Killyhevlin Lakeside Hotel & Lodges — Hotel in Fermanagh and Omagh District

Before arrival I had emailed the reception staff who were very friendly in their emails. Upon check in we were greeted by a lovely friendly male guy. He was the last friendly person we met staff wise in the hotel. The room was ok, it was clean, the furniture worn, not very inviting. The bathroom was big and spacious. The view from the hotel was lovely. The hallways need updating, carpets dirty, vending machine along the corridors, not the luxury resort that is portrayed to be. It is not a cheap hotel, the cost of the room, the food, drinks are overpriced. If I am staying in a luxury hotel I expect to pay this and do pay this because you pay for a luxury hotel, this is not a luxury hotel but they charge like it is.

We went to the playground with our daughter with consisted of 3 items, this is not a playground as stated on their Web site. We went to the bar for a drink and stood there for 10 minutes to eventually be greeted with "yeah" by the bar tender, ordered 2 drinks and sat down. The bar area or lounge is horrible, one section is like a canteen and the rest are tables left with dirty plates sat on them, dirty carpets, not a nice setting. The view was the only good thing.

We booked a 4 course meal as we were celebrating my husbands birthday which I mentioned on booking. I asked for the time to be changed to earlier as my daughter was hungry but they couldn't fit us in. We went down for dinner to be directed to the same canteen/bar area and were greeted with a sign stating to stand here for a table. We stood and stood and no one came near us after 10 mins waiting I went in and stood in the bar to be ignored by staff, very uncomfortable to be left standing in the middle of a busy bar. Eventually a girl came over, no hi just said our table wasn't ready and to go back to reception and wait. We got our table at 7.20, our reservation was for 7. We were asked if we wanted a drink and I asked for the wine menu which I received but they didn't come back to take an order. Someone then came over to take a food order and I asked to order a drink aswell. We waited another 10 minutes and I had to ask again if we could have our drinks to be told oh sorry they lost the docket and the drinks would be over now. The Wine was horrible and overpriced. The food was disgusting, we didn't eat it, my husband ordered vegetable soup to start but he got leak and potato, we couldn't ask for it to be changed as staff didn’t come over to ask if we were OK. The mains we didn't eat and my daughter didn't eat her food either. The staff never asked how the food was, if we needed anything, it was more a feeling of eat and get out. We had to ask to order dessert, even that was disappointing I ordered a lemon cake with ice cream who puts ice-cream sitting in warm custard? the coffee I ordered didn't arrive and at this stage I didn't even try and find someone to ask we wanted to leave. I had to pay for our drinks as the food was already paid upon check in, I had to que and wait again. I didn't leave a tip.

Breakfast the next morning was in the restaurant, why wasn’t dinner in there? There was a good selection of fruits, cereals, pancakes, hot food only the quality of the sausages and rasher are the cheap ones even my daughter wouldn’t eat. When checking out I was asked to settle my bill, I settled by bill on check in as this is what was asked , actually before we got to the hotel I had to pay a fifty pound deposit. I told the guy on reception I had already settled by bill but he said the extras you had. I asked what extras and it was drinks that they charged to our room that was signed for by some man staying in another room, not me or my husband. Again more waiting for him to remove this charge. We weren't asked how our stay was and I wanted to get out of there as soon as I could. I was so annoyed I had booked this place and our night away for my husbands birthday was ruined. Don't stay here unless your ok...

WOW … just WOW!

Although we live quite local we have just returned from a treat in the form of a weekend stay in one of the fabulous new Lakeside Studios at Killyhevlin Hotel and if we had to sum it up in one word that word would be “WOW”.

Being frequent visitors to Killyhevlin we were expecting good things from the new studios and we were not disappointed. The studios are beyond good - they are simply top class. Check-in was smooth and efficient and armed with our key we headed straight from reception to our own reserved parking space, nestled in the corner of the hotel grounds beside the studio block.

There are 12 studios spread over two levels and we had one of the lower level ones. At first sight, from outside, the studio block resembles something akin to a Mediterranean holiday resort, with pristine white walls interspersed with columns of stone clad detail. Beautiful gardens and flower beds all around bring warmth and a splash of colour. Each studio has a private terrace (a balcony on upper level ones) with your own patio furniture and parasol. Subtle lighting at night further enhances that luxury resort feeling.

Entering through the large floor to ceiling glass patio doors we were transported to a place of sumptuous luxury. No expense has been spared and everything simply exudes quality. The bed was super comfortable with quality bed linen and pillows. After exploring the kitchen and bathroom (more on those later) we brewed a cup of coffee using the provided coffee machine and made use of the beautiful two seater sofa and coffee table to enjoy the view in peace and tranquillity.

Essentially one entire wall of the room is floor to ceiling glass so depending on the weather you can either make use of the patio furniture to relax outdoors or, in inclement weather, you can retreat to inside and enjoy the same view from the comfort of being indoors. Our studio looked out onto the hotel grounds with its colourful flower beds and afforded us fleeting glimpses of boats passing by on Lough Erne. We had a great view across to the rolling green farmland on the opposite bank of the Erne and the local herd of cattle treated us to a display of what I can only describe as some form of “synchronized cow skipping” as they all stampeded down the hillside together for a communal drink form the lake.

The kitchen with its marble worktops, high end units and modern lighting leaves nothing to be wanted. Every kitchen gadget or accessory that you could possible need is provided. Dishwasher tablets and washing machine detergent are provided as is a supply of tea bags, coffee, sugar, biscuits and a even bottle of fresh milk in the fridge. We didn’t use the laundry but passed it while out walking – it is less than a one minute walk from the studios on the way to the woodland lodges.

Moving on in to the massive bathroom, continues the feeling of opulence and luxury. On entry low level lighting comes on automatically and immediately you realise how large the bathroom is! A large free standing bath and equally spacious walk-in shower with both rain-fall and traditional shower heads are complimented by a large wash basin set on an even larger marble top. Two Illuminated (and I think heated) mirrors are staggered at different levels to flatter guests of all heights and the WC is accessed through another door for increased privacy – after returning from a Spanish holiday recently where the toilet had a clear class door, we appreciated the discretion of this layout even more!

We had a fantastic stay in the Lakeside Studios and have no doubt that this new offering by Killyhevlin will be a great asset not only for the hotel but for Enniskillen in general. With the privacy and flexibility of self catering combined with four star luxury and access to all of the hotel amenities, you certainly get the best of both worlds. Well done and thank you...

The hotel has impressive views. The room was big and the beds very comfortable. After booking the rooms we were told that because COVID precautions we needed to book the swimming pool in advance however the only available time was 14.00h, same time for the 4 days we were in. If you were touring it means you had to come back if you want to use the swimming pool facilities. We complaint about it but the woman in the pool's reception wasn't very helpful. We think we should have been told before booking the hotel.

We also had to book dinner, the slots were either 6pm or 8pm.

We had two dinner (4 course) included in the price. They were for the KOVE restaurant. On Sunday for dinner we were given the menu but you had to pay extra for some of the dishes in the menu, so that reduced the number of dishes available to choose. Staff were not sure what was included ( we had to ask 2-3 times). It you wanted tea/ coffee was included but if you wanted a cappuccino/latte, it wasn't included. Our food was nice, however for the child we ordered chicken nuggets that I had to cut and they were hard as a rock.

Because of that we used the other dinner voucher at the grill ( they were valued for £20pp there). The food was better that at the KOVE, the child burgers and fries were good ( maybe the problem were the chicken nuggets or the chef was different). However we ordered a Baileys hot chocolate, that tasted good but it looked nothing like the one in the menu photo ( no cream on top, just like a plain hot chocolate) and a latte, that it looked more like half milk and half coffee ( see photos). We also ordered a dessert that never arrived. The service were friendly but extremely slow, we sat at 8pm we left at after10pm and it was not that busy.

We complained at the grill and the woman was extremely friendly and apologised. She took us to reception so they could take the dessert off the bill ( as we never got it). The receptionist also apologised and we were told that it is because they have got new staff due to COVID as most of the good staff has left. It is not fair to be the ones to blame, managers play a roll too.

Summarising our experience: Fantastic location and views. Good rooms and beds. Some staff nice and friendly others just do their jobs. However KOVE restaurant/ Grill service needs to improve for a 4 star hotel. Information about booking swimming pool should be better given before booking the hotel rooms. We mentioned all of these to the receptionist when leaving,...