Stayed here in June with a large group from the States. 1.) This has to be the weirdest place I've ever stayed. 2.) Epidemic bad management.
Foremost, what would possess a hotel put a woman staying alone in a ground floor room with a loading dock/stair thing under the window (which btw doesn't lock), obscured by a fence? Anybody from the hotel or just passing by/from the road or grocery store parking lot next door could climb into that window if they wanted to and the sketchy fence would provide the perfect cover. (See pics.) The room seemed clean enough, but I refused to stay there because it was dangerous. I asked to be moved to a different room on a higher floor.
Even getting to this room was an adventure. Only access was through a SCARY door on the outside of the building to the left of the lobby entrance. This door was always open (another red flag). Through that door was another door, and another, with "fire door, keep closed" on them. Those doors weren't going to stop a fire, but OK. Room was down DARK hallways with smelly carpets and nobody else around.
Room locks were questionable. Looks like they have an ongoing problem with break-ins. The latest lock wasn't going to keep anybody out either.
The window had no screens. The desk clerk struggling to shut the wide open window said, "Well, we don't really get bugs in Scotland."
"Really, because I just killed 4 flies before I came and got you."
The lights are powered by the room key. (No instructions, the guest just has to figure it out themselves, or come clueless to the desk so the poor clerk has to leave his post to come investigate the key and the window.) Getting out of the room in the dark weighed down by heavy bags on checkout day was a blast. So glad management saved the 25 cents.
I stayed in the new room for 4 days. Not once were my toiletries replenished. Not even the TP. After a couple days I went to the desk to ask for supplies. I was greeted with a sign - call # for service. (The sign was out a LOT. Presumably because the poor desk clerk couldn't stay at his post because he is also expected to help with constant guest confusion and maintenance issues.) I called the #. No answer. (Next day - same sign, different #. Nobody picked up there either.) I huffed my way back up the 3 flights of stairs, understandably p'o ed by now. (I didn't take the elevator again after the first time because it was downright scary.) On my way through yet another "fire door" I noticed a door ajar with no knob, just a gaping hole where the doorknob should be and a light on inside. Sure enough... it was the supply closet, with the housekeeping cart parked in the middle FULL of supplies. I ended up taking care of myself. Who knows what I was supposed to do for 2 more days with no toilet paper. I noticed several other people in the same predicament the next day.
This is an all-inclusive resort, food allowance comes as a package with the rate. The first thing that stands out - they're particularly proud of one of their restaurants - Aspects. They leave menus in all the lobbies and outside the other 3. But unless you're looking at the property map, Aspects is impossible to find. (FYI, it's all the way at the back of the grounds in with Laggan Bar, which has a sign, but for some reason their best restaurant inexplicably doesn't.) Our party of 11 stumbled into the dining room in a heap out of the rain, surprising several diners. The only reason we found it at all is we'd looked at the map before leaving our building and knew it must be in there somewhere.
We dined at Giovanni's 2 nights. It was OK, but the management problems were on full display there as well. They didn't have any tiramisu - either night - because "the cook had a problem." There wasn't a problem with the food itself, mind you. The cook [himself or herself] had a problem. What kind of a problem? Like he/she reached for the salt instead of the sugar? We tried not to think about it and just ordered something else. One night a member of our party who is lactose intolerant became ill because the menu item she ordered had failed to list cream in the menu description and our server (who was advised of the allergy at the time of order) failed to inform her. The sever said afterward,"oh, sometimes we use cream as a binder to thicken the sauce". (?!) There was often a line at the maitre d's podium because evidently his job includes clearing plates and bringing people's drinks and checks too. I felt really bad for him. Checks took forever to arrive because of the pervasive inefficiency.
It really wasn't the staff's fault. Clearly they have too many responsibilities per person and no structure to make it all run smoothly. No wonder at least 3 people said it was their "first day".
The cherry on top was when the hotel tried to charge a room change fee from the rape room + extra for going over the food allowance. (We didn't.)
Trust me. Stay somewhere else. read more