Dreadful Hotel......Stayed at this hotel on the night of July 14th (William Grant 6pax group) Hotel staff are a disaster & from my own hospitality experience they should be either removed or re-trained. The male receptionist (a Polish gentleman) appeared inconvenienced by our arrival and completely unwilling to assist the ladies in our group with their luggage, he also only grunted when asked questions and refused to hand out a copy of the menu, instead telling my colleague to 'go look for himself'. The restaurant manager was also incompetent. Being incapable of running a restaurant he instead chose to dress himself as unemployed 'teddy boy in order to distract the guests from his obvious amateurism'. His manner of talking to staff was disgusting and his approach to guests was worse than Basil Fawlty with a hangover. Whilst the night porter and bar staff are to be commended for their friendliness and good manners, it was, nonetheless an extremely disappointing experience from a group that prides itself on leading the way in Scottish Hospitality.

An amazing hotel in the wilds of Scotland - yet only half an hour from Aberdeen. Staff very friendly - food excellent.......definately recomend the steak! I stayed in the Tower Room at top of the hotel - which was lovely. Just watch out for the ghost!

We booked our stay for a Valentines treat. We went for the more expensive Tower Room in the older part of the hotel (directly above the reception area). First impressions of the hotel and the room were good. The room had a quirky layout and was nicely furnished. Bathroom very clean and tastefully decorated. Our problems started when we began to get ready for dinner. Our shower was stone cold and not heating up. We spoke to the receptionist who advised "this does happen in our room / this part of the hotel sometimes!" She advised us to not turn up the heat and pressure so much and let it run for 5 minutes or so. She explained the room was in the older part of hotel and served by an older boiler along with another few rooms. Five minutes later and no hot water so I rang down and spoke to the assistant manager. To cut a long story short we did not get hot water that evening which really spoiled our evening. The assistant manager was most apologetic and gave us a complimentary bottle of wine (our choice of bottle) and the room rate was also wiped from our bill. The evening meal was nothing remarkable and just ok. Next morning we woke to hot water and a lovely breakfast. I have to make special mention of the breakfast as I have stayed in many hotels and this was the best cooked breakfast I have ever had. Very very good and a plus point for the hotel if they keep this standard up. When checking out we spoke to the manager of the hotel who was working that morning. Explained situation to him but felt he wasn't really interested in discussing this. Apparently boiler is due to be replaced and his take on the whole thing was it wasn't really a problem as this didn't happen often! (not what the receptionist said to us). Only consolation is that we didn't pay for room. We would have to think long and hard before we returned to this hotel. We weren't impressed with the manager or the problems we experienced.

I stayed with my girlfriend for one night in early March in Room 16 (fairly new room at the back of the hotel) after getting a good price on a hotel booking website. I liked: - The location. A stunning setting at the foot of Aberdeenshire's most famous mountain, Bennachie. - The building. Atmospheric and homely. - The main public room. Gorgeous with a log fire roaring away. - The bed. Very comfortable and a good size. I didn't like: - The receptionist. She was brisk to the point of rudeness and wasn't very helpful, e.g. she didn't arrange for a newspaper to be delivered in the morning as requested. - The condition and size of the room. It was a little on the shabby side (peeling paint etc.) - The size of the hotel. It is a little too small (and I speak as someone who hates big bland chain hotels but this hotel is tiny!) and so as a couple you don't feel you have much privacy, especially if there is a wedding or conference on. Overall: - Too expensive if you pay the full rate and I would be wary of staying there as a couple if there is a wedding/big conference on but overall still one of the best hotels in the area and I would consider staying there again at the right price.

my sister just had her wedding here. Found that the staff werent the quickest of the block. Room was nice and large, stayed in the tower room. My sister had her dogs with her and the hotel was fine about them so that was good. Wedding all went smoothly, food was fine. Breakfast wqs not so good, they could not keep up with the amount of people who needed fed, had to wait about for toast and eggs etc. All in all an enjoyable stay but still a little room for improvement.,