I have been going here since it opened, before you were born. A few years ago it changed hands,…read morethough one chef remained. The new owners are just as determined to keep the standards up to the highest level. It has always been a memorable place to dine and or stay. The internal layout is reassuring, spacious and the food and wines are always exceptional, though I think a little too many French wines of late are on the list. They pay attention to what you want out of the evening and are always welcoming. The food is some of the best in Scotland, as we again proved last week. Well balanced menus, local produce,good flavours and paced well. It is not expensive compared to other fine dining places we have dined in the area. Thoroughly recommended. Make the trip or detour.

This is my favorite hotel in Scotland, bar none. But it is really a restaurant with rooms and if…read moreyou go, go because you want the best food in Scotland and you'll be satisfied with sleeping in a very pleasant but unremarkable room. The television reception isn't good and there really isn't much to do in Kingussie, but everything else is perfect. David and Katie are incredibly good hosts and I can't recommend The Cross highly enough. This is a place to go when you want to escape your normal world for one or two nights of culinary heaven.

Went to restaurant, did not stay in hotel. The staff was already just okay, but, on the evening of…read moreFriday, July 12, 2013. I watched as the waiter (who I think I saw come from behind the bar), a guy with jeans, tennis shoes, and a striped shirt, put silverware on a table in the dining room by the big window. He dropped a knife on the floor, picked it up, and placed it right back on the table for the next diner. Would NEVER eat there again!!!

Our first stay in Scotland and it was fantastic! Mark served us at the bar for dinner and…read morebreakfast! Very friendly and gave us great tips on where to visit. The hotel is beautiful and cozy. Their bar had a large whiskey selection to choose from as well.

The Balavil is a cute little Hotel in Newtonmore, located conveniently on the main road. A big…read moreparking space faces the hotel, so parking is easy and included. We drove to the north from Edinburgh and decided to find a place to stay in Newtonmore. All B&Bs from our AA's guide were either booked out or closed. It was a rainy late afternoon, and then we crossed the Balavil Hotel. We didn't plan to stay in hotels, but this one looked like a cute guest house. So we entered. The guy at the reception was uber friendly and really funny. Of course they had a room for us he said, and also one with two single beds. The rate: £35 per person, including breakfast. Awesome! The hotel is quite old, but it totally matches the cute town of Newtonmore. Staying in a fancy new hotel would have been weird. The room was nice and clean, and the beds comfy. There's a bar in the lobby with a local ale on tap and some other scottish beers, and obviously Guinness. They also serve food I believe, we dined out though. After dinner we had a couple of beers and it was really cosy. Breakfast is served in the spacious dining room next to the lobby. It's buffet style, toast and coffee is served by the waitress. The food was okay, nothing very special. The breakfast is probably the hotels weakest part, but it was fine. A big plus: free WiFi for all guests! I would stay again.

Tired and worn, but friendly and comfortable --- except for the noisiest toilet I've ever seen…read more The Scot House looks like it was nice in its heydey, but has been coasting along for a while; the floors are lumpy from repairs, and there's some water damage on the ceiling. The real show-stealer was the resonance from the toilet --- the flush was normal, but while refilling the tank it sounds like a tuba. The owner is very outgoing, and very friendly; he's quick to respond to questions or requests. Really makes you feel welcome. Breakfast is fairly standard, with reasonable eggs but mushy sausages. A fine place for a night, but definitely not a destination.

To be honest I only went here for the free wifi and sat in the bar. They had this beer called…read moreMonarch of the Glen and it was good. They also had a good selection of Scotch too . The bar man was friendly . The atmosphere was perfect too with no loud TVs bothering me. Cool place and I hope to actually stay in this hotel next time in Scotland.

The restaurant/pub is open to all, not just guests. We had such a good dinner the first night, we…read morecalled ahead for reservations to be sure to get a table to eat there for a second night! Between the two evenings, we had their Scottish stew pie, hunters chicken, fish and chips, Mac and cheese, and chicken ham and leek pie. And two helpings of the mega chocolate fudge cake. All super tasty after a day out on the highlands. Or thirst was well quenched with a nice selection of local craft beers, including several cask ales, and a good range of speyside and islay whisky to boot. (They have other drinks too but I couldn't tell you about them.) Very friendly service, great quiet pub atmosphere. They also have several curries and pasta dishes if you're looking for a change from traditional fare.

We were really excited to stay at this beautiful, historic property on the edge of Kingussie. The…read moretown is so charming and the views of the Cairngorms from the property are stunning - which was why we booked 3 nights here. However, as we unfortunately discovered upon arrival, the description of this property is incredibly misleading and much of the information on its booking page is inaccurate, including that the property is dog-friendly. The most serious issue happened immediately upon arrival. At 7:00 p.m., we could not check into our room because it had not been cleaned after the previous guest. There was trash and used linens throughout the room, the bed was unmade, and there was poop left unflushed in the toilet. When I contacted the off-site staff, they initially did not believe me and demanded photos, which I sent via WhatsApp while on the phone with them. We were moved for the night into a significantly lower-quality room on the ground floor that was not remotely comparable to the room we had paid for, and overlooked the gravel parking lot instead of the surrounding countryside. We were told we would be notified the next day when our original room was ready. Instead of a simple resolution, the situation became increasingly unprofessional. We did not receive a message from the property that our room was ready but instead we were instructed to pack up and vacate the temporary room so it could be cleaned - before our original room was even ready. Nevertheless, after complying and waiting even longer, we were finally able to move into our original room at around 12:30 p.m. on the second day of our stay. Notably, we never saw another guest use that temporary room. To make matters worse, we were later handed the key to the temporary room again and told to return it to the Keycafe, as if we were responsible for the property's operations. The lack of on-site management and basic professionalism was clear. After moving into our room, communication from management became uncomfortable and felt more intrusive. Based on the messages we received, it appeared that off-site staff were monitoring guests via Ring cameras installed throughout the common areas. Despite notifying the property two days in advance that we would be bringing our dog to this advertised "dog-friendly" property, management suddenly introduced arbitrary rules about which rooms could have dogs and demanded both a pet fee as well as an additional cleaning fee to the tune of £60. These restrictions aren't disclosed anywhere in the listing, and no rooms are labeled on the booking sites as prohibiting dogs. Had this been disclosed by the property, we would not have booked here at all. Dog owners should also be aware that the only bin for pet waste is in the guest rooms. Between the room condition at check-in, misleading listings, poor communication, intrusive monitoring, and unprofessional off-site management, this property is not worth the risk or the price. We ended up leaving the property a day early and turning over the situation to our travel insurance & booking site. I strongly recommend that prospective guests stay elsewhere.

From the owner: Period Hotel, Garden Restaurantread more