Harvey’s Point in Donegal tops TripAdvisor Irish hotel rankings

Harvey's Point in Donegal has been named Ireland's number one top hotel in this year's TripAdvisor awards.

Set among the Bluestack Mountains on the edge of Lough Eske, Harvey's Point was also named sixth best top hotel in Europe and 18th in the world.

It is the third year in a row that Harvey's Point has won the best title of best hotel in Ireland from TripAdvisor readers.

Harvey’s Point hotelier Deirdre McGlone described the award as a “lovely New Year gift as we complete our 25th anniversary year”.

‘Ecstatic’ reviews

The hotel has obtained an average rating of 9.6 out of 10 from visitors, with most posting ecstatic reviews.

Of the 2,366 reviews on TripAdvisor, 2,129 rated the premises as excellent and 167 as very good. Only 70 rated it as average to terrible.

Among the comments left on the TripAdvisor site included “everything was excellent”, “the room pure luxury” and the “whole ambience was perfect”.

Also among the big winners were Down Yonder Bed & Breakfast in Rosses Point, Sligo, which has been named the tenth best-rated B&B in the world. All 122 reviews of it were posted as excellent.

Castlewood House in Dingle was placed 23rd in the world's small hotels category.

TripAdvisor’s Travellers’ Choice award winners were determined based on the millions of reviews and opinions collected in a single year from TripAdvisor travellers worldwide.

Determining choice

The comments left on TripAdvisor are supposed to be from independent travellers and are used widely by travellers to determine the choice of destination or accommodation.

"It's been another great year for the Irish hospitality industry, with four Irish businesses being named among Europe's best," said James Kay, TripAdvisor spokesperson.

Overall, Ireland's best performing town this year was Killarney, home to 15 winning properties in the latest awards. The town retains the same status from last year's awards, in which Killarney boasted more awards than Sydney, Bangkok and New York.

Gili Lankanfushi Maldives on the North Malé Atoll of the Maldives - where the average nightly rate is £1,144 (€1,500) - takes the title of world's top hotel for 2015.