Straffan Court Hotel

The Straffan Court Hotel offers affordable prices in quality surroundings.

Set on beautiful landscaped gardens and a warm friendly welcome in store for you, the Hotel is the ideal base for business or leisure alike.

Formally a stud farm known as Dowdstown Stud, the Stables and stud were renovated to its present standing keeping much of its old character. It is now a tastefully decorated and charming hotel located in the heart of North Kildare. Located just minutes from Maynooth Town Centre, with easy access to the M4 motorway, 7 minues to the Kclub (venue of 2006's Ryder cup), 7 minutes to the famous Castletown house and just 30 minutes to the ancient pagan sites of Newgrange and Tara. Taking a trip into Dublin city can be hassle free by catching the train or bus from Maynooth town, reaching the city centre in just 30 minutes.

The Hotel boasts 43 ensuite bedrooms, a luxury dining room and an exciting hotel bar. It is built on one level making it accessible for wheelchairs. We have an enclosed patio and garden area with Gazebo, ideal for relaxing outdoors. This part of the hotel was formally the stud's courtyard. Conference and banquet facilities are also available in the Hotel and we take pride in our Wedding service offered to propective couples.

The hotel's tranquil setting, coupled with its fine cuisine and friendly staff, and personally overseen by its proprietors, is ideal for that special occasion, be it a wedding, anniversary or birthday.

With millions of hotels around the world, the hotel industry is certainly very competitive. There are hotels charging thousands of pounds per person, per night - catering purely for the rich, famous and lavish. Yet on the complete opposite end dof the spectrum, there are 100% eco friendly hotels, built towering up in trees, relying on nature to provide everything needed. All sorts of hotels can be hugely successful in their own right, constantly booked up and praised by all.

However for every successful hotel, there are many more unsure, unsuccessful and failing hotels, struggling on day by day, praying for something to come along and magically turn them around. Speaking to anyone around the world with a bit of traveling experience will undoubtedly have a few amusing anecdotes or terrifying tales about previous encounters with hotels from hell.

Unfortunately for the smaller, independent hotel, it is very easy to get sucked into vicious cycles where customers are be put off by dreary and drab decor and slightly run down exteriors. Yet due to the lack of custom, owners are skeptical or nervous about taking out risky loans in order to carry out refurbishments. It is all too easy to become a monotonous place to stay, lacking in character which resembles hotels commonly found at motorway service stations.

What can be done for a hotel wanting to inject a new lease of life into its veins? Well a fresh pair of eyes is a good start, many minor things that could be easily fixed yet create bad first impressions can be highlighted and rectified. Secondly a spring clean will show off your hotel in its best light. Thirdly upping staff moral can create a world of difference, smiling, chirpy staff will reflect in customers, making life easier for everyone.

A super hero like, hotel consultant, character that travels the world, finding the worst hotels and turning them around would make fantastic television. Gordon Ramsey has done it with restaurants; Dragons Den has done it with businesses and now a hotel development extraordinaire needs to be born. Imagine a hotel such as the fictional Fawlty Towers being assessed by an experienced, world renowned, professional hotel consultant. It would definitely be an eye opening, insightful yet extremely amusing situation.

Until a super consultant comes along, all hotel owners should take a step back, just for a second, to identify its own strengths and weaknesses. Think about how to make the customer thrilled rather than just satisfied. Motivate staff with incentives to provide the best quality service around. Any hotel around the world could benefit from an external review being honestly critical, clearly highlighting potential downfalls that the hotel could be aware of, or blissfully unaware.

 

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