, The building is a standalone
two-storey house and its signage and finish are completely
integrated. It looks attractive (one colour alongside matching signs)
and is inviting. The Twelve on the other hand is crying out for
something to give it the INTEGRATED look, something that states that
this is a very special boutique hotel consisting of 48 rooms which
deserves to be investigated further! How to do that???
Part of the problem relates to the street level vis-a-vis the base of
the hotel's front wall. The base is below street level. A railing has been put
in place to separate the high level from the low level. The problem for the designer who
decided on building a multi-house facade is that part of the facade is
obscured by the railing or fence. The 'street appearance' is partially
hidden and consequently the impact of the building's overall
appearance is diminished.
Do I have other misgivings? Well, there is the aluminium framed porch
at the entrance to Reception. I don't think this porch is right, I am
not even sure Reception is in the right place. The designer spent a
lot on the Reception's atrium but it is too narrow to work as an
atrium. I suppose it lets in a little bit of light from the roof above and maybe
that helps. The seating area outside reception allows views of the
plastic bamboo plants, a litter bin, downpipes of varying sizes,
cigarette bins, a carpark and the back of a housing estate complete
with satellite dishes. Does it invite people to sit around and enjoy a drink?
Take one sip and almost certainly a member of staff will exit the corner
service/delivery door wheeling a bin of refuse!
Anyway, enough of the outside - what about the rest? Wanna hear the
good news? The inside is great. The rooms/spaces are fabulous with their
earthen or bog colours. These blacks and browns (different woods) are
fine and work well with the colour which is introduced by the various lamps.
Just perfect! The Pins bar area is a delight and reception
works well too with its quirky furnishings. Wanna know what the
signature furnishing style is? Yes, mirrors leaning up against the
wall! You will find these in the corridors and in the rooms etc. Some
mirrors are reproduction gilt mirrors with classical mouldings. Others
are modern and finished in black. I loved the rooms in this hotel;
they were spacious and comfortable. The bathrooms were fine too with
their simple mahogany style shelf with a plain ceramic basin on top. I
wasn't convinced that the tap was in the right place, however. Every
time I washed my hands, I spilled water all over the shelf below. I
liked the simple suspended lights complete with fabric shades. Mood
lighting a bit gimmicky! But good cosmetic stuff!
Was there something worrying about The Twelve? For me - yes! I was
surprised at the number of dome cameras in the building. When I went
to book a room in the first place I was being filmed by the two
side-by-side cameras in Reception. The girl must have considered me a
little bit undesireable and decided to give me the old story that
hoteliers do all the time 'sorry we're full'. She then upped and left
the reception area to go into the back office where I believe (can't
swear to it) that she double-checked on me by viewing my image on a
monitor. She emerged again only to announce that she did indeed have a
room on the nights I required to book. What strange behaviour! Anyway,
it meant that I passed the camera test!
I hadn't really worked this out (being vetted) till sometime later
i.e. when I was actually booked-in and staying at The Twelve. It was
only when I noticed the many cameras (how many in total?) that I
recalled the telling back-office spy manoeuvre.
I counted the number of dome cameras on the external walls of the
hotel and I found that there 15. I was eating breakfast one morning
(dome camera just over my head) and when I got up to visit the loo a
little later I discovered that I was tracked by 8 different cameras as
I made my way there.
After an evening meal in West (restaurant) we went across the road to
Donnellys and there we found after having been tracked crossing the
road by exterior cameras in The Twelve that we were going into another
premises where many dome cameras also existed!! Donnellys have no dome
cameras on the exterior of their building but they do have 2 standard
exterior cameras on the east-facing gable wall of their building. One
of these is pointed across the road at their delivery yard. The house
next door to Donnellys delivery yard (with stone arch to the left) has
3 exterior dome cameras! Make no mistake, the crossroads where The
Twelve is located is more than amply filmed by the various surveillance
systems belonging to the property owners there.
Are there other surveillance systems in Bearna? Believe it or not, I
saw a further 7 cameras in that access road next to the Evergreen
Healthfood store. Bearna must be the spy capital of Galway! Two of the
cameras in this side-road had a warning sign about the existance of
CCTV. No such signs exist in The Twelve.
As stated we tried WEST. I loved the food although my wife was
disappointed by the crab dish she had. I had halibut with clams and it
was very good. I liked the Wild Coast Shiraz/Cabernet. Only let-down
was the dome camera close by!
The hotel has a fine display of artwork - I enjoyed the two Rondo
prints by the German artist Gertrude Degenhardt. What about the
furnishings in the hotel? Very comfortable and ample in the bar area
and in the rooms. Some of the seats there are the widest I have ever
seen. The tables in part of the Pins Bistro Bar have strange splayed
supporting legs and I found that I nearly tripped each time I went to
get up from the table.
The system in use for accessing the rooms was Salto. Did it
work? Not always. Had to get my cards re-programmed on one occasion.
The room had a nice digital alarm clock radio (fabulous sound) but it
didn't seem to have push-button controls for accessing pre-set
stations. This meant that you would have to know in advance that RTE
Radio1 is located at 89.1 mHz. A bit of a problem!
I noticed that some firedoors were held in the open position by
wedges. Also there were many emergency lights where the lamps were not
working. Some spillage stains on the carpet of the corridor on the
second floor. I also noticed that some skirtings had worked themselves
loose. One floor board in the bar area had a series of screws holding
it down - sloppy repair job!
All in all, a great place to stay. I still think that I would have
called the hotel The Twelve Hotel with a sign to suit and I would
have called the restaurant The West Gourmet Restaurant and not just West.
Regarding the surveillance spy equipment that is everywhere I think
the people of Bearna should look again at that wonderful 'seanfhocail' in
Irish which is displayed on one of the walls of Donnelly's
Pub/Restaurant i.e. 'Is binn beal ina thost' 'Sweet is the mouth that's shut'
or Silence is golden. Perhaps the people of Bearna should consider this old
saying and imagine how it would appear if it were turned around with 'eye'
substituted for 'mouth'!
The staff in general were fine with one or two exceptions. A barman took
issue with me for pouring excess water from my glass into a clean glass
which was stacked behind the counter. Also my wife complained about a
member of staff being rude when she was queueing for a meal during the
Father's Day rush.
Final recommendation: get the architect/designer back to re-visit the
problem of the signage on the inside as well as the outside. I seem to
recall that some signage in Irish was conflicting with other signs.
Was it Na Beanna? As you will know Na Beanna Beola is the Irish name
for the Twelve Pins in Connemara (a wonderful mountain range) from
which the hotel derives its name.
Do something about that porch! Maybe something in hardwood which
would be more in keeping with what's inside?
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
