Muckross Park Hotel & Spa — Hotel in Killarney Municipal District

The Muckross Park Hotel & Spa is a hard property to review. We enjoyed our stay. I'm not sure it's a full 5 given some of the competition in the area, but it's definitely better than a 4...so 5 it is! They do A LOT of things right and overall we were happy. It's important to note high marks for value as the cost to stay was moderate and less than some of the other 5* hotels in the area. The trade off is probably that upgrades are coming due soon. ||Room: We reserved a junior suite and it was a nice, sizeable room. The bed was comfortable and we had a terrace, which was nice because we had great weather! Housekeeping was prompt, turn down was nice and we enjoyed the bottle of wine that came with our booking. ||Location: The location is fantastic for visitors who want to see the Muckross House, Abbey and Lake. The hotel is right at the entrance point to the park. We walked to the Abbey and later took the bikes to the lake at dusk and it was stunning. You do need to reserve the bikes ahead of time, but the concierge team is very friendly and easy to work with (thank you Shad). If you want to go into Killarney downtown, you will need to drive or taxi. ||Service: We had a great experience at check-in and with the concierge team. We planned a hike from Kenmare to Killarney and they held our luggage overnight, which made our trip possible. They will also arrange tours and call for taxis. If you do need a taxi, be sure to give yourself plenty of time as they take a while to arrive. ||Spa / Vitality Suite: When we were considering hotels in Killarney we decided on Muckross because of the vitality suite. It didn't disappoint - it's a great facility. You do need to reserve a time slot, but that was easy to do and reception is very nice. The reservation process is for the benefit of the guests. You don't want it to be too busy. ||They did have a jacuzzi and steam room down, but there were other jacuzzi and steam options so we were ok with it. I do hope that's fixed by now because I imagine it gets busier with busy season. I did unfortunately have a run in outside the bathroom with a spa attendant who was clearly having a bad day. It was a long day of hiking and it took me a second to get my bearings between the men and ladies room and she did not appreciate my momentary confusion and she let that be known.||Food: We had a lovely afternoon tea in the Monk's Lounge. They set it up beautifully and service was excellent. Breakfast was just ok. The big surprise for us was how much we enjoyed Colgan's! We loved it. We were out there to hike and had very long, physical days. We did not want to dress up for a fancy dinner and we were so happy to have a casual option that was really very good. The wings were crispy, the croquettes were delicious and they served the best fish and chips of entire trip. Our servers were great and they had live music both nights (we are there twice). We will recommend it to anyone looking for food near Muckross. We will be back. Please add a Chardonnay by the glass. LOL. Thank you. ||Property: Housekeeping is on point inside the property. It was clean. They could stand to address the exterior a bit, especially the windows. The property itself has areas that are looking a little tired / dated. I expect they know they are due for some upgrades, but they are priced correctly in the interim when compared to other 5* properties in the area. ||This is a very long review, so TLDR: Great value for a luxury-ish stay near Muckross with nice spa amenities and an...

We attended a family wedding at this hotel at the end of December. Unfortunately, our experience at this 5-star hotel was quite disappointing. There were issues with the rooms, and the toilets were not the cleanest when we checked in. The rooms were freezing, and when we called reception, no one was available to look at the heating. This happened in at least 3 other rooms we know of, which is unacceptable for a hotel of this rating.

For those considering this venue for a wedding, I would advise thinking twice. The meals were stone cold and poorly prepared. The service was inconsistent, with few others than the top table receiving proper attention and hot meals as far as we know. Out of our table of 8 people, only 2 meals were hot. There was a 40-minute wait between the starters, a vol au vent which was cold, cold soup,and the cold and poorly prepared main course. We noticed that the same issues were present at the five tables surrounding us. We know from speaking with others at the wedding that this was happening at other tables also.

When we mentioned the issues to the waiting staff, we received a response that was far from 5-star.some of the cutlery was dirty, with old, hardened soup stuck to the spoons and lipstick on the glasses. My two children couldn’t eat their meals because they were cold and undercooked, leaving them hungry all evening. My youngest received cold sausages and chips, with only 10 chips and three undercooked sausages. When we asked the servers to address the issue, we were met with rudeness. One staff member at the end of the meal tossed the desserts onto the table at the end of the meal in front of another guest. It was not nice behaviour...

If it had been just our table, I might have attributed it to a one-off, but at least five other tables experienced the same issues. Everyone complained and felt embarrassed for the bride and groom, so we chose not to make a big deal of it at reception on the night.

The following morning, we went for breakfast, and out of the four breakfasts ordered, three were cold. There was a 40-minute wait between receiving tea and toast and the actual breakfast. When we complained about service, to staff and to reception again, we were met with apathy. The same story was repeated at five other tables with family members receiving cold breakfasts and everyone complaining about what to do and feeling embarrassed about saying anything more..

Having stayed in 5-star hotels before, this was by far the worst experience in terms of service. I will be writing to the management of the hotel to express our disappointment. I don’t want a refund or compensation; I just want to highlight how disappointing this experience was for our family and friends who expected a much better experience as it spoiled a lot of the wedding weekend. You are paying for a 5-star experience, and we didn’t receive it. This hotel failed to meet even the standards of hospitality and service that you should see with a 5-star venue. The consistent issues across multiple tables and the lack of proper response from the staff indicate a problem. I hope that by sharing our experience, future guests will be spared the disappointment we faced, and that the hotel management will take steps to improve standards as it is a...

Superb!! Second visit and planning third.. My husband and I stayed here last year and fell in love with the relaxed, cosy old charm ambience. We stayed in a delux room which was spacious and comfortable. The spa was luxurious, the breakfast outstanding, dinner in the yew tree was fantastic and the staff were so friendly and could not be more helpful. This year we stayed in a junior suite and extended our stay to three nights. This time however we had our infant daughter with us. The infant cot the hotel provided was perfect - A comfortable cot with a good mattress. Other Irish hotels to our experience so far do not offer these high standards to infants so thank you Muckross for pleasantly surprising us. The junior suite was large immaculately clean nicely decorated with a large comfortable bed a corner bath big enough for two and a balcony offering spectacular views. The suite was equally romantic and functional. The staff here are outstanding all so friendly and helpful going out of their way to accommodate us and our daughter. When we visit Killarney we love to enjoy the craic in the town and take a spin around the ring of Kerry, however when we visit Muckross we park the car and do not get back in to it until the day we check out. There is no reason to leave during your stay. The park is directly across the road. We really enjoyed the complementary bike hire last year but this year we enjoyed walking different paths with our daughter. The food in the bar was good, the cocktail menu has been improved since last year and are delicious. The food in the Yew tree was once again spectacular (although our medium rare steak was slightly over done for our taste) and the wine was superb. The menu has been reduced since last year but that is not a bad thing and is priced very well! We were both really looking forward to enjoying the fantastic breakfast again this year and for two mornings it was ten out of ten but unfortunately on one morning the English muffin I was served was not toasted and was stale although the waitress quickly offered to bring me something else but by that time we wanted to get back to our room to get ready for the day. The babysitter we asked the hotel to provide on one night for us really stands out. Claire was one of the kindest warmest women we have had the pleasure of meeting she instantly put all three of us at ease and stayed in touch with us throughout the evening and was just delightful to our daughter. She really is an amazing asset to the hotel and we will definitely ask for her again. We are already planning our return visit again next year and are counting...