The grounds themselves are very beautiful, and the staff (when available) is quite kind. However, we strongly recommend against the economy annexe rooms. We booked an economy room (that unbeknownst to us was in the annexe), but due to unexpected issues with the room and an inability to contact any of the hotel staff, we couldn't stay in the room and had to leave in the middle of the night (a first for us!). Thankfully a nearby hotel had an available night manager and was able to welcome us. The whole thing was quite upsetting and bugged us a lot, and we wish that we had either splurged for a more expensive room in the main building (if we could afford it) that presumably does not have the same problems, or gone for another hotel from the start. We ended up having to go back to the hotel 3 times the next day to try to catch the manager and resolve the issue, which between the stress and lack of sleep from the night prior and the walking up and down the hill to get to the hotel so many times the next day took up most of our day on what was our honeymoon trip.
Unfortunate experience, though we strongly believe the issue is only in the annexe and may soon be fixed. We met other travellers who stayed in this hotel in one of the more expensive rooms, and had nothing but fabulous comments about their experience.
Clifden itself is a beautiful small Irish town with friendly people and an incredible history (site of Marconi's first transantlatic telegraph in 1905, site of first transantlatic flight in 1919). A city well worth visiting for those in nearby Galway!