I stayed at the Carlton Abbey in Athy with four friends for a weekend in June for a girlie break. We loved everything about the hotel. The location is great (right in the town), the rooms are very spacious and comfortable. Bathrooms modern and spotlessly clean (great towels). The leisure centre is brand new and beautifully clean. Lovely swimming pool with lots of natural light and a fab little sauna, jacuzzi and steam room. We didn't have any treatments but the Elemis treatments seemed reasonably priced. Breakfast at the hotel was great and nothing was too much trouble for the staff. Special thanks to Anne and all the staff for making us feel so comfortable and welcome. Would definitely return to the Carlton Abbey. Great value for money! We had a lovely meal at La Scala in the town which I would also recommend. All in all, a great experience.

My wife and I stayed in the hotel for one night after attending a wedding (elsewhere). First impressions were good, large reception with very friendly, local staff. The room was of a reasonable standard however there was no minibar or safe. The bathroom was big but basic. The next morning when we arrived for breakfast we were seated without any fuss. The dining room/restaurant is fairly small and the wallpaper we noticed was peeling along the joints in the whole room. The "buffet" table was located in the corner of the room, similar to previous reviews, the glasses had run out but it was left to guests to go after the staff to ask for more. Also there were no cold meats as advertised on their menu although the table was full with the few things it had on it... The breakfasts (pancakes and a full Irish) took so long we thought they had forgotten about us and there were only four tables in use. While there are no substantial complaints regarding our stay, we just expected alot more from a four star hotel, especially when they charge four star prices. Would we go back? No, there are plenty of good hotels aroud and the Carlton just doesn't stack up.

Where do I start.... I can honestly this was one of the worst experiences I've ever had staying in a hotel. I do a lot of traveling both for work and in my own free time and have stayed in all sorts of hotels but the bad management of this place really surpases any bad experience I've ever had anywhere else. The sad thing is that this weekend was booked for a special family occasion, my parents' 30th wedding anniversariy. The reason we chose the Carlton Abbey in Athy is because we wanted a nice weekend getaway not too far from home (Dublin) as I was nearly 8 months pregnant. We found the Carlton Abbey on the internet and thought it looked nice. The reviews were ok, more recent ones were fairly good. Anyway, we arrived on a Friday afternoon and my parents checked into their wheelchair friendly room first. My father is disabled and at first sight the bathroom seemed suitable with a wheel in shower but only one bar and no shower seat. So unless he used his own wheelchair to roll into the shower he had no way of washing himself. My mum decided to order some soup & sandwiches. When room service arrived with the sandwiches, they had forgotten the soup. Little did we know that this was going to e the start of their catering fiasco. My parents decided to have their breakfast in their room on the first morning. They had filled in the slip and left it outside the door the evening before and select breakfast for 10am. When breakfast hadn't arrived yet by 10.15, my mum rang room service who explained that most people opted for 10am breakfast and this meant that they usually wouldn't be able to deliver breakfast till more like 10.30 (???). Finally a knock on the door at 10.30 with breakfast however without tea/coffe or cutlery!! Tea/coffee followed about 10 minutes later. My mum reminded the member of staff that they had no cutlery so they were still unable to eat their breakfast. While waiting another 15 minutes for cutlery, they at least were able to start buttering their toast with the back of a teaspoon! In the mean time my husband and I arrived in a very busy breakfast room for our breakfast. We fortunately only waited 5 minutes to be seated, unlike some people who arrived after us who were waiting for at least 15 minutes. The cereals, juices & croissants are self service however when I went up to help myself, there were no more croissants and no more glasses. It was very obvious that they were short staffed and therefore they were forgetting to replenish. After about 15 minutes we tried to get the attention of one of the waiting staff so we could order our breakfast. Eventually we placed our breakfast order and coffee. I noticed that one of the waiting staff brought out a few (4) juice glasses so rushed up before they ran out again. 15 minutes passed and my husband asked the waitress whether he could get some coffee, he was politely told it was on its way. Another 10 minutes passed (still no breakfast!!) and again he asked about the coffee. More than a half an hour after the order was placed breakfast arrived but without the coffee. The waitress didn't need reminding though, she swiftly said "oh yeah, your coffee is on its way". But after another 10 minutes or so when he was half way through his breakfast he had to ask for the coffee again. Finally when he was finishing off his breakfast the coffee arrived, nearly an hour after we first arrived into the breakfast room!! I won't bore everyone with all the other small incidents (mainly all related to the hotel's food & beverage) but the final straw came at dinner time on the Saturday night. The six of us ordered starters and main courses from the lovely Anna (the most competent and friendly staff member we encountered during our stay). The starters all came out as ordered and within a reasonable time so we thought that they were going to redeem themselves. We were so wrong. Four of us got our main courses while my mum and sister were left waiting another 20 minutes. My father and husband got their steaks however without the potatoes and vegetables they had ordered. I then noticed that the shutters to the kitchen suddenly closed and the waitress having some sort of dispute with the chef. She came back to our table with a bowl of chips which nobody had ordered and my husband pointed out that the potatoes and veg still hadn't arrived and that all he had for his main course was just a steak on its own. Anna apologised profusely and said that she didn't know what was going on with chef that there had been problems in the kitchen all day. We asked to speak to the manager. When my husband started listing all the problems we had so far experienced his response was "I'm sorry, I don't know what the say, I really have no explanation for this". He just kind of stood there looking at us without saying anything else and eventually walked off. We made a point though of saying how good our waitress Anna had been. Anna returned to our table again and said that she was very embarassed about the whole thing and could she please take our desert orders and these would be on the house. When we went to checkout the next morning, we decided to say nothing else and to seee whether the manager was going to use his discretion to in some way compensate for our disastrous stay. When we got the bill it was exactly the amount with no deductions. The same manager was at reception and my mother voiced her disappointment that no attempt had been made to compensate. He deducted ?70 from the total bill (?800) and said that he would upgrade us to a suite the next time we came back (how ridiculous is that... as if we would ever return!!). I would really not recommend this hotel to anyone and would think twice about staying in a Carlton hotel again if this is representative of this hotel group!!

Stayed in the Carlton Abbey for two nights B+B+D weekend deal at the end of March. It seemed very reasonably priced, so I was a little concerned that there might be reasons for this. And there are! When having dinner (included in package) I asked for fillet steak med-rare and it came med-well done. I didn't complain, though noticed two girls at a table behind me sending back theirs. Meeting them in the lobby later they said that they had also asked for med-rare and got med-well. The restaurant food was actually very nice but the kitchen did not seem to be able to cater to personal requests, which led us to believe that the food was being re-heated rather than cooked fresh. I've worked in kitchens enough myself not to be fooled. Awful shame to be buying in pre-cooked fillet steak. And if you are why is the waitress asking how you would like it cooked?! The chef can only burn it more! In the bar the next day I ordered soup (staying on the safe side) and my partner ordered a chicken dinner. Both arrived together in under three minutes, and no it wasn't a carvery meal!! The chicken was pure rubber, the soup awful. Toshiba and Sanyo the "chefs" must have been stuck working with Fridays food!! And there is a shocking sewerage smell problem in the bar. However if you avoid eating in the hotel I would actually say it's still cheap and cheerful. Contrary to some of other reviews my experience with the staff was entirely positive, all very welcoming, very friendly and helpful. The bedroom was fine and the bathroom huge. My issue would be with the owners of the hotel who I suspect tried to develop it on the cheap, hence sewerage issue in the bar, tacky function room and clear lack of any investment in a good interior designer. As for claiming on the website that the hotel is "nestled in picturesque gardens" that's just funny!! Nestled in a car park really if we're being honest. Lots of potential in this place, the owners just need to decide if they are happy to be 3 star standard or splash the cash and make a fab hotel of it....

Stayed here with my boyfriend on the May bank holiday weekend. First impressions were great. Staff were very friendly and helpful. The room was clean and spacious. The Saturday afternoon, treated myself some treatments in the spa, whle my bf hit the gym. My treatments were lovely, but a bit on the expensive side. I didnt go to the gym but my bf was very impressed. We had dinner in the restaruant sat evening. It was OK, i would rush back though. Sunday evening we ate in the bar. very enjoyable and cheaply priced. We both really enjoyed our stay in the carlton abbey hotel and would go back.