The Blue Haven Hotel

The photos on their website and the descriptions of their rooms reach the level of fraudulent. For example, here is their description of their Superior King: "Our Superior King room at the Blue Haven is just that – superior in every way. The elegance, simplicity, and style of the décor continue throughout and that feeling of luxury is achieved by the extra space and comforts of this delightful room". I booked and paid for a Superior King and it was so small there was no space to open the suitcases. The furniture was terrible, there were holes in the ceiling where they had moved a fixture years ago and never repaired.The room was small and shabby in every aspect. When I spoke to the manager his response was that they were full so he couldn't give me another room and he did not have the authority to adjust the price. Buyer beware!

We were met by an unfriendly waiter but soon asserted that we need a better table. This was provided. The table was sticky. The first waiter said it was the cleaning product. She came with a cloth and afterwards it was as before. The restaurant wasn’t clean despite it being 12.30 and very few customers. When we saw the prices on the menu it was apparent. No lunch specials. Main courses were 25 euros. While we waited for our meal we had a member of staff say she was not coming in to work on Tuesday as there was no way that the staffing was adequate. Tense!! Food was good!

Location was excellent in the centre of town - lovely room overlooking the town. We ate in the restaurant Rare and it was out of this world - incredible food and service were amazing - bonus of music in bar after dinner and breakfast was also very good - big thank you to all the staff

Blue Haven fell short of our expectations. This hotel was recommended by a trusted, well-traveled friend in 2019 so we booked it for one night. The room was rundown - dinged and stained furniture, filthy carpet, dirty drapery and windows. The bathroom was updated and clean. Bedding was fine. I would not recommend unless they do some serious updating and a deep clean.

We had two nights booked and it was such a massive disappointment that we cancelled the second night and found a MUCH nicer 4-star hotel in town for MUCH less. Our experience started with checking into an absolutely filthy room with a completely made bed. It was as if housekeeping made the bed but simply skipped vacuuming or emptying the trash bin in the toilet. We had to leave so they could clean our room. The room was worn out, the pillows as hard as rocks. There was a dirty sock on the floor behind the curtains, and the throw blanket on the bed was old and stained. It was absolutely criminal to be charged over 300 euro for such a terrible room. I would chalk it up to complete negligence at every level of hotel management. The staff at the desk were lovely, but can only do so much when the manager is nowhere to be found.

Unfortunately an anniversary getaway in Kinsale was spoiled by a series of customer service fiascos. As we were driving to Kinsale, we rang ahead to ask where we should park. We were told to park in the car park of a local supermarket. As we did so, we noticed lots of signs warning about clamping, which we mentioned to the hotel receptionist on check-in - we were told that this wasn't an issue. Unfortunately this advice proved to be inaccurate, and we found our car clamped the next morning. The release fee was €100. I reported this back to the hotel where a different receptionist took my details and promised to get back to me as soon as a more senior representative was available. Nobody got back to me so I followed up by email. It took a further 16 days before I received a reply. The reply contained a "report" from an investigation which omitted some key information, before concluding that they would not make good the clamping fee, or offer some other form of apology. I replied to the email to challenge some of the points in the "report". I did not receive a reply to this. All in all, a thoroughly disappointing customer service experience.

We stayed here for a family wedding that was on in Kinsale. There were 15 of us and the hotel staff were all wonderful, extremely help and nothing was too much trouble. We ate in The Fish Market in the hotel and the food was fantastic, everyone enjoyed what they had ordered, it was a beautiful meal. Day 2 of our family was held in Hamlets, which is part of The Blue Haven, was really lovely, from the coffee and scones, which I’d highly recommend, to the food that was served for everyone staying for day 2. There was honestly nothing the hotel team could have done to make our few days in Kinsale any better. Ruth

I stayed here with a group of friends in September! We really enjoyed our stay, staff were very helpful and accommodating! Really enjoyed our dinner and breakfast was fantastic! Lovely charming classy hotel in the heart of Kinsale! A 2 min walk to pubs etc! I would recommend staying here

A Great location the staff were amazing so helpful when I lost my earring down the sink They called a plumber and retrieved it for me at no charge. We had a group dinner and the band was great it was a fabulous night with food drinks and laughter the wait staff were very friendly. Our room was a good size and comfortable beds