I recently returned from an eight night visit to Ireland, my first trip to this country. During our trip, we stayed in four hotels and visited seven others. This is my site inspection report. As with all of my reports, these are my subjective opinions. Others will (and should) feel otherwise! As a TA, it's impossible to evaluate service, so this is more of a reflection on the physical attributes of these properties.

Room

Located in the city of Cork, Ireland's second largest city, Hayfield Manor was built in 1996 on the site of a former manor house. We spent two nights and were upgraded to a Master Suite, very spacious with a Master Bedroom with working gas fireplace, an even more spacious living room also with fireplace, a dressing room, two full bathrooms, and even an exercise machine with its own flat screen TV.

As the hotel was quite fully booked, we were able to see only a Family Room and a lead-in Manor Room. Rooms are quite spacious here. Most bathrooms - but not all - have a separate step-in shower, so be sure to make this request when booking.

What Hayfield Manor has going for it are location (walking distance from the center of Cork) and a lot of space for the money. However, while the rooms are nice, they do not rise to the five star standard that readers of this forum would expect. Bathrooms appear to be finished in faux marble ceramic tiles. The hot water faucet in one bathroom was loose and would not stay positioned over the sink. A lot of gold coloring is splashed around the room - gold colored doorknobs, light switch panels, faucets, picture frames, etc., but this did not create the impression of true elegance.

Dining

Breakfast was good - a cold buffet along with eggs that can be ordered a la carte - but we were disappointed with the house wine at dinner.

Service

Service was uneven, with no turndown service the first night - and a too-late offer of turndown our second night (we had returned to the room from dinner and were already in our bathrobes).