A sister property to Galway Bay Hotel and Sheraton Athlone Hotel, this family-owned waterside hotel adjoins Athlone Golf Club on the western shores of Lough Ree, just four miles outside Athlone town.
With lovely lake and island views and a wide range of leisure activities on site - including boating, fishing and a fine leisure centre - it's in great demand as a venue for both business and social occasions, especially weddings.
Until quite recently it was the only hotel providing such facilities in the area and, to meet the demand, it has grown considerably since opening in 1992. However, demand is still growing - notably for midweek conference activity (10 purpose built conference suites have a capacity of up to 1,400 delegates) and weekend breaks - and further bedrooms continue to be added.
Newer bedrooms are bright and comfortable, with double and single beds in most rooms; many also have lough views. Hodson Bay is renowned as a family destination, and facilities include a tiny tots playroom, an extensive kids camp and a teenagers room (during school holidays). However, to offer an alternative for guests travelling without children, there are 53 quietly situated rooms in the aptly named Retreat at Hodson Bay.
Aside from the beautiful location and outdoor activities, the Hodson Bay's destination health spa and leisure complex - which was relatively recently added - is a major attraction and ensures that this very large hotel is always busy.
“The Spa at Hodson Bay” offers a combination of Wet and Dry Treatments, Thermal Suite and Relaxation Room, and guests have unlimited complimentary use of the many other state of the art leisure facilities including an extensively equipped gym, steam room and sauna plus a 20 metre deck level swimming pool and a raised hydro- pool.
Complimentary in-house daily activities are offered too, including wine tasting, whiskey tasting, yoga, bingo, aqua aerobics and thermal spa experience. There is always something going on here but the down side is that, despite ongoing renovation and refurbishment, wear and tear is hard to keep up with at this very busy hotel, especially in public areas.
Keeping food standards up to the high quality to which the hotel clearly aspires is also a challenge which can sometimes be difficult to meet.
