The Waterfront Townhouse Accommodation

We had a great stay at the Waterfront Townhouse in Kilkenny with our large group. Communication with the owner was smooth and helpful, and the place is right in the heart of the city, so we could walk everywhere. The rooms were spacious, spotless and well maintained. Highly recommended for groups wanting somewhere comfortable and convenient in Kilkenny.

For €250 for one night, this wasn’t worth it. The terrace was filthy, with cobwebs all over the furniture, and the tea station on the main landing had no milk in the fridge, just a tin of tuna. There was only one part of a Tassimo latte for coffee. The towels looked either unwashed or badly stained and hadn’t been checked before being put in the room. There was plenty of hot water but no cold water, so taking a shower was impossible.

My mum and I were told our booking had been “upgraded” to The Gate Lodge because we couldn’t stay at the Waterfront Townhouse Apartments due to “Water Maintenance,” as staff explained on the phone. We understand that the original accommodation wasn’t available, but this is an honest account of our experience at The Gate Lodge. We’ve used self check-in places in several countries and continents, and they’ve always felt safe and easy to figure out. Here, we arrived on Parliment Street and couldn’t find any accommodation sign. I called staff for directions. There were no building numbers, so I asked if it was beside a pink and grey building. The answer was “I think so,” which didn’t give us much confidence. Neither call mentioned where to find the keys; we were only given a room number and a code. After climbing three flights of stairs, we reached the room door without a key and with no signs or instructions about where to get one. From the window I spotted the lockboxes, so I went all the way back down. Our box was already open, with two keycards inside. I’d expected it to be locked for security, but anyone could have taken them. Once we could finally get into the room, it was disappointing. It had been described as “newly refurbished,” but it was a double room with one chair, no wardrobe and nowhere to put our bags. The bathroom was dated, the toilet was unclean, and there was no Wi-Fi in the room. The only thing that seemed newly refurbished was a TV too big for the space. The keycards said to keep the door deadbolted for safety and report anyone suspicious to the police. After reading that, we decided we weren’t staying because we didn’t feel safe. I called staff a third time and said, “we won’t be staying here, we don’t feel safe.” They replied “Ok” and hung up. We’d booked what looked like a beautiful townhouse with a view, but got little to no communication from either accommodation until we contacted them, then were moved to a sub-par place with no view and faecal matter from a previous guest in the toilet. It was non-refundable, which added insult to injury and made both accommodations seem like scams.

The room we got smelled like a dead rat, and it didn’t match the pictures on the booking. It’s obvious to me why it’s non-refundable. This feels like a scam to take a few hundred euros from tourists by falsely advertising a non-refundable room. Stay away.