Madam, – I am the owner of Corcreggan Mill Hostel, near Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal, but being out of the country, I have just received a forwarded link to your newspaper’s article by Rosita Boland, (“How far could you go on €200”, Go, September 5th).
My first response was one of shock that the high standards of hospitality and comfort that my business is renowned for could have slipped so badly in the course of the week that my wife and hostel manager, Angelique, had to go to hospital at short notice.
The remark that struck me as most odd was the “lack of atmosphere” because in my 20 years of business at Corcreggan Mill Ms Boland’s is the first such comment we have received.
Our normal guests refer to the warm welcome, the antique furniture, the tranquillity of the nature sanctuary by the mill-stream, etc.
One recent guest referred to “the generosity of spirit which has obviously gone into the creation and maintenance of the whole property has provided a welcome respite from the normally hectic world”.
On the night Ms Boland arrived at Corcreggan Mill Hostel, one of our very experienced ex-workers at the hostel, who kindly stepped into the void created by Angelique’s forced hospitalisation, remembers checking in Ms Boland.
As Ms Boland didn’t book in advance she wouldn’t have been able to avail of our routine advice such as where to get off the bus, where to eat, where to walk (not on the very busy N56 which has no footpath, but on a safe parallel county road).
As regards hitching a lift, I am very pleased to say this is still safe in Donegal and I agree with her statement that “walking along the horribly busy (main) road (is) far more dangerous”.
The staff still cannot find that “bathroom door that sticks infuriatingly” and have had no such complaint from anyone. They are also emphatic that the bins were not overflowing as they are emptied each morning unless they require emptying earlier.
Ms Boland is correct in that a light bulb was fused and did have to be replaced around the time of her visit. The blind in her chosen room had been giving trouble, was repaired, but will now be replaced.
Coincidentally, around the time of Ms Boland’s stay, one of our guests inadvertently switched off the central heating master switch on the first floor thinking it was a light switch.
Ms Boland neglects to mention that she was also offered a private en-suite room (but that would have cost her €40) and a bed at €18 in a four-bed dorm which would have kept her well within budget.
The double room of the adjoining pair she chose to stay in is normally favoured by families/groups whereby the parents/guardians can take the private double room and the children/group occupy the dorm room.
The staff protest that the hostel is anything but neglected and gloomy, and add that their experience has been that people leave happy, come back and also recommend the hostel to their friends.
Some other people who stayed with us on the same date as Ms Boland had markedly different experiences. One Spanish guest who stayed with us on the same night gave us a customer rating of 93 per cent on the website www. hostelworld.com.
Our ratings on www. tripadvisor.com – not to mention what the Lonely Planet, Guide du Routard and other travel guides report about us – reveal a different story to Ms Boland’s report.
The article as a whole reflects very badly and unfairly not just on the business I have being painstakingly building since 1989, but it also reflects badly on hostelling in particular and holidaying in Ireland in general.
May I suggest if your reporters had approached their task in a more open-minded fashion, they would have been less likely to have had such negative experiences. – Yours, etc,