On arrival our first impression of the hotel was first class. We were not dissapointed. The staff at this Hotel cannot do enough for you, and by the way there is plenty of staff. The food in both restraunts were first class, If you can't find something you like to eat then there must be something wrong with you. the swimming pool was excellent, the gym outstanding.
The location of this Hotel is only a 20 minute slow walk into Newcastle Itself. Perfect for us old timers.
There was only the one downside. On Saturday nights there is entertainment. As all Hotels do, the doors are open to non residents. After our meal we moved to the lounge and could not get a seat anywhere. On asking where the residents lounge was we were told the only space available was in the library. We had to go and get our own drinks as the waiter sevice was for the lounge . This did not spoil our fun in any way.
Would we go back? Definatly

Stayed one night in mountainview room at front of hotel
Lovely local staff ....... breakfast top class ...... pool/jacuzzi relaxing
Recommended for a relaxing break at reasonable price

The level of personal service by the majority of the staff talking the trouble to use your name was excellent. The food was very good, genorous portions but with an individually cooked quality. I would strongly recommend this hotel.

I felt the hotel could do a lot better in the following areas:
Cleanliness of bedrooms- the back of the bathroom door was very dirty as was the bath panel and the bath.This did not instil a lot of confidence in me that the toilet and wash basin were cleaned thoroughly! In the bedroom itself the skirting boards were splattered with something too. It just gave me the impression that the rooms had been given a quick superficial clean but when you looked closely there were obvious failings.
Decor: I know some of the bedrooms are in process of being redecorated. The bathroom of our bedroom could certainly have done with a facelift. The paneling of the bath and been poorly fitted and everything looked like it had been a very poor DIY attempt! The whole bathroom would benefit from being ripped out and replaced and then of course cleaned properly to maintain it!!
Service in the restaurant: There were approximately 10servers in the restaurant which was barely half full. We waited and waited for our order to be taken during which time my 9year old son observed that there were a lot of the waiters standing about chatting and not doing very much. There seemed to be no structure and a lot of their time was spent in discussion with the supervisor at the expense of the diners.
Quality of food: evening meal and breakfast could only be described as very mediocre.

Overall impression: Pile 'em in and offer 'em cheap (QUALITY that is, not prices!).Will try the Slieve Donard in future.