We stayed here over the Chritmas peroid for one night as we were attending a wedding in the area. The B&B seemed fine when we checked in, we just dropped our bags and continued on to the wedding. The next morning when we came to have a shower their was no hot water, there was plenty of cold water though! I decided to go down to breakfast and ask the staff then about the water. When I told the staff member serving us that their was no hot water in our room, she proceeded to tell me that the B&B was having problems with hot water for the last four days!! I was told their would be hot water by 10 am. So we waited,no hot ater arrived. When we checked out, we mentioned our disappointment with not having hot water to the owner, Maureen. She simply said that it was not their fault that they did not have hot water that this problem arrose today. When I informed her that a staff member had told us that the B&B were experiencing difficulty with the hot water for the last four days, she replied that the staff member had not been working their for the last four days. We proceeded to ask for a discount for our stay. As we beieved we were entitled to it, she refused by saying that it was not their fault their was no hot water and offered for us the phone number of the local county council!
The B&B would have been fine if their was hot water, we would have even been happy if they had told us that their was problems with the water when we checked in. It was the attitude of the owners when we had complained- we were basicly told tough [--]. The owner proceeded to tell us that she had worked in hotels before and they would never give a discount for no hot water, we should have been happy that the room was clean and the breakfast hot!!
Dont stay here, the owners attitude was terrible. Their are plenty more decent places to stay in Athlone, if we had recieved a phone call explaining the situation with hot water we would have made other arrangements, do yourself a favour and make other arrangements!!
- Arch Hotel Athlone

