Gabriel House Guesthouse — Hotel in Cork

Our stay at Gabrielle Guest House was mixed. The property has charm, particularly its beautiful garden, which provides fresh produce and eggs for breakfast, but several shortcomings prevented it from feeling like the “luxury accommodation” advertised.||Accessibility & Location: The guest house is located on a steep hill, around 15 minutes’ walk from restaurants and attractions. Returning involves a challenging uphill climb, followed by a steep slope down to reception. With no lifts inside, carrying luggage upstairs is difficult, making it unsuitable for elderly guests or those with mobility issues.|Service: While the website does note the absence of an elevator, we had hoped for some help with luggage — especially after being placed in a third-floor room. Carrying over 40kg ourselves was not an ideal start, and we only later switched rooms.||Room Experience: Our first room was large but impractical. The bathroom was cramped, with a tiny sink and a sloped ceiling over the toilet that could be awkward, even unsafe, for taller guests. The room was also uncomfortably hot, with only a small fan to help. A promised super-king bed (offered by the guesthouse and confirmed a week before) was replaced with a queen and single, which added to our frustration. We eventually moved to a standard double room, which, while smaller, was more comfortable overall.|By way of contrast, our previous stop was also a guest house — built in 1884 — they managed to retain its period character while still offering superb modern comforts such as air conditioning and convenient USB sockets at bed height. This showed us that it is entirely possible to combine heritage charm with practical, guest-friendly upgrades.||Breakfast & Amenities: Breakfast was a highlight, with a good spread featuring fresh ingredients, delicious cakes, and eggs from the garden’s chickens. However, service was a little inconsistent, with service not always attended to in order of arrival. Toiletries were basic and fell short of “luxury” expectations. The garden and sauna are lovely features, though unfortunately the heat during our stay meant we couldn’t enjoy them as much as we’d have liked.||Overall: Gabrielle Guest House has real potential, thanks to its gardens and the freshness they bring to breakfast. However, service improvements, more practical room design, and modern amenities (such as USB charging points and climate control) would go a long way in aligning the experience with its...

The actual guesthouse was mediocre but the worst part was the breakfast. They have a menu and if you want something exactly from that you'll probably be fine but if you have any kind of special dietary requirements or even just don't like something avoid at all costs. I'm gluten and dairy free. They had no idea what this is and initially offered me vegetarian food and then later said I couldn't have that. Asked me what dairy was and asked what exactly I couldn't have seeing as I said I wasn't vegetarian. It's the law since December 2014 that places serving food are supposed to be able to advise customers of allergens in their food but in this place they didn't seem to understand or care with constant sighing while taking the order. Told me I couldn't have any of the vegetables as there was probably butter on it but didn't bother finding out for sure. I ordered poached eggs and bacon as this seemed the safest but was brought a plate of eggs Benedict complete with buttery hollandaise and wheat toast and was told "it's the same thing". I gave it back only to be brought eggs and bacon on top of wheat toast. Had to hand it back again. Third time lucky? Well I got bacon and eggs and actual gluten free toast this time but I really couldn't trust them after everything to be careful about cross contamination. When I cut the eggs they were practically raw. I couldn't wait to leave. The attitude of the staff was disgraceful. They hadn't a clue they were quite rude and made a huge deal out of it when poached eggs and bacon really should have been simple. I haven't been treated this badly in years when trying to order food. No dairy alternatives at all. After all that no one apologised or even asked if it was ok even though there was plenty of...

DO NOT BOOK HERE!! We travelled Ireland for 10 days and this is by far the worst accommodation. First, the room is the size of a shoebox and our luggage literally doesn’t fit anywhere. We had to stack it by the door so we could use the bathroom at night. Second, our room was very stuffy and warm, but we couldn’t crack the window because the smoking section was just outside the window. I think I have lung cancer from having the window cracked for 15 minutes. When I asked for a fan, I was told they don’t have any so we were out of luck. Funny thing is, the employee told me to “crack the window” LOL. Third, people were outside talking late in the smoking/seating section which made it difficult to sleep. Literally the worst thought out layout in the history of B&Bs. Fourth, we could hear the conversation of the couple next to us all evening given the paper thin walls. Goodness. Finally, given the cost of the room and the label of “Luxury Accommodation,” this was a major disappointment to say the least. Honestly, I am stunned at how bad this place is. Again, we’ve travelled extensively in Ireland amongst other places, and this was shockingly bad from start to finish. So much for the “Luxury...