The Harbour Hotel is in a reasonably good location, about five minutes from the centre of Galway (Eyre Square, Quay St), but oh the noise! (1) the noise of the (sometimes heavy duty) traffic going past all night (2) the noise of the people going out for a cigarette and talking loudly from the bar until all hours (3) the noise of the cleaner setting up the cleaning trolley outside the room with attendant rustling of plastic bags and clattering of hoover (4) the noise of the buses pulling up outside with engines running and (5) --not the hotel's fault-- the setting up of a marathon outside the hotel from 7am on a Sunday morning. Those factors coupled with very uncomfortable pillows meant that the next day was spent very bleary eyed and quite cranky.

There were some other people we met who had a room on the other side who were badly affected by noise too - the hotel rooms don't seem very sound-proof.

The room is fine, basic but clean. One thing that is increasingly amusing me about hotel rooms is the weird balance of "room amenities" - in this case we have a trouser press AND and iron / ironing board (yes, both methods of pressing trousers), but no fridge. Hmm.

I didn't go for the express purpose of the "Health Suite" but I would imagine that some account for this is factored into the overall price of the room. First, you are directed down the back stairs, past flip charts and overturned furniture to the "Health Suite", which consists of a gym, steam room and jacuzzi. Gym - fine. Steam room - out of order. Reception - unmanned so it wasn't clear where to go. Towels - 5 euro deposit!!! Lockers - 1 euro deposit! Not being weird about deposits, but it somewhat detracts from the relaxing "health suite" ambience to find yourself in your swimsuit and flip flops wondering from where exactly you are to produce this euro. Jacuzzi - fine, nice and hot, but small and in a little windowless room.

The staff were extremely friendly and very efficient and without that I would reduce my mark by a star.

Also, you had to pay for parking. The Athlone Sheraton allows you to park in the nearby car park and will validate your car parking for you so it is free. It is 8 euro a day for parking, which is a bit much. Also the spaces are very small and someone damaged my side mirror, possibly as a result (or maybe not, who knows?).

En summaire, staff very good, but hotel very noisy leading to bad night's sleep.