just back from a great weekend in galway - stayed at the skeffington arms - what a central hotel - it was great especially for me i could do my shopping and drop off bags and off i went again.....booked it from their website - to be honest i was worried from one or two reviews on tripadvisor but the hotel has been renovated and it's top class, our room was fab and my partner loved the massive tv in our room. Bed was so comfy. We ate in the bar on our first night great food and atmosphere - staff lovely. Overall i will definately be back - gonna book my next stay for some Christmas Shopping! Staff are so friendly at the front desk too they made us feel very welcome and could not have been nicer - every time we walked through the lobby they always acknowledged us and had a chat....

Last month, my girlfriend and I went over to the west of Ireland for a few days. We were only coming from Dublin so I didn't do much in the way of researching places to stay. I've been to Galway many times anyway so I had a good idea what to expect, prices etc. For the sake of convenience and its excellent location we stayed in Jurys for the first night. For those of you who are familiar with this chain- you'll know they are usually perfectly fine though really have no character or charm.

As such, the next afternoon we walked around the city centre having a look for somewhere else. We saw most of the hotels on Eyre Sq before eventually stumbling upon The Skeff. I'd always known this place as a pub but hadn't realised it also offered accommodation. We went in to enquire about a room and prices and found out the hotel had just been renovated- evident from the smell of fresh paint everywhere! Anyway, the place seemed very nice but it wasn't till we had a look in our room that we realised what a litlle gem we'd found!

The room was spotless- and because of the very recent renovation (the hotel had just reopened that week!) it was furnished to a very high standard. Admittedly the room wasn't huge- but it had a modern and really cool look. A big comfortable , modern-style double bed with lots of pillows, a deep shagpile carpet, trendy pine furniture, a very modern and well-equipped bathroom and the flat screen tv on the wall helped give the room a boutique, ultra-modern and stylish feel. We were really impressed.

As I travel quite a bit I am sometimes disappointed by the customer skills of Irish hotel staff when at home here but the two girls at the desk were absolutely charming and couldn't have been more helpful and polite. The price (about 95 euros) compared compared extremely favourably with the other hotels/b&b's on Eyre Sq and the room we stayed in was far superior to the others we'd looked at.The price included breakfast which was in the adjoining pub which admittedly didn't share the same modern feel of our room, even so, the breakfast was definitely one of the better ones I've had in an Irish bnb/hotel.

As i mentioned, the Skeff is right on Eyre Sq which makes it ideally situated in the heart of Galway City right beside the bus and train station.The hotel doesn't have its own car park but has a deal with the car park at the train station (less than 5 minutes walk) It cost about 7-8 euro for 24 hours which I thought was very reasonable.

To be honest, I have nothing bad to say about the Skeff. At a push, i'd mention that there was no view from our room- the window overlooked the back of a building right next door! As I said, the place had just been renovated so obviously we went the perfect time, perhaps after a few years things might not be so good! It is joined to a pub, we stayed there during the week and it was very quiet.

In conclusion, if you're going to Galway and looking for a room,service and location well above its competitors and indeed its asking price I would have no hesitation recommending the Skeff.

Recently returned from a night in galway - we didn't have a hotel booked and were wondering around looking for a hotel - when we came across the skeffington hotel - there was a lot of workmen around but we called in to see if there was a room. They were just opened after a refurbishment - there was a lovely fresh smell of paint The lobby was beautiful very bright, so first impressions were good we asked to see a room and it was fab so we booked in for the night we got a really good rate too The room was really comfy massive bed and the tv was equally as massive we spent most of the night in our room relaxing but did pop down to the bar for a coffee which was really nice bar is quite quirky overall staff were lovely, rooms were fab would def stay again

Stayed here with our guests for prelimiary stay before heading to wedding destination on Aran Islands, and we ALL regret it. The hotel staff were poorly organized. The rooms were on one of two sides to the hotel: 1: facing the street/park which will keep you awake ALL night from noise and party goers as Galway never sleeps, or 2: facing the kitchen/restaurant vents which fill your room with a foul smell. The hotel is SO LOUD!!! There is no air conditioning and it's warm in the rooms, so you have to open the windows, and then you can NEVER SLEEP. If we weren't "trapped" because it was where all of our guests were meeting, we would have left at 3am in the morning. There were two good things: the pub and the breakfast. The breakfast was one of the best in Ireland, and the pub is a GREAT time to party day and night. The pub has outdoor seating/standing which makes the fun even better. I would NEVER stay here again, nor would I recommend it, but I would have a drink at the pub and recommend pub for parties.