We reserved a room through a popular booking service. The web site stated that there were only two rooms left, that there was free secure parking and that credit cards were accepted.
When we arrived at 4pm on a Sunday we found no staff on duty whatsoever. Not traveling with a cell phone, we had to walk 3 blocks to use a public phone in order to call the staff to come and let us in. Other than one other long-term boarder, we were the only ones staying in this fairly large establishment. There were many empty rooms.
We did get free secure parking, but if others had been there, only one other car could have been accommodated. The parking was in a very dumpy back lot behind the hotel.
When we tried to pay by credit card, we were told they did not have a processing machine there, but they could take it several blocks away to another location to process it. We were not comfortable giving anyone our credit card to take offsite, so we walked a couple of blocks to the nearest ATM to get cash.
Needless to say, if we had not pre-booked, we would have left at this point. But once these hurdles were overcome we were very surprised to find a nicely furnished, very spacious and clean room! One of the best rooms we'd found in several weeks in Ireland. Wi-fi worked great.
Furthermore, we were treated very well by the staff. Breakfast was a good Irish meal with many choices. We kind of felt like royalty, being the only ones in the hotel and having them fix breakfast just for us.
I hope the De Averell can garner more business soon. They have lots of potential, but are hampered by lack of customers, it would seem.