Here we go, an honest opinion of an event held in The Hadrian Suite on Saturday the 8th October 2022, which just so happened to be my Fiancée’s 50th Birthday party (no pressure then). We arrived before the kick off and waited patiently for some drinks from the bar, which had been ordered by two of our guests who were staying in a part of the hotel currently undergoing some refurbishment, which is pleasing to see such investment in these uncertain times. There were a couple of issues with the order, a lack of Sauvignon Blanc and Chardonnay, (but this was rectified later in the evening), and the small delay of fifteen minutes for the order to be completed, which equates to only two and half minutes per drink (no Guinness was ordered in case you were wondering). Anyway on into the evening. Our guests started arriving all of whom experienced the same relaxed service from the bar, thankfully all were pretty chilled and were enjoying the craic. I went to see the room and was greeted by a pleasing sight, candelabras situated in the corners of the room, tables clothed with... err cloths and a bit of bling in the form of small gem candle holder type things adorned with some of the balloons which I had supplied but were kindly inflated by the hotel (using some of the helium supplied by myself). Finishing touches were the decorations dangling from the ceiling and the large happy birthday banner hanging from one wall. Literally hours of work must have gone into to creating this magnificent spectacle. It was whilst I was lost in the splendour that a Lady appeared in the room and asked if everything was OK with it. I replied that “It looks great thanks” and she promptly disappeared. It later transpired that the very same lady had also asked one of our guests to help her hold some dirty dishes at the bar when we had arrived. An offer that was graciously refused by our guest. If only the lady had introduced herself I might have been able to give her a big shout out. Onto the food, in the initial enquiry I had given rough numbers and firmed those numbers up the day before to ensure that our guests were fully catered for and that the hotel didn’t need to waste any food, important in these times of hardship. I had also requested a time of serving of seven thirty to make sure everyone had arrived. Luckily one of the girls working in the hotel took the time to double check that this was still ok with one of our guests who thankfully pointed her in the direction of myself, the event organiser (If only someone had checked with me earlier, say, on arrival?). I told the girl that if they could give us ten minutes then I could get everyone sat. Luckily for me the food service was as relaxed as the bar service and the extra twenty minutes on top of the ten requested gave us ample time to look forward to the delicious Lasagne which had been ordered. The Lasagne had been preportioned, which made it easy for us serve ourselves, well for me to serve the guests. And luckily judging by the dryness of some of the portions I would say it had only been reheated the once. For the kids, we had ordered sausage and chips which was served directly to the table, at no extra charge, by hotel waiting staff, how very kind. We ate the Lasagne and the kids ate the sausage and chips, well three of the four of them did, my eldest daughter unfortunately had been missed. I went to enquire of it’s whereabouts with Neil on reception who went to investigate. I went back to enjoy the evening. I guess the kitchen staff are as relaxed as the rest of the team because thirty minutes later the sausage had still not arrived. Back to Neil who was quite surprised it wasn’t where it should be, but thankfully he sorted it and my daughter’s hunger was finally sated. We continued to enjoy the evening, and not realising that having your tables cleared of dirty dishes was an optional extra, I proceeded to clear the detritus myself to a table on the side where it sat for quite a while. The evening progressed at a relaxed pace, mirrored by the bar staff’s ability to clear glasses, again done myself. Unfortunately one of my guests didn’t appreciate the relaxed nature of pint pouring and felt that the ten minutes for the pint to settle was a little too relaxed and requested that it should be repoured a little more hastily. The whiskey drinkers amongst us were left a tad disappointed when none could found, also Tequila was a scarce resource. I feel that having had a superb engagement party here earlier in the year that I had truly been spoiled and had had my expectations set at an equally high level. Of course, a change of emphasis on customer service levels, a change of attitude to what constitutes customer service and what a customer should expect for their hard earned money might be expected in these uncertain times. The staff were very pleasant and with more training will surely be an asset to the hotel. On the whole this was a very disappointing evening, which could have been avoided if simple customer service skills had been employed. These days where peoples expenditure is going to be more on the essentials rather than luxuries you would imagine that places, such as this, would be bending over backwards to ensure that your events would be running perfectly. Having spent a considerable portion of my life in this very industry I have learnt the hard way that service is the key to great place. With great service you can paper over the cracks of tired rooms, not so great food, a badly stocked bar, but when the customer service isn’t there as well then people are going to be looking elsewhere, which is what I will be doing in the future... if I don’t then I’ll be getting divorced before I get married. Ps. I have chosen to edit my initial review as it, apparently, was quite intimidating and tantamount to bullying (which I’m sure wouldn’t have got through the screening process if it was) if individuals are offended by the above then I can only apologise.…