Isles Of Glencoe Hotel

“Nice place for family.”

The view is amazing, room very comfortable. The pool is an great bonus. It’s the perfect choise for relaxing in a peaceful place.

“Good base for exploring the Glen”

This is a great base if you want to spend some days and explore the area. The location is great, the rooms are spacious, and the pool is very good. The restaurant is also quite OK. Room service is sporadic and unpredictable, and the entire building requires renovation. But a homely base it is.

“A Perfectly Average Experience”

Sometimes, I take away stars from an exprience to dock it for some aspect of the experience I found negative. This is not the case here. There is nothing that the Isles of Glencoe did that was specifically wrong. It's just that nothing it did was particularly exceptional considering the price. I c… more

Sometimes, I take away stars from an exprience to dock it for some aspect of the experience I found negative. This is not the case here. There is nothing that the Isles of Glencoe did that was specifically wrong. It's just that nothing it did was particularly exceptional considering the price. I chose the spot for one very specific reason. I wanted to break up what would have been a long travel day after my father, sister and I had just done one. How did I find this hotel as the "moderately priced halfway point between Isle of Sky and Iona"? I asked Chatgpt. I have learned that while AI is exceptional at planning certain aspects of a vacation, it needs to be double checked along the way. For instance, on a recent cross country road trip across the US, I had to replan the entire thing because ChatGPT got the travel distances off between cities by at least two hours. Anyway, I digress. I imagine that your typical American traveler (and Lord knows I hate to consider myself typical) would find this place quite comforting. Up until that point we had been in tiny rooms in old if not historic buildings (which was sort of the point of traveling to Scotland). This was more like a typical American Resort--BIG parking lot, BIG Restaurant, BIG Rooms, BIG Showers, Big! Actually, in America this would be an "average" resort, but I can see how it might seem quite grandeur if you were used to primarily traveling in Europe ...Please not that I am not saying American or European Travel is better than another--just that they are different with different expections....I digress again. The view of the Loch from one room was quite nice. The view from the other of a somewhat manicured lawn not so much. The food at the restaurant was perfectly adequeate though not impressive and the waits for service excessively long. The architecture was vintage 1982 (if you're a fan of late Cold War aesthetics). The staff was friendly but not endearing. So, yes, it was a perfectly average experience. Would that warrant a trip back were I to visit Scotland again based on that alone? Probably not.

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“With a little…..”

Let’s start with the site. Beautiful waterside setting. Great views. We reserved and stayed on a family room. Walking in to the reception area, we wondered what this place would be like. Registration staff was friendly and efficient. As we walked through the bar/ eating area to get to the sta… more

Let’s start with the site. Beautiful waterside setting. Great views. We reserved and stayed on a family room. Walking in to the reception area, we wondered what this place would be like. Registration staff was friendly and efficient. As we walked through the bar/ eating area to get to the stairs for our 3rd floor room, we thought a bit better of things by the quick look around. That changed as we made our way to the room. It appeared to be a fairly recent remodeling. Carpet and paint new-ish. You quickly notice—- do they vacuum at all? Carpet fuzz and dirt everywhere. Made it to the room. The good: Nice layout. Fairly modern decor. Sizable wardrobes. Decent sized bathroom. The bad: do they just not own a vacuum? Kettle was dirty (someone recently made coffee or tea inside it instead of just heating water and left the remnants). The smell. Sourced it to the bath mat on the side of the tub. Soured and mildewed and hasn’t been touched in awhile. A lot of visible mildew and mold in the bathroom. Mattress was clean but long overdue for replacement-just worn. Pro-tip: when your hotel has poor ventilation and no a/c; figure out the mold mildew issue. Stayed in for dinner. Pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and beverages. Food was very good. Waitstaff kind, just a bit understaffed. Here’s the thing—- the whole place needed a good cleaning. The floors and tables were sticky. You heard everyone shoes stick as they walked by. Dining setting has potential as do the outdoor areas with a little more attention to detail. Breakfast the next morning: adequate, not stellar but really okay. Again….. The buffet area was fairly dirty. Walls and cabinets stained with prior food service residue. And our return guest, the sticky floor!!! Unsure if it’s a staffing or management issue, but the place has potential. It’s just not there yet. Fine for a night or two, stayed in worse places certainly; however, not sure I’d recommend without the caveats and would certainly be open to looking elsewhere.

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