I had a terrible time at this hotel. I've never put a bad review on here before and usually try to find something good to say. But this hotel was THE WORST PLACE I HAVE EVER STAYED and I really feel that it is important to let others know. You can see my other review on this website are all good. I will be reporting the Hertitage hotel to the appropriate authorities including Bord Failte and the consumer watchdogs for the problems listed below:

I was taking my mother away for the night and decided to take my two children aged 10 months and 7 years also. I know the Heritage Hotel as I've had coffee there with business colleagues many times and it always seemed nice. I went on their website and got a quote of 89 per night. However when I went to book the price I was being charged kept changing to 120. I telephoned the hotel and told them of the misleading advertising on their website and that the price quote was not being honoured. The hotel booking staff also refused to honour the online bargain quote and told me that the best that they could do was 99. I decided to allow the misleading advertising to pass and to go with hte higher quote anyway as the place has a good reputation (undeserved).

When I arrived at the car park I couldnt get in. THe sign on the ticket box says "Press the blue button for help". There is no other button. I didn't want "help". I wanted a ticket. I eventually pressed the blue button to find that it is in fact the ticket button - and is mislabelled as the help button. I then followed the signs to a car parking space on the second level (there are no spaces reserved for ppl with buggys or children). I parked as close as I could get to the lift. I had a buggy with a 10 month old in it and two big wheely suitcases. My mother is elderly and has a heart problem so I was laden down with bags. Even my seven year old had to carry a bag. We struggled to get to the lift. To our complete shock there was no lift. It was signposted all over the place but it turned out that the lift is only on every second floor!!!!! THIS FACT IS NOT SIGNPOSTED. Eventually we had to run down the up ramp for cars which is extremely dangerous. We went through the very shabby entrance to reception. The hotel is not well decorated and there are a lot of bangs and marks along the walls. I complained about the failure to signpost the fact that there is only a lift on every second floor. THe lady at reception spoke little english. She insisted that there is a lift. She made out that I had missed it. Believe me, I went back later to check and there is not lift on the floor I parked on even though it is signposted that there is. She was for more concerned with getting fully paid for the room in advance than she was with my complaint.

I told the receptionist that I wanted breakfast for all the following morning. That was agreed. I was given a room key. THe lady gave me no directions to the room and we got lost trying to get there. THERE WAS NO-ONE TO HELP WITH THE BAGS. NO HELP WAS OFFERED OR AVAILABLE. When I got to the room I felt like I'd run a marathon. I had complained about the difficulty I had had getting in from the car park and really it was as if I was a crank and they really didn't accept the criticism.

I tried to find the telephone number for reception. It wasn't written on the telephone. We had to get out the big information pack to find it. Reading the pack we found that room service had finished at 9pm. It had taken so long to get in and to get to the room it was by now 9.30pm. We checked the channels on the tv and found that they did not correspond with those stated in the information pack. We couldn't find our show. So I telephoned down to be told that a duty manager would be up to the room to fix the TV adn they confirmed that all the restaurants and other eateries were closed. Then I got a call to say that Channel 4 is no longer available in the hotel. The information in pack is out of date.

We then had no room service, no food for the kids or ourselves and nothing to do. Children aren't welcome in this hotel and can't go into any bar or restaurant after 6.30. And after 9 there is no food even on room service!! Why does everything shut so early?????

We tried to ring down to see if we could get even a sandwich. I was hung up on by reception twice. I decided to go down to reception where at worst I could get the telephone number of a pizza place and we could order pizza. I went out of my room (which look directly onto an ugly railway line) and across the hall to a stairwell. I went through the doors and then realised that I hadn't asked my mother what she wanted. I tried to go back and found that I was locked into the stairwell and that I couldnt get out. There were no signs anywhere warning me that I would be locked in and no signs telling me how to get out. I was a bit shocked to say the least and that is not an appropriate fire escape , as in the event of a fire, someone might scout to find the way out and find themselves locked away from an invalid or other person requiring help out. I found an unmarked door at the bottom which wasn't locked and was the way into the lobby. Why oh why isn't it signposted and why arent there warnings everywhere?? I wasn't told that I would have to carry a room key everywhere with me, even to get down to the lobby. And if one has to carry a room key everywhere then why did we only get two???

When I got down to the lobby they said that someone was up at the room trying to organise a sandwich for us. It appears that there is a room service sandwich service available after all but it is not in the information pack and the receptionists didn't tell us when we called down to find out about food. They had told us that everywhere in the hotel was closed. We got our sandwiches and they were nice enough. The coffee was dreadful.

The following morning we got up to go down to breakfast. We understood it to be on until 10.30. We arrived down at 10.15 and were refused entry into the breakfast area as they said that we were too late. Now I was furious. I had booked breakfast the previous night. I had had to read the bloody information book about twice to work out how to get food the night before and now they were refusing us food again!!!!!. They didn't even offer us a piece of toast. There were still people in eating their breakfasts. They could have offered us tea and toast. But no. They wouldnt even let us in. I complained at reception. Normally one is told the time for breakfast when one checks in. Not here. And how could they refuse to feed the children??? They said that a manager would be sent out to us. We waited for over an hour but he never came. Every time I went anywhere near reception there was a giggle and a scurry. My complaints were treated as those of a crank. The reception staff seemed to be having a really nice morning joking and laughing with each other and nobody bothered with us at all. My grievances were not taken seriously. We went back to the room to pack up our things and get out of there asap. I started going out with each bag one at a time. It took ages. I had to cart them up the stairs to the car as there were still no spaces on the bottom floor where the entry to the hotel is positioned. At 12.03 I tried to get back into the hotel from the car park and up to the room and I found myself locked out again. I had to go back to reception to get the key card renewed. Again there was no warning given that this would happen and it wasn't in the information pack or written on the card.

And to boot the room was dirty. THe glasses in the bathroom still had toothpaste in them from the previous occupants ( it was white pasty stuff - at least I hope it was toothpaste!). The paste was ground into the bottom of the glasses in a ring. The glasses looked like they hadn't been washed properly in ages. THe bed sheets were too small for the bed and didn't reach the top or fully down the sides. There was chewing gum in the windowframe. The towels smelt so badly of chemicals that I wouldnt allow my seven year old to touch them.

I would never return here and recommend that you avoid it. That is the first time I have ever had to say that about anywhere. I don't mind mistakes - they will inevitably happen. It is how an hotel reacts to problems and complaints that measures it. But I told the reception staff that there was chewinggum in the windowframe and they didn't come and take it out. I dealt with three different reception staff members over the 15 hours I was there and one was less concerned than the next. They really really really don't want to know and don't take complaints seriously. They mouthed apologies but in a token fashion. The next sucker will be along in a minute, it seems.


Avoid Avoid Avoid.

Sheila

Hi Having stayed in this hotel several times usually over the christmas period as it seems to be the only hotel in portlaoise that opens their doors days after christmas and has also the added attraction of a pool for the kids it never ceases to amaze me how bad this hotel gets things i thought this was due to the christmas time and that they were short staffed ,but having stayed there for a wedding in august its just down to bad management and lack of interest that they get it so wrong from rooms never been ready when you check in to breakfast being very stingy and even when you do get it ,it is usually cold and tastless . Swimming pool changing rooms are always cold and water is not much better .
Rooms in this hotel are just standard and i would agree are not four star there were four of us staying 2 adults 2 children and only enough towels for two this has happened to us several times before come on get it right you guys know how many people are booked into your rooms so provide the right amount of towel , toilitries, cups and even beds .Restaurant is over priced and very small portions but the best of all for ripping you off is spago,s the italian restaurant nice food but overpriced and very small portions also kids are not allowed in unless on the 6.30pm sitting which is very early , and not many people on a breakaway want to be eatin that early silly policy needs o be reviewed straight away , if you are staying in the hotel surely the kids should be allowed into this restaurant a bit later , i do appreciate that some people don,t like to have children in the restaurant late in the evening but this hotel classes itself as family friend and once the childrn are well behaves there shouldn,t be a problem .
Thankfully this year i won,t have to stay in this hotel as a new hotel has just opened up just outside of the town so the Heritage hotel will be given a miss as i said only stay here if you have too this is my personnally oponion having had to stay there several times .

We stayed for one night for a friends wedding at a so called special rate of €180 per night., we were told that the standard rate was €240 per night although I cannot believe that anyone in their right mind would pay this for a room in this average/bland hotel. From the moment we arrived I was unimpressed with having to navigate shabby back stairs to get from the adjacent car park to the hotel. Once inside we found the endless corridors confusing particularly as the directions were placed behind a large pot plant but we eventually found reception. Reception itself is a pseudo Irish affair decorated with tribal banners and reproduction old paintings within a "modern" glass and stone interior. The staff looked unkempt and flustered. We arrived at 2.45pm and needed to change quickly to get to the wedding however the receptionist told us that the room wasn't ready for us. I asked how this was possible as we were wedding guests and they had known of our arrival for over a month the girl shrugged and blamed a late check out by the previous guest and glibly told me that check-in wasn't until 3.00pm so I had to get changed in a dirty room. Clean or dirty, the room itself was bog standard, not unlike a holiday Inn and smelled strongly of cigarettes, even to a smoker like myself. The bed was hard and covered in an ugly fitted divan which was impossible to sleep under. There was no air conditioner and despite the temperature gauge being as low as possible the heat was sweltering. Although there was a double and single bed in the room there was only enough shower gel/shampoo for one person and none of the little extras you would expect of a 4 star hotel.

Breakfast the next day, which we had in our room for an additional €4-later refunded, was so disgusting that it was inedible, three slices of rubbery cold toast for two people, cold coffee and an Irish breakfast made up of cheap greasy produce thrown on a plate. It had obviously been standing around in the kitchen for ages as the moisture from the cover had created little pools of water mixed with grease on the plate.

We were so appalled that we checked out as soon as possible vowing never to return. I cannot see how this hotel has been awarded 4 stars. I have stayed in other 4 star hotels and they usually know how to look after a guest but this hotel should not have a ranking above 2 stars and only then if they gut the interior and start again. It is over priced and obviously badly managed, the morning we checked out there was a manager standing nearby reception who overheard our complaint and turned on his heel before we could approach him. I'd say he had heard it all before!

Stayed here for one night, a Saturday in August.
Here's what I found
1. Arrived at 3.30pm to check-in. Our room wasn't ready.
2. Room was really cheaply furnished, certainly not 4 star quality and was far too hot.
3. Ordered Irish breakfast to be delivered to room next morning. It was really bad, pretty much inedible.

I would avoid this place.