Biggest problems: UNDERSTAFFED, money is not wisely spent. Dangerous balcony. Bland food.
Understaffing--I'm sure they're underpaid. They had a wonderful woman who ran everything. She checked us into our room (self check in station was broken and often is apparently), she made us reservations for dinner, took our order, was our server (while still checking in others to their rooms), brought us our food, brought our bill, and ran breakfast this morning. They did not have any other waiters. She did it all. Two young girls ran the cafe and helped bring food out, but that was it. The problems of having one person waiting on an entire restaurant and checking in guests and putting out any fires we don't see is it took forever for people to get service. She was incredibly pleasant and kind and did her job with such efficiency and was very serene. However, with only one person, no matter how great she was, there were major problems. People waited so long for their bill they stood up to pay it up front. A couple came in during the middle of our meal, were seated, did not receive a menu until the end of our meal, and by the time we went back to our place, I could see them still not even have received their food. The food was bad. I'm sure their staff in the kitchen is low as well. It took a while for our food to come out and my husbands sirloin steak was overcooked--not edible--and ordered medium well). It was 26£ for an inedible steak. I had the vegetable linguine. The vegetables were bitter and it needed lots of salt. Even the garlic bread needed salt. Breakfast--the toast was burnt, the vegetarian sausage was mainly rice and over cooked. Tables were not getting bussed so not a lot of places to sit. We were asked for our order and had not yet been given a menu. She went to look for a menu and saw none were left because they were not taken from other tables.
Upon checking in at 5 or 5:30 pm, I went up to my room. Walking with my luggage down the hallway was challenging as nearly every room had its dirty laundry sitting outside the door. It smelt and the floors were in need a vacuum. This relates to understaffing. When you put more responsibilities on fewer people, it takes longer to do a job--and prioritizing jobs is required. The room was impeccably clean and well set up. It seemed like they have good staff, just not enough.
My husband noticed from across the canal that the balcony was a bit crooked. When we went upstairs and out on the balcony I felt it wobble quite a bit. We did not feel like it was safe for us to go out on it and informed the manager of the issue. She said she did not know of the problem, but that all she could do was call someone to take a look at it. She mentioned that the construction was not that great. This kind of problem does not happen over night. I'm sure someone else has noticed this and that the owner is aware. It was room 33. If the owner/s did not know then they know now and if it is not fixed prior to the next guests stay it is a lawsuit waiting to happen.
The hotel looks like it's two separate builds. The majority of its rooms being a more motel standard quality and the ends hosting luxury rooms with large showers, comfortable beds, and spacious apartments with balconies (albeit unsafe).
I expected more from a 4 star hotel. The room was nice, the female staff was wonderful. The exterior looked great as well. A very well manicured garden in the hotel's backyard. Great location and view of Ben Nevis. View of Neptune's Stairs. The location was great and about 20 minutes drive from the Glennfinnan Viaduct (Jacobite train passes across) but the experience, not so much. read more