Bewleys Hotel Leopardstown - rip off or not?

bungler

Hey all,

I use this hotel quite a bit for business such as taking clients out for lunch or dinner. I also use it with my girlfriend for dinner and we get a huge amount of paper work done aswell.

Last night we had a mountain of work to so we decided to take their special offer and get a room for €55. What really got me was we had to pay €32 for carparking for the night. I complained to the extremly rude guy at the reception and he said thats the price sorry but we wont change it.

I spend quite a bit of money here and i am also a commercial director for a company and part of my role is booking hotels for my team when we have meetings or parties, most times i need to book 30-35 rooms plus conference rooms etc.We have always used Bewleys at the airport.

After this incident last night and the way the guy treated my i will never support them again.

Am i just being arkward or does anyone else agree that just to park in the hotel costs more than 40% of the room fee?

Cheers all

Saruman

€32 for car parking? That's madness!
Should have parked in the Beacon Hotel and while your at it, stayed there.

bungler

Saruman wrote: »

€32 for car parking? That's madness!
Should have parked in the Beacon Hotel and while your at it, stayed there.

That's what i will do next time, i will never support them again and take all my personal and business money to Beacon. I just hate to see hotels charging so much for carparks when you are staying overnight with them

dilallio

That's a ridiculous charge. Do the valet the car for you while it's there?

I would call and ask to speak to the General Manager.

If I were the manager, and was aware of your previous bookings, I would be apologising and offering you a refund and voucher.

Cheshire Cat

According to their website it's €1 per hour or €8 overnight for Bewleys Leopardstown.
Did you park 4 cars?

If not, somebody pulled a fast one on you!

CC

PS We use the Bewleys at the Airport quite a bit and have always found the parking excellent value there. They have a sliding scale, the longer you park the cheaper it gets.

bungler

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

According to their website it's €1 per hour or €8 overnight for Bewleys Leopardstown.
Did you park 4 cars?

If not, somebody pulled a fast one on you!

CC

PS We use the Bewleys at the Airport quite a bit and have always found the parking excellent value there. They have a sliding scale, the longer you park the cheaper it gets.

We parked two cars but because we were there from the afternoon they hit us for day and night. As i said ive no problem paying for parking but i just feel its rubbish value here. Yes the airport is very decent and when i do group booking they charge just €5 for the two day and one night stay. But shag them they have lost it all now

Dempo1

Jesus, when will Irish hotels cop on to themselves, i am bemused by these absurd special offers and packages most of which have hidden costs or requirements. Last year i availed of a three night stay and was essentially told on arrival i must eat in the hotel or i will be charged regardless. Most of these special offers usually involve reduced quality, service and most limited ****ty left over food menus.

As for the OP's point, a swift email or call to the Hotels GM is required but expect "we don't operate the car park excuse" is it any wonder Bewleys stroke Moran Hotels lost so much money last year!

AndyGarcia

Boards.ie will NEVER disappoint me. thank you for this Bungler. My wife and are booking a hotel in Dublin for 4 nights when she is home from work we WERE going to book Bewleys in leopardstown but after reading this i have contacted The Beacon hotel and they said they would not have any charges this crazy so we are going to book with them.

bungler

dilallio wrote: »

That's a ridiculous charge. Do the valet the car for you while it's there?

I would call and ask to speak to the General Manager.

If I were the manager, and was aware of your previous bookings, I would be apologising and offering you a refund and voucher.

No way do they valet the car and if they did they'd want a grand for doin

Saruman

AndyGarcia wrote: »

Boards.ie will NEVER disappoint me. thank you for this Bungler. My wife and are booking a hotel in Dublin for 4 nights when she is home from work we WERE going to book Bewleys in leopardstown but after reading this i have contacted The Beacon hotel and they said they would not have any charges this crazy so we are going to book with them.

Good man.

The Beacon has free car parking. When you go in you get a ticket and there is a machine to pay but that is for visitors, restaurant users etc. Guests get their ticket punched so there is no charge as far as I know.

AndyGarcia

Saruman wrote: »

Good man.

The Beacon has free car parking. When you go in you get a ticket and there is a machine to pay but that is for visitors, restaurant users etc. Guests get their ticket punched so there is no charge as far as I know.

Cheers Saruman, respect to Beacon for running their hotel properly and not charging guests and just had a look at their hotel on their website and to be honest it looks like its a much nicer hotel

mmmmmmm free parking

Saruman

Not sure what the rooms are like but the reception area is pretty cool and the restaurant was good when I ate there last, but that was a good few years ago now.

copacetic

Saruman wrote: »

Good man.

The Beacon has free car parking. When you go in you get a ticket and there is a machine to pay but that is for visitors, restaurant users etc. Guests get their ticket punched so there is no charge as far as I know.

Also if you aren't staying there but have a designated driver with you, or even just spend a bit over dinner they'll look after your ticket for you. I've found them to be generally good for customer service there. (with the usual occasional not so good experience that you get anywhere)

Saruman wrote: »

Not sure what the rooms are like but the reception area is pretty cool and the restaurant was good when I ate there last, but that was a good few years ago now.

Rooms are a step up from Bewleys (as long as you like white!). Think it is a fair bit more expensive per room though. Probably works out the same with parking though, food is much better in Beacon, except for breakfast. Bewleys do a good fry.

Saruman

When you drive in to the Beacon Car park, before you get to the Beacon area, there is a Red Ferrari. It's pretty cool but I guess whoever owns it cant afford to drive it as its always there.

copacetic

Saruman wrote: »

When you drive in to the Beacon Car park, before you get to the Beacon area, there is a Red Ferrari. It's pretty cool but I guess whoever owns it cant afford to drive it as its always there.

dreamcars.ie/des cullen store all their cars there, so it's probably one of theirs. There are always their ferraris, astons, bentleys and porsches parked up there.

Saruman

Nah this is on its own and parked in the same spot in what I think is the Apartment parking spaces. Someone owns it I reckon. Probably drives it at the weekend.

copacetic

Saruman wrote: »

Nah this is on its own and parked in the same spot in what I think is the Apartment parking spaces. Someone owns it I reckon. Probably drives it at the weekend.

ah ok, presumed it had to be one of their ones, as pictured on boards:
(although the bright red one here met with a sickening fate not long after the photo)

AJ! wrote: »

The Beacon…

Mercedes CL63 AMG







Aston Martin Vanquish S





Ferrari 575M Maranello





Ferrari 360 Modena







Ferrari F430…lucky I got it in time!



Guys, look at this...



exoticspotter.com

Shelflife

Well it depends on how long you were there, i believe that the charge is €8 per night up to 12noon and then there is a charge per hour afterwards.

Yes its a pain that it can cost so much but i believe that its clearly stated.

how long were you parked there?

fwiw ive stayed there on numerous occasions and found them very good.

91011

bungler wrote: »

What really got me was we had to pay €32 for carparking for the night. I complained to the extremly rude guy at the reception and he said thats the price sorry but we wont change it.

In the OP you were very selective with the information.

In reality you paid €16 to park a car from early afternoon through to late the next morning in a private car park that has its charges VERY clearly displayed at the entrance.

The fact that you had 2 cars, is neither here nor there.

€1 per hour & €8 overnight is sort of reasonable.

penexpers

Why should parking be includedin any room rate?

If I don't drive to a hotel that I stay in, why should I subsidise the cost of the car park?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

I stay in Hotels in Ireland 6 or 7 times each year. The stay varies from 1 night to 5 nights. I have never had to pay for parking in ANY hotel. Some have pay parking for non-residents but they always validate parking for residents.

I don't know what kind of cheap dives you stay in!

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

penexpers wrote: »

Why should parking be includedin any room rate?

If I don't drive to a hotel that I stay in, why should I subsidise the cost of the car park?

Why should use of the Pool be included? Why should I subsidise people swimming when I don't? Why are some morning newpapers included in the room rate if they don't have the paper I read? Why have Tea and Coffee making facilities provided in the room if I don't drink either but must subsidise those who do? Then there's the body lotion in the bathroom which I never use...the trouser press is not used by many...all that satelite TV when I only watch the terrestrial channels...come on!!

ted1

parking is a premium in the area which the hotel don't make a profi on. The hotel is well serviced by the air coach, luas and other public transport. The majority of guests don't use the car park. What would have been the charge If you didn't stay the night. How long where you in the car park for? You could argue with them that the over night charge should start at check in time and finish at check out time.

rubberdiddies

Thanks OP for this. Read it just in time. Brother in law booked 5 rooms for work for meetings and I told him about the car charges. He has since cancelled as based on the OPs charges, 6 cars for the day and night would have cost around €100

Good to see hotels struggling in a recession alienating customers

Dempo1

ted1 wrote: »

parking is a premium in the area which the hotel don't make a profi on. The hotel is well serviced by the air coach, luas and other public transport. The majority of guests don't use the car park. What would have been the charge If you didn't stay the night. How long where you in the car park for? You could argue with them that the over night charge should start at check in time and finish at check out time.

I am sorry to disagree but i don't get this bizarre argument. Firstly how many customers realistically travel to any hotel by public transport. Secondly is it too much to expect a customer can park their vehicle at their hotel of choice without having to incur additional costs. The real crux of the problem here is Hotels competing at ridiculous rates and then trying to regain lost revenue from additional alleged services. Long gone are the days when a Hotel customer could expect Breakfast without additional charges and Parking charges are just another way of retaining margins. Its absurd to suggest the Hotel does not garner any profit from charging guests parking fee's.

I work in the sector and i am astonished how entire sector has diminished not only in its service but how it generates revenues. I can not understand why Hotels can not just have rates and additional charges upfront with a little more honesty. I doubt consumers are stupid and all these Low cost airline tactics only alienate and infuriate customers.

I spoke to someone else who encounter the same Car Parking charges at another Bewleys hotel, it would appear on the surface this is their Policy throughout the group, any wonder its parent company posted massive losses last year.

Samba

Dempo1 wrote: »

Jesus, when will Irish hotels cop on to themselves, i am bemused by these absurd special offers and packages most of which have hidden costs or requirements. Last year i availed of a three night stay and was essentially told on arrival i must eat in the hotel or i will be charged regardless. Most of these special offers usually involve reduced quality, service and most limited ****ty left over food menus.

It's not just hotels it's across the board, many businesses are still trying to keep their margins while also trying to remain competitive in their respective markets, few have realised that their quality of service must remain in tact and that unfortunately their profit margins must be reduced (within sustainable levels).


Shocking considering the business you've brought to them in the past OP, the least they could do is validate your car parking tickets imo.

whatsgoinon

I stayed in Leopardstown just after christmas, checked in just after 3pm, car parking was €8 for the night. I found the staff there great, restaurant was deserted, food was good and very reasonable for the early bird. Don't know what happened to you OP, I would have been hopping mad!

coylemj

copacetic wrote: »

dreamcars.ie/des cullen store all their cars there, so it's probably one of theirs. There are always their ferraris, astons, bentleys and porsches parked up there.

Don't think that Ferrari is owned by Des Cullen, I've used that car park several times in the past few years as I was visiting a guy in the consultants' clinic and have seen that Ferrari on many occasions, I think the owner lives in one of the apartments, they have designated slots in the car park.

dudara

Write a letter to the General Manager and let him know about this charge, and how you feel about it. They can charge what they like, and if you don't complain, they will cotinue to charge it.

veetwin

OP How much did you expect to pay for the parking for two cars from afternoon one day until late morning the next day in an area of south Dublin where parking is at a premium?

Did you bring your complaint to the manager at the time explaining you role in bringing business to the hotel?

Is €55 not a very good rate for a hotel of this class and location and are the hotel not entitled to charge what they want for parking assuming the charges are well signposted which it appears they are?

coylemj

veetwin wrote: »

OP How much did you expect to pay for the parking for two cars from afternoon one day until late morning the next day in an area of south Dublin where parking is at a premium?

I'd be inclined to agree, particularly when you kicked off this thread by claiming that 'we had to pay €32 for carparking for the night' but you later admitted (on your third post) that (1) there was two cars and (2) you were parked for almost 24 hours i.e. from the afternoon of one day until the morning of the next - not just 'for the night' and you only admitted that there was more than one car when you were challenged by a poster.

Full disclosure of the facts in the first post please, otherwise you are asking us to join a lynch mob without having all the facts.

bungler

rubberdiddies wrote: »

Thanks OP for this. Read it just in time. Brother in law booked 5 rooms for work for meetings and I told him about the car charges. He has since cancelled as based on the OPs charges, 6 cars for the day and night would have cost around €100

Good to see hotels struggling in a recession alienating customers

Delighted to see people also changing Hotel due to the carparking charges

bungler

coylemj wrote: »

I'd be inclined to agree, particularly when you kicked off this thread by claiming that 'we had to pay €32 for carparking for the night' but you later admitted (on your third post) that (1) there was two cars and (2) you were parked for almost 24 hours i.e. from the afternoon of one day until the morning of the next - not just 'for the night' and you only admitted that there was more than one car when you were challenged by a poster.

Full disclosure of the facts in the first post please, otherwise you are asking us to join a lynch mob without having all the facts.

Lets not get carried away and think that Sandyford.Leopardstown is the most priemium part of south Dublin,plenty of places arouns this area are free parking so its not like Donnybrook and sandymount and South City Dublin that's €3.20 per hour.

I didnt just admit when i was pressed by a poster. The fact is i did have to hand over that €32 for parking none of what i said was untrue. I did ask for a lynching mob i was simply venting after receiving a Sh1te service from what i thought was a decent hotel.

On another note i emailed the manager of the hotel at 1.00pm On thursday 13/01/2011. She replied later that day at 5pm to apologise for the service and asked for me number to call me and discuss the matter more, I replied instantly to her and did not hear back from her that day which was fine. I expected to hear from her on Friday and at 3pm i rang to speak with her and the receptionist said she was having lunch and call me after, Never heard from her on Friday so i emailed her again with my number and asked when would she be calling me, no reply and no call on Saturday.

So here is a manager that has lost a large amount of booking from me and my company due to their bad servie and i now understand why teh staff are rude, they are obvioulsy watching how she does business.

What ever about the car park charges, i now want to ask do you feel the manager is being lazy or am i expecting to much for her to contact me?

coylemj

bungler wrote: »

I didnt just admit when i was pressed by a poster.

Yes you did, in fact you even quoted this post (below) when you first told us that there was two cars, that was on your third post. You only admitted there was two cars when Cheshire Cat challenged you and you even quoted his post in your reply, how can you say you didn't just admit when pressed. When were you going to tell us there was more than one car?

Cheshire Cat wrote: »

According to their website it's €1 per hour or €8 overnight for Bewleys Leopardstown.
Did you park 4 cars?

If not, somebody pulled a fast one on you!

CC

PS We use the Bewleys at the Airport quite a bit and have always found the parking excellent value there. They have a sliding scale, the longer you park the cheaper it gets.

And on this point.....

bungler wrote: »

The fact is i did have to hand over that €32 for parking none of what i said was untrue.

I never said that what you said was untrue, what I said was that you didn't disclose all the facts, you told us that you paid 32 euros 'for the night' without telling us that there was two cars and you were parked not just 'for the night' but from the afternoon to the following morning.

coylemj

bungler wrote: »

What ever about the car park charges, i now want to ask do you feel the manager is being lazy or am i expecting to much for her to contact me?

I agree that is lax service and you have the right to expect better.

bungler

coylemj, You are right and i apologise. I did not outline very fact at the start and i understand from reading back that this did not give the full story so i apologise for this

bungler

Was watching the match with one of the lads earlier today and we were talking about the manager not getting back to me and he saying that its unusual for a manager to take the piss the way she is and he suggested that i email her this thread and show her what was said. I thought this was a bit harsh or am i wrong what do you think of that if she doesnt contact me by tommorrow?

Dempo1

bungler wrote: »

Was watching the match with one of the lads earlier today and we were talking about the manager not getting back to me and he saying that its unusual for a manager to take the piss the way she is and he suggested that i email her this thread and show her what was said. I thought this was a bit harsh or am i wrong what do you think of that if she doesnt contact me by tommorrow?

To be blunt, the mangeress gives little of a **** and is perhaps more focussed on keeping her Job in the current climate!

bungler

Dempo1 wrote: »

To be blunt, the mangeress gives little of a **** and is perhaps more focussed on keeping her Job in the current climate!

I can understand that,but ti look at the bigger picture. If her boss knew that the Bewleys group had lost a pretty good client that could possibly have stayed with them if the manager was quick enough to contact me, would she still have her job?

What if there is other people like myself who use the Bewleys group for all business events and have had the same service,surely some of them would stop using the hotel.

Dempo1

bungler wrote: »

I can understand that,but ti look at the bigger picture. If her boss knew that the Bewleys group had lost a pretty good client that could possibly have stayed with them if the manager was quick enough to contact me, would she still have her job?

What if there is other people like myself who use the Bewleys group for all business events and have had the same service,surely some of them would stop using the hotel.

The Bewleys Group piles them high and sells them Cheap, much the same model as Ryanair, I sincerly doubt very much they will careless. I suspect they might even congratulate the manageress on Car Parking revenues!

BrianD

bungler wrote: »

Hey all,

I use this hotel quite a bit for business such as taking clients out for lunch or dinner. I also use it with my girlfriend for dinner and we get a huge amount of paper work done aswell.

Last night we had a mountain of work to so we decided to take their special offer and get a room for €55. What really got me was we had to pay €32 for carparking for the night. I complained to the extremly rude guy at the reception and he said thats the price sorry but we wont change it.

I spend quite a bit of money here and i am also a commercial director for a company and part of my role is booking hotels for my team when we have meetings or parties, most times i need to book 30-35 rooms plus conference rooms etc.We have always used Bewleys at the airport.

After this incident last night and the way the guy treated my i will never support them again.

Am i just being arkward or does anyone else agree that just to park in the hotel costs more than 40% of the room fee?

Cheers all

It's not a rip-off if it's stated what the charges. From what I understand the€32 included daytime and overnight parking? Most hotels are now making their money from the add ons or extras over and above the room rate - meals, drinks, facilities and parking.

If you are a major client you perhaps should have made that known by asking for a manager or just have paid it and talk to your regular hotel contact afterwards. I'm sure that he or she would make a concession to keep your business there. The guy at the desk is probably under pressure to generate revenue as well and probably doesn't have the authority to shift from the set rates.

91011

rubberdiddies wrote: »

Thanks OP for this. Read it just in time. Brother in law booked 5 rooms for work for meetings and I told him about the car charges. He has since cancelled as based on the OPs charges, 6 cars for the day and night would have cost around €100

Good to see hotels struggling in a recession alienating customers

I reckon this is BS - did he book the Beacon instead?

Beacon is €115 room only best available rate + "free" carparking.
Bewleys is €55 per night + €8 overnight car park.

Even those who don't have a grasp of math can see who offers the better value!

BrianD

Seems like a classic case of cutting off your news despite your face. People need to pick their battles. Is €8 day time parking a rip off? €8 for overnight isn't unreasonable either.

It seems that the over reaction of the OP means that over a trivial item he or she could move their business to a more expensive hotel and cost his/her employer more in the future.

I'm guessing that it is the rudeness was more the issue rather than the money. The OP is in a good negotiating position. I'm sure a chat with their account manager will smooth over the difficulties.

bungler

BrianD wrote: »

Seems like a classic case of cutting off your news despite your face. People need to pick their battles. Is €8 day time parking a rip off? €8 for overnight isn't unreasonable either.

It seems that the over reaction of the OP means that over a trivial item he or she could move their business to a more expensive hotel and cost his/her employer more in the future.

I'm guessing that it is the rudeness was more the issue rather than the money. The OP is in a good negotiating position. I'm sure a chat with their account manager will smooth over the difficulties.

Yes i do agree that while i still disagree with charges being so high for two cars, the fact that i complained and got such sh1te service is probably what spurred me to start this thread and rant about it. I would still like to see hotels look after guests who are staying with them and give them a rate of say €5 per day or free like most other hotels.

I suppose if the staff had not been so rude and the manager actually contacted me back i might not have went on about it but the staff were rude and she still has not contacted me back, so that's probably why i am bitter

rubberdiddies

91011 wrote: »

I reckon this is BS - did he book the Beacon instead?

Beacon is €115 room only best available rate + "free" carparking.
Bewleys is €55 per night + €8 overnight car park.

Even those who don't have a grasp of math can see who offers the better value!

Yep total BS. I love wasting my time posting made up stories about hotels. My bro in law is thankfully the type of person who votes with their feet. As a business person himself, running a relatively small business, €100 extra for an over night is a lot of money.

He has apparently booked the maldron in tallaght now. No idea what he paid for that to be honest but I can only presume it's the same price or cheaper.

rubberdiddies

.

Dempo1

rubberdiddies wrote: »

Yep total BS. I love wasting my time posting made up stories about hotels. My bro in law is thankfully the type of person who votes with their feet. As a business person himself, running a relatively small business, €100 extra for an over night is a lot of money.

He has apparently booked the maldron in tallaght now. No idea what he paid for that to be honest but I can only presume it's the same price or cheaper.

The Maldron in Tallaght? thats as cheap as it comes, did he bring his own bed and sheets for that matter?

rubberdiddies

Dempo1 wrote: »

The Maldron in Tallaght? thats as cheap as it comes, did he bring his own bed and sheets for that matter?

Is that relevant?
He is having a business meeting and an overnight for people working in different parts of the country, not a family leisure break.

If he didn't fancy paying €100 car park charges then that's his entitlement.

bungler

Just to update people.

The manager rang me this morning and said she was sorry but she got bogged down with problems over the weekend and that's why she was not in contact.

She confirmed that i should have only paid €8 per car making the total €16 and not the €32 i was charged. She explained that the guy on the desk was new and still learning and she apologised again.

She said she will refund €16 that should not have been charged to my card and send me out a token for the hassle. She also said she was calling a meeting today to explain to all staff how the carpark works.

Im pretty happy with the result and i am glad that she sis come back this morning and i didnt have to call her again.

Saruman

A result

bungler

Saruman wrote: »

A result

Yep she did good, i sort of thought if i didnt hear from her this morning it was seriously bad form but she did ring me and dealt with me very well.
Thanks for all your advice and opinions guys and gals