Burren Atlantic Hotel Review

Customer service isn't something this hotel understands. They are clearly understaffed on several fronts and maintenance has been slipping for some time, loose taps, leaking radiators and much more are common place.
I've stayed here a few times now, this last time was my last time, sadly its reached a low that the benefit of a great location cannot get them back from. Kevin the owner works the bar, which has almost no stock, manages the dining room which is badly run and failing and seems responsible for most things in the hotel.
We stayed for 2 nights, the location cannot be beaten, but everything else needs improvement. When we asked if we could bring our breakfast 10feet outside the dining room to watch a rugby match, we were told "As long as you don't expect us to serve you!", in a hotel that's failing like this one, this was the last straw. If you're hotel is failing like this one is, your maintenance is falling apart and your service level is dropping, you can more than make up for this by good customer service.

What a lovely hotel but such a strange place to stay. Waited twenty minutes to be checked in another twenty to get a drink..
~Rooms were gorgeous
~Location lovely
~breakfast nice but not ur usual hotel way
~manners was brutal of d man in reception but I think it's just his personality.

It was like a ghost hotel. Never experienced anything like it.
No wifi in rooms and barely works in bar
One man and a lady is all we have seen d whole weekend.
O And rooms were paper thin if ya get me so not for the faint hearted

In bally Vaughan which is amazing there was this Lil place called the snug bar and restraunt friendly staff and great food. Minutes of a walk from hotel and we'll worth a visit.

We stayed in house was comfortable however when we arrived hotel was closed we had to ring someone. When we got to house there were no towels soap 1 roll toilet paper. The place itself where houses are is very poor seemed unfinished.It seemed strange hotel was closed Easter week we were disappointed .area is lovely hotel looked nice just pity around the houses are poor playground terrible

Staff Lacking in hospitality skills. Advertised live music . 2 teenagers on harp very poor entertainment. Waited 40 minutes for breakfast. One person taking orders . Serving clearing away. I felt like getting up to help her. Only cheerful person was the young armagh girl. Very friendly very accommodating.would not stay here again

Nope.. This is not a hotel and nothing is open, no bar, no restaurant, nothing. The cottages are under stocked and tired. No tea towels, no dishwasher tablets, random cutlery, no baking trays..owner is disinterested and clearly out of his depth here... Stay somewhere else.

Quiet n modern..v nice hotel..in beautiful bay..charming old thatched cottages in area..artists dream here..small boats n fishing n hiking n ""Burren;" is awesome.

Large house with plenty of space and an outdoor area. It is in desperate need of improvement, place was not cleaned to an acceptable level. Fridge was turned off when we arrived. There was no toilet paper or hand towels provided. I would have liked if there were some basic kitchen supplies provided like kitchen roll, tea towels and wash cloths. The place has great potential if some basic maintenance was applied. I will say the bed was very comfortable and we had so much space in the house for our group of 6. Location is very central.

Great location. Houses are in need of repairs and refurbishment. Lots of things not working. The boss had no interest in fixing anything.

Can't even begin to understand good reviews for this place. Wi-Fi only in lobby. Restaurant and bar was dead. Had a handicap accessible room (haha) where the door barely could admit a wheelchair. The accessible shower had no lip to keep water from going ALL over the bathroom floor. Ended up on my hands and knees using all of the remaining towels to mop up the floor which was gross. Adjoining room had leaking shower as well (more water for me to mop up) and the sinks in both rooms shot water out onto the floor as soon as you turned them on (again, more water to mop up). Ignore the restaurant (head to Monks up the street). I think only three people run the hotel, housekeeping, the bar, and kitchen. Didn't try the spa because I figured it couldn't be great after the hotel experience so I can't comment on it here. Please try somewhere else of you can.

For what we wanted, it was excellent. The waiting is because it is hard to get staff so it is family run, and a big place. There is a duplicate wifi that I managed to guess would work better, and in the bar there's another one. The tea at breakfast was lovely, as was the appearance of other people's cooked Irish breakfast. The coffee was poured as if it was rationed, I think they should get a nespresso machine. The bread was wonderful and the jams delicious. Outside you can sit and watch the donkeys and the boats. It has so much potential and is a bit Fawlty Towers and miraculous. The best night's sleep of our trip, in a huge comfortable bed. They need to top up the toiletries though.

Apparently they do not turn on the boiler before

4 pm and it takes 1-2 hours until you have hot water... Further they hotel seems fine.

Where would I even start upon arrival the receptionist just handed a key to the 2 bedroom apartment no information given. Driving up to the house there was abandoned cars with no wheels a playground that was seriously badly overgrown got in the door to say it was badly run down a huge hole in the ceiling fridge not working no heating gas called reception to them arriving after a half hour saying they don't know what's wrong and will get someone out tomorrow to fix it bear in mind it was an awful day and all we wanted was some comfort this was a Wednesday at 3.30 they could have got someone that evening if they really cared. one of the girls got locked into the bathroom as the door wouldn't open from the inside tiles loose on bathroom floor upstairs mirrors severely cracked no sweeping brush tea towels or even a hand towel went and asked to we have to book for a dinner to be told that the bar and restaurant is closed I feel we should have been informed upon booking a quick email to let us know this or at least upon checking in not for us as the guests to ask we went down for 2 nights and to say it out an absolute dampener on our getaway we contacted the receptionist that evening and agreed to pay for the first night as it was last minute and we wouldn't be able to find somewhere but informed them we will be checking out first thing following morning and wanted a refund for the second night the receptionist did Not ask any questions and refunded for the second night which comes to my mind we are not the first how could we be... after been in locdown for months this was an absolute disappointment and to say the stress levels were extremely high as we had to worry about finding somewhere to stay for a second night up there.... the only good thing about this place is the LOCATION... Would never return to the Burren Atlantic Hotel and Apartments ever again nor would I recommend it

Nice location near the water and very nice workers. Houses are well maintained and look nice inside. As an American from the South, I had no idea how to use the hot water system or the radiators, but eventually figured it out. Would definitely stay here again.

The owner Kevin, and staff are wonderful, friendly people. Make friends with them while at the bar/ restaurant and they ll treat you like family. If you are a rude and demanding tourist, they will treat you as such. Bonus, best seafood chowder that I had during my 3 week stay in Ireland! Ballyvaughn is slow paced and easy going, and the Burren Atlantic is the best bar in town. During slow hours, don t hesitate to track down waitstaff when you arrive as they also man the reception desk.

My worst experience I ve ever had in my many trips to Ireland.
Owner was extremely rude and obnoxious. This was 3 women traveling hardly a difficult or demanding group! A fall in parking lot, left me with a bleeding head, and shaking. No heat on a damp and cool day so I asked for a blanket. Owner said was I always this demanding !!
Brought one to my room and again asked me about being demanding.
No restaurant ( chef went home sick)
No bar, no food, no WiFi.
Rug stained badly in room.
Should be shut down.

Enjoyed the hospitality but nonexistent services or bad. Breakfast starts at 8.30am, poor buffet, the little staff present can't serve the orders in decent times ... you risk slowing down the whole program of the day ...

Very nice place but very bad service.the bartender was missing for a good while.no waiters at all.when he came back he was like: "jeezz every time i dissapear ,more people come in"
Probably thats why "The Monk" was absolutely packed and here was extremely quiet.i hope the owner will be "happy "reading this
Im not a tourist,im a local by the way...

One man running the whole show doesn't work food is great

It's alright of place. Barely any water in showers and taps.

Very nice little house. Great location. Pleasant coworkers. In the village everything within walking distance Absolutely recommendable. The only drawback: from any airport quite far away.

Family-run hotel, nice rooms, excellent cuisine and very kind, friendly and helpful owner.

Review based on staying in the self-catering cottages on the grounds, not the hotel proper.

This place has all the potential to be 5-stars - but it drops two because of poor design, and, well, meanness.

We arrived on a Friday evening, picked up our key, and arrived outside our cottage to see it had what looked like an undercoat of paint applied to the door. Definitely not finished.

Downstairs there's an oddly shaped living area and small kitchen (that only seats six, not eight).

An extra 100 or 200 spent in Ikea or an Irish homewares shop could have seen the kitchen kitted out properly to a really good standard, but instead we got a really slow/old electric hob, combined oven and grill (no grill tray supplied!), microwave, toaster, kettle, dishwasher, and fridge. No freezer, no icebox. And a mix of things like 1 champagne glass, 1 pint glass, and a couple of wineglasses, plastic utensils for cooking, a "non-stick" pan that wasn't, etc.

There are two utility rooms (in a really bad use of space), one with a washing machine, one with a dryer. One also has the water boiler, which comes with no instructions on how to use it.

The cottages have four bedrooms - but all of the bedrooms have a double bed, no twin beds at all. So best you're getting here is four couples sharing, or _very_ good friends. One bedroom had a small en suite bathroom that's poorly designed - sitting on the loo, your leg is wedged against the radiator and your knee between it and the door jamb. Can't switch on the shower without standing in the cubicle, so you're going to get a cold shower until you figure out the taps (assuming you figured out the boiler earlier).

No wifi at all. No WiFi in 2017 isn't really acceptable. (The hotel proper has wifi).

No towels provided (not even a slip mat or tea towel!) You have to rent them! (Presumably this policy will change the first time they're sued after someone slips getting out of a shower.)

16 extra charged for the gas & electricity we "used" over the weekend (cooking two breakfasts, heating radiators and water for two mornings).

We were woken at 8am on the Saturday morning by a girl wanting to know if we wanted a babysitter that night...

All of that aside, Ballyvaughan and the surrounding area are well worth a visit. I'd stay here again, but not at the price we were charged.

Absolutely disgusted with the place arrived at hotel to stay there with my family to be told that the girl at reception couldn t use computer , had rooms there but didn t know if they were made up, then made a phone call spoke in Portuguese could make out a thing they said then to get off the phone to tell me sorry no one there to use computer to give us a room, And told me to go up the road to another hotel ...
Very very very disappointed to the fact I had my kids with me
Do not use this accommodation

Stayed at the Burren atlantic Hotel 4 nights in December.lovely comfortable Hotel.lovely breakfast,lovely staff and very obliging and helpful.we would definitely stay again.Hotel is in an ideal spot for walking hiking and driving around the scenic coast.Lovely village too..

Great service, but my room was messy, the receptionist saved the day, great guy

Was so disappointed n da hotel itself - no staff to help u enjoy ur stay. We stayed in da accomodation attached to da hotel - while it was clean nd percentable it lacked so so much - no toilet roll - no kitchen roll - no dish washing tablets nd NO TOWELS. We actually had to rent our towels - kettle blowing fuses nd no maintainance man to sort it out - da owner seemed to be da receiptionist - da handy man nd da " run around". It was such a pity because da location was lovely.
Another disaster was dat dey had no chef - hence der was no food available. No restraurent opened at all da whole w.d. which was a MAJOR drawvack to da place.
Check n time was 3p.m. but it was 4p.m. before we got checked. Such a pity as da accomodation was quite good. Would love to stay there again but things would have to improve 100%.

Small rooms. Centrally located. Pub very nice. Little parking.

There was no staff at the reception when we arrived. The bar is closed. The restaurant is closed for dinner. There were only two members of staff in the whole hotel during our stay. One was doing the cleaning, receiving guests, and serving breakfast.
The other was doing the cooking.
Fair enough, there may be staff shortages due to COVID-19 but we were not made aware of any of this.
The room was not cleaned properly, the tea tray was filthy and there was a fair amount of dust on the headboard.
The only reason we stayed after checking in and being asked to pay on arrival was because the surrounding area is beautiful.
The staff were very friendly but they did not provide us with any information on arrival. We had to find where breakfast was served the following morning ourselves.

Lovely quite relaxing atmosphere.Rooms were perfect. Very taste breakfast. Friendly staff and very helpfull.

Lovely quite relaxing atmosphere great views of the burren and a quick ten second walk to the Atlantic would highly reccomend a stay to get away from the hussle bustle and to just relax.

Lovely hotel which has So much potential with fab big spacious room & lovely view out the front. Under proper management it would be a Great sucess

Stains on the carpet holes in the ceiling warms drinks burnt breakfast rude owner and had to ask and pay for towels at reception just to name a few things.

Very good food and service. Happy to go there again when I m back in Irland