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I’m extremely proud to be Irish!  Despite the rise & fall of the mythical Celtic Tiger, there is still alot to be proud of about our little gem of an island.

Hotels.com  recently conducted a hotel amenities survey, asking travellers to vote on what were the top hotel facilities they look for prior to making a booking. Without doubt, free Wi-Fi is a must when choosing a hotel room and that this facility overwhelmingly topped the polls.

• 36% of travellers reported that free Wi-Fi is a “must” when searching for somewhere to stay
• 33% reported it is the simple amenity they want to see more in hotels
• 31% hoped it would become a standard in all hotels in 2012

“Given the explosion of mobile use in the past few years, it is no surprise that travellers are requiring free and fast Wi-Fi,” said Taylor L. Cole, APR, director of public relations and social media for hotels.com. “Many guests never travel without their tablets, smartphones and laptops. It’s as intuitive as packing a toothbrush. Guests use these items in their rooms to plan activities for the next day. We are also seeing an uptake in mobile bookings the day of a stay. Guests are creating their trips while on-the-go via mobile apps, which feature exclusive mobile deals – it is only natural that they’d want to stay connected while in their hotel rooms.”

• 23 % of guests stated their favourite modern in-room amenity was the use of iPads for guest services, local information and personal use. This ranked above air purifiers/humidifiers, high-end coffee makers, iPod dock, massage chairs, video game systems, universal remote rooms and workout equipment/DVDs.

Second to technology, guests are most pleased when their favorite food and beverages are provided during their hotel stay.

• 45 % reported that their favourite new amenities are: happy hours, wine tastings or any other time with free food and drinks
• 31 % of travellers expressed their wish to see more complimentary bottled water in their hotel rooms

Despite some guests stealing linens/towels (14%) or magazine/books (12%) from hotel rooms, over 66% of hotel guests have never stolen an item from their hotel room.

Travelers felt like extra luxuries like turndown service and bath menus were “not worth the hype,” according to 44% of female respondents and 30% of male respondents.

The bathroom phone gets no love. It is the least used hotel amenity, with 37% of total respondents saying they never touch it.

When asked about amenities at luxury hotels, women prefer designer toiletries (23%) and men prefer the fitness center and spa (27%)

When asked if they could stay celebrity-style, the top option for both men (35%) and women (38%) was to have their kitchen pre-stocked with their favorite food and beverages.  However, a close second was the ability to have a private pool and hot tub in the room (37% of women; 34% of men.)

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome all those new clients who have joined us since we updated our website portal and are now using our hotel booking engine;

St Kilians Lodge Hotel on Mullagh’s main street is a friendly and most welcoming establishment. Proprietor Micheal Farrelly and his staff are getting well recognised in recent times for their fine food, well priced accommodation and most notably great entertainment nights.  Popular local music group ‘Say La V’ often provide the weekend entertainment here and it has to be said if it’s a quiet night you’re looking for then this is not the place for you!!

Slieve Elva Bed & Breakfast is based in Kilmoon, Lisdoonvarna, Co. Clare. Gerry & Aoife Swords are your hosts at this charming accommodation which is perfectly situated for exploring The Burren, Cliffs of Moher and Aran Islands.

The Farnham Arms Hotel is centrally located on Cavans Farnham Street (surprise surprise). Micheal Shiels & Co. run a good operation at the hotel. It is well known for midweek trad sessions boasting some well known local and national traditional Irish musicians.  The Farnham Arms is a good spot to grab some lunch as there is always a great carvery selection available very reasonably priced. Always a hive of activity during Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann and well worth a visit.  Accommodation is also very reasonably priced for both room only and bed and breakfast rates.

Mary McGeeney’s Coolangatta Bed & Breakfast is located within a 20min. drive of Nenagh in Irelands Premier County of Tipperary.  This accommodation overlooks the spectacular River Shannon and surrounding lakes. Only 1 hour from both Galway & Limerick and 1.5 hours from Shannon airport. Mary will have a new website launch in time for the 2012 season…. watch this space!

Maurice & Emily McHugo are your hosts at The White House B&B near Virginia, County Cavan.  Virginia boasts a range of local activities from fishing to golfing and is now only an hours drive from Dublin airport thanks to the new M3 motorway which ends just a few miles south of Virginia near Maghera/Carnaross.  Virginia is also becoming an increasingly popular destination around Hallowe’en for the ‘Pumpkin Festival’ which boasts one of the biggest Fancy Dress parties in Ireland as well as some of the largest and heaviest pumpkins from all over Europe.

So that’s a brief introduction to some of our new accommodation providers throughout the region. It has been a pleasure working with them thus far and we hope to continue to build this good working relationship going forward.

We are delighted to launch the new Border, Midland and Western Hotel’s accommodation booking portal.

As a guest searching to book a room, please browse through our available hotels.

As an accommodation provider, please contact us if you would like to have your hotel listed with this accommodation booking engine.