Our Galway Lodging Choice
 

As I posted earlier this month, we've made reservations to stay at the A Aaron Guest House on College Rd in March. No one responded with specific feedback although I did get some helpful posts.

I'm posting again with a specific question. My brother mentioned that Rick Steves had mentioned this place in one of his earlier editions. This afternoon when I was in Border's glancing through the 2006 edition, I noticed that A Aaron Guest House is no longer listed. Should we be concerned that it's been dropped?

Had it never been listed at all, I wouldn't think anything about it. But the fact that it was and now isn't makes me wonder whether he had some negative information.

Not in the 2005 edition.

Thanks, njsusan. I think the edition my brother looked at is three or four years old.

But that still leaves me with the same question. Should we be concerned that it was once recommended and no longer is?

Why don't you email the Rick Steves travel team and ask? Personally, I think Steves' accommodation recommendations are a mixed bag. Some are fine and others I would not stay in. A bit inconsistent. You might want to consider getting your accommodation recommendations from another source.

Caph52, why don't you look up IrelandYes or Pat Preston for really good recommendations for b&b's and guest houses. They go and stay in the places. One morning at Themple Gate hotel in Ennis, I was in the lobby and a young lady asked if she could ask me some questions about my stay. She was one of Rick Steves people. I did take her up to show her my room. She hadn't ask to go up. I don't know if the hotel got Rick Steves recommendation or not. I know the hotel wasn't stayed in by one of them. Soo, I'd really check out the two web sites I mentioned.

Temple Gate, it's late.

Thanks for the feedback!

After thinking about this for a few minutes, I realized that I must not have made my point very clearly. This really has nothing to do with Rick Steves (because we've done all our traveling in the US and Canada the past 20 plus years, I knew nothing about him until recently). I'd be asking the same question if the listing had been in Fodor's, Frommer's or anywhere else. My concern is with the fact that it was listed at one time and isn't anymore. That makes me wonder whether something happened to make them feel they could no longer recommend it.

I actually got the info on this place from a Galway tourism web site. Not recommendations, just listings. It was only later that my brother told me he'd seen it in the Rick Steves book. And then when I was in Border's, curiousity led me to see what they had to say about it. Which is how I found out they no longer list it!

Anyway, I think I will take IrishEyes recommendation to try contacting the Rick Steves travel team.

CAPH -
That would concern me as well. We stayed at a B&B in Galway last August that was perfectly fine - Adare Guesthouse - just across the bridge from the action. They have a wonderful breakfast with a really fun hot beverage machine. We drank many hot chocolates and cappuccinos!

There's another one that is highly recommended - St. Martin's - that we stumbled across on our morning walk. It was beyond cute and in a great location. You might consider that as well.

Thanks, McShane. The thing is, we've already sent credit card info to hold the reservations. I hope we can cancel without losing money.

We stayed at one that was recommended by Rick Steves and we were very dissatisfied. College Crest Guesthouse on College Road in Galway. I could not say anything good about our stay there.

What is going on with this web site recently? Several times in the last few days I've typed detailed responses only to have them disappear when I hit "preview my reply". Very annoying!

Anyway...here we go again.

opaldog, I think College Crest is fairly close to A Aaron. Why were you so dissatisfied with it? Was the area okay?

Actually, I just got a response on Frommer's boards that made me feel a lot better about the whole thing. I think I'm just gonna sit tight at this point. But I sure would love to hear from someone who has actually stayed there!

As I wrote over there, I'm determined that, when we return, I will write a trip report with detailed info on each B&B we use. There are so many of them in Ireland and it's so hard to get very detailed info on many of them. Many of the tourism related sites list such bare bones info. They don't even tell how many rooms they have, whether they take credit cards, etc. Much less info like how close they are to town, whether they have a family room, whether they have parking, whether they're in a residential area, etc., etc.

I realize that knowing all of that when you book is one reason for not pre-booking! But, considering that on 3 of our nights there we're going to be with a group of 8, needing 3 or 4 rooms, and that it's very important to us to be walking distance to town, we figure we really need to pre-book.

The College Road area is fine. It is a very quick walk down to the Eyre Sq. area and into the downtown/pedestrian area. The B&B itself was from the start off putting. The welcome we received was less than friendly, and we had called ahead to confirm; they should have been expecting us. The room offered us was totally unacceptable and we are not picky people. It was the only ground floor bedroom, next to the public area and had a cement wall right outside the window with alot of garbage strewn about. We requested another room. They were mad at us! The room we ended up with was only a bit better. It smelled of mildew and wasn't particularly clean. We should have left, there were plenty of other places to stay. I had given them my credit card number and I guess I felt they would still charge me if we left early. I should have tried it. It pretty much colored the way we felt about Galway. I'm sure you will find something better. Sorry I can't comment on the place you are thinking of.

opaldog, thanks for taking the time to tell me about your experience. Sounds awful! It really makes you wonder how any guide book could have recommended such a place. Have you contacted the Rick Steves people?

I'm glad you told your story here. I think it's really important to get the word out about places like that.

We stayed there in 2002 and we didn't actually make our reservation from reading Rick Steves. I found reference to the Rick Steves mention on the internet. I read other reviews on the internet that sounded promising and the pictures looked fine. Pictures can be deceiving. We did get a peek at some front rooms and they looked ok. I can only think the proprietress was having a bad day when we checked in. We stayed the rest of our time in Limerick and we had a fine room at a Jury's near the Shannon river. I know that everyone has a different experience. We had a bad one at CollegeCrest. I did post to Fodor's when I returned.

I stayed at College Crest in 2000. We had a large room upstairs. It was clean and large and I guess we got the owner on a good day. We arrived quite late. She had drinks waiting for us.

I did see a front room upstairs and it did look clean. I don't know what we did to merit the treatment we received, but it certainly made me want to clue people into it. The woman who "greeted" us was on a cordless phone, very obviously a personal call, and was annoyed by our being there. She showed us the room, still talking on the phone and abruptly left us standing there, no questions asked. We quickly realized that we couldn't and wouldn't stay in that particular room and when we politely sought her out she yelled at us and told us to go up and get the woman cleaning the rooms upstairs who would show us the one other room she had. (hence the reason we saw a bigger room upstairs). Keep in mind that I had reserved a room 3 months earlier and had confirmed a day or two before arriving. We should have been expected and treated like the paying customers that we were. The other woman was visibly embarrased by the first woman's behavior toward us. She showed us another room and we took it, but in retrospect with all the B&B's on College Rd. we should have gone elsewhere.