The Clifden Arms, Marquee Hire

Excellent service with super friendly staff. Dinner was decent (although the first time the duck came out it was still quacking and had to be sent back for some extra cooking!) and breakfast very good. The pub has a really warm and welcoming vibe and a good selection of wines/beers. The room we stayed in (Leaf) was a little soulless however, and I REALLY didn't like how the sliding bathroom door didn't shut properly. Even when it's locked the bathroom door drifts open, leaving a good four/five inch gap enabling direct eye contact between the person using the lavatory and the person sitting in the room's only chair. Not ideal for comfort during one's most private moments... I'd go back, but I'd request a different room.

Our stay at Clifden was mixed. I'll start with the positives: The room was pleasant enough. Beds comfy. Room was clean. Check-in was efficient and easy. There was plenty of parking. And always nice to find, the shower was hot and good pressure. But it was an odd stay. We originally booked through Hotels.com. We modified our booking online from 2 nights to 1, but Hotels.com didn't notify them. No fault of the hotel, and understandably frustrating for them. When we checked in, I was asked if I could pay the bill for the stay. I was surprised, because usually Hotels.com just bills my credit card—I've used it many times. When I said that, the girl said okay, no problem. However, every time we encountered a new member of staff, they would look at us and go "Oh, you're our guests in the Willow room, you didn't show up the first night, and have you paid your bill yet?" It was weird. Like the whole team had got together at some point with a picture of us and talked about us. It made us uncomfortable and became a running joke on our trip. We were asked like 5 times to pay our room charge, even the morning after we had paid it. Very unusual. Additionally, Clifden overcharged us for our room when Hotels.com didn't bill us. We reserved two nights at 335GBP, so 167.50 per night. From what I understand, when the reservation was modified from 2 to 1 nights, the hotel just rebooked it through their own system. When we had dinner that night, they added the room charge to the dinner ticket... 198GBP, with a 10% service charge on the whole bill (food and room charge!) The owner offered to take off the 10% service charge on our dinner bill, but once you remove the 10% of the room charge, the actual discount was like 6-7GBP (total food bill and room was like 297GBP), meaning we paid about 191-192GBP for the room, which is still almost 30GBP over what we were originally reserved at via Hotels.com. I found the whole experience kind of weird and a little scammy.