Lodges at Shannon Oaks Hotel & Country Club, Portumna, Co. Galway

Stayed in one of the lodges here over the June 2007 Bank Holiday weekend. Will not be going back there.

The lodges are certainly sizeable – 5 double/twin bedrooms, a bathroom, shower room and an ensuite shower room, and a big sitting/dining/kitchen area – but they are showing serious signs of neglect. The wood outside needs re-varnishing, the décor is dated, the ensuite loo handle had broken and a large screw put in its place! The ensuite had no shelf anywhere, including in the shower, to put your toiletries. The hotel website claims, and I quote, “beautifully fitted bathrooms”. Eh, No. I strongly disagree.

Paintwork needed retouching badly in a lot of areas. Curtains had hooks missing. The main bedroom had a 4’6” bed which is smaller than we have at home, yet there was plenty of space for a king size one. Most of the 6 of us felt that the beds were overly firm, and there was a severe shortage of (hard) pillows.
We were charged a €32 fee for cleaning and didn’t feel that the place was really clean, the kitchen floor had a tacky sensation when you walked on it. There were a lot of cobwebs about. Overall the house had a functional feel rather than any sense of luxury about it.

We thought that the Castlegates restaurant might be worth a try, so knocked on the door at about 5.30 to ask for a menu. The two waiters told us that we’d have to wait until 6 o’clock. A bit strange, we thought. The other half went over just after 6, and after much persuasion, a waiter finally offered a menu. €35 bought starter, dinner & dessert, none of which had a “Wow I must eat here” factor. The addition of the disinterested waiters helped us decide that this was a restaurant to be avoided.

So to Plan B. The “Idle Hour Bar” is a nice looking place, with live entertainment on weekend nights. We had an “ok” meal there on our first night, portions left us still hungry so we thought we’d order chips to dip in the remaining pepper sauce we had and follow it with dessert. Our pleasant but mindless waitress arrived with the desserts (one of which was wrong) and told us that our chips would be along in a minute! When I explained to her that we really didn’t want to eat chips and pepper sauce at the same time as cheesecake or whatever, she looked totally confused and asked what she should do. We cancelled the chips! After we got our bill she hadn’t collected the money 35 minutes later, so we had to hunt her down before we could escape.

Next night we returned to the bar for a nightcap (having driven to Terryglass for a nice meal in Paddy’s Bar there). When asked for a ¼ bottle of the Cono Sur I’d had last night, the barman said they were out of it and could only offer a Chardonnay. He gave off the impression that he didn’t see any difference between one white wine and another. (We also popped in briefly the next night, being the gluttons for punishment that we are, and, when asked, a bargirl served me a Cono Sur, saying there were plenty more in the stores.)

As we were not impressed with the hotel dining experience, meals were then a bit of a problem. Food generally is not great in Portumna if you want to eat out. However, our teens discovered that the local Chinese was happy to deliver, and they rented DVDs from somewhere else, so they were set. Apparently an Indian restaurant is due to open soon, but none of the locals I spoke to could really recommend any restaurants in Portumna. I must make a positive mention of Portumna Golf Club, where we had lunch on Sunday, and it was really, really good. Tasty food, beautifully presented, at a very reasonable price.

The hotel website says the gym is open to all guests over the age of 16. But when you get there, there is a sign saying that due to the behaviour of some guests recently, the gym is now available only to those aged 18 and over. My son and his friend are 17, and I had specifically checked the hotel’s website to be sure there would be no problem using the gym. In the end they didn’t have a problem using the gym, we simply told them to lie and say they were 18 and we would back them up. Not what I would have liked to do, but my son is very keen on gym work, and the hotel website lied in the first place!

The leisure centre has a nice looking pool with kiddies area including bubble pool, there is a Jacuzzi, sauna and steam room. The Jacuzzi apparently works on a 10 minute cycle, I couldn’t get it to work at all in the 20 minutes I tried. The sauna was good, but the steam room was pretty grim, smelly and very unappealing. (The website says steam room with aromatherapy. No, it didn't provide this. None whatsoever. Nor did I smell the eucalyptus the sauna cabin claims to have.) Showers have curtains rather than doors, an “all-in-one” shampoo and body wash is supplied. The showers themselves are good and hot, but are the type where you have to push the on button every 30 seconds or so. There were 2 hairdryers, no charge to use them, and they were good powerful ones. Plastic strips rather than duckboards made drying off and dressing an uncomfortable experience on the feet.

Did we complain? No. We felt that the staff were by and large doing their best, and the problems were larger than someone could really fix overnight. A few staff are clueless, but the biggest problem is the overall state of the place. Some serious money needs to be spent on upgrading this place, and staff training needs a bit more priority.

On the plus side:
The towels supplied in the lodges were nice and soft.
The staff generally were helpful and friendly.
The setting is very nice, with Portumna Forest Park all around the back of the houses.
The local golf course is a real gem, with great food on offer, less than 5 mins drive away.

A group of seven of us recently stayed in one of the lodges on the grounds of this hotel. They are clean, comfortable and very spacious with a lovely green area in front of them for playing ball etc and nice decking for dining al fresco. They would be very suitable for groups of adults and large families. They would also be suitable for those with limited mobility (not sure about those completely wheelchair bound) as there are 2 bedrooms and a showeroom/toilet downstairs.

The hotel itself is an entirely different story. It is by no means a 4 * hotel and the lodges themselves are far superior. It was great to have use of the leisure centre/swimming pool but do not expect luxury of any sort. The children will love it though.

The food and service in both the bar/grill and restaurant were sub-standard, the former being truly awful, the latter being bland and poor value for money. The reception staff were very friendly and helpful and I can strongly recommend a facial in the hotel's beauty salon which was really wonderful.

Portumna itself is a great family destination with Galway city less than an hour away and horse-riding, an open farm with playgrounds and Europe's largest karting track all within a 20 mile radius. Lough Derg is really beautiful and just a short walk away....great for a picnic. All in all we had a fantastic time and would def return to one of the lodges...I would not recommend the hotel though.

I stayed at the shannon oaks hotel recently for a wedding. I thought that the bar was very nice, with some interesting features. The room the wedding was in was stunning. Other than this though, I found the hotel disappointing. The bedrooms are dull and the decor is old fashioned for a 4 star hotel. There was wallpaper in the bathroom! I didn't feel that the room was totally clean, there was cigarette ash in the toilet bowl and on the toilet seat when we arrived and the pillows were like rocks. Also, there was NO hot water available the morning after the wedding, I had to have a cold shower and it was freezing. When I mentioned this to the receptionist I was told that the water was re-heating again. I feel this is totally uncceptable for a large hotel. No matter what happens you should always be able to have a hot shower at a hotel. For this reason, I wouldn't stay at the shannon oaks hotel.

Stayed in the Shannon Oaks Hotel, over the Xmas period/Had a very enjoybale stay, staff were all very helpful and friendly and food was great. Loved the food in the Bisto in the evening, would recomend, especially to families to eat there. Staff at reception were very helpul and friendly. The Leisure Centre is fantastic, they have a great pool. There's also a Beauticans in the hotel which was great. Overall had a fantastic trip and would higly recomend this hotel. Great place to go if you are looking for a relaxing break.