The description of the accommodation is both false and misleading. Yes the location is wonderful, but the exploitation of it is unconscionable. This place is simply not ready and is uninhabitable. I couldn't, as a solo traveller, stay. I didn't feel safe.
The property is dilapidated and while once might have been the glorious and relaxing retreat hosted by the missionaries who resided in the dormitories, it is far from that now. Described as basic, when more accurately the word is deserted. There is no WiFi as advertised and I, running late for a video call with my young children, was expected to listen to excuse after excuse about how the WiFi was being installed "next week".
I was led through the property strewn with old furniture of the kind most commonly found in state run nursing homes by a woman who - unmasked despite claiming high standards of Covid cleaning compliance - apologised continually for the lack of cleanliness, stating that work was ongoing, that the bathroom was broken and therefore I would be allocated one down the hall. A labyrinthine walk past identical dark, private dormitories followed. She had kindly thought to write the room number associated with the bathroom upon the door, though I feared I would not find my way back to that numbered room without her! At this point I was told that I had the whole place to myself, and I was filled with dread as I contemplated the reality of sleeping in one of these rooms that had housed the brothers who had lived, worked and (perhaps?) died there. Their absence weighed as heavily on the place as the oppression of the Catholic Church, and I had no other option but to escape.
The hosts representatives were kind and tried to convince me to stay, offering me another room, a refund, a cup of tea, something about their daughter’s WiFi, but at that point, distressed and feeling duped, I had to find myself alternative accommodation in one of the most stunning locations in the country at high season. Luckily I found a hotel room not too far away, and remarkably, it cost less than one night at this place.
The rationale for renting rooms in this property became clear as I did the research that I would have been useful to have carried out prior to booking. The intent to develop a Centre of Excellence for Climate Action and Sustainability at the former Sacred Heart Missionary by a group called “Green Skibbereen” clearly is a passion which has perhaps clouded the host’s judgement of the state of readiness of this property for renting to eager holiday makers searching for a base to explore the wonders and wilds of West Cork. The blatant misrepresentation is, however, inexcusable.