Leonardo Hotel Inverness

“Pretty poor experience, marginally recovered by 2 or 3 exceptional team members.”

We checked in on Good Friday, late afternoon, with our daughter who is autistic. Firstly- we booked a double + single standard room. Be warned- the rooms are very small. Huge wardrobe with only one shelf, and not enough hangers for a family. The rooms are also red hot. Even with the radiators off, … more

We checked in on Good Friday, late afternoon, with our daughter who is autistic. Firstly- we booked a double + single standard room. Be warned- the rooms are very small. Huge wardrobe with only one shelf, and not enough hangers for a family. The rooms are also red hot. Even with the radiators off, they supply desktop fans, and we had to keep the windows open, which meant all the noise from the motorway traffic and trains came in. The rooms need some attention. Chipped counters and skirting boards, dust bunnies under the beds, and bathrooms that need deep cleaning to remove mold. The shower is good, hot and powerful. We had dinner on Friday night in the restaurant- average hotel food, although the pizza was better. One of the staff was absolutely lovely and arranged for some plain toast to be made for our daughter who has limited foods. In the morning at breakfast, another waitress, Morgan (?) saw that our daughter was wearing ear defenders, and offered us a table in the main restaurant if we needed somewhere quieter. Lovely service and completely unexpected. Breakfast was good, plenty of cold and hot selections. The swimming pool is fantastic- ask the team and they can provide a pool noodle for the kids too. Very warm and relatively quiet for swimming. Aaaaand that's where the good stuff ended. Came back after a day out on Saturday to find our room hadn't been cleaned. Went downstairs to let the chap know on reception, who apologised and went to get me toilet paper, and milk replenishment. On Sunday, the same thing happened again. Returned from a day out to find the room hadn't been cleaned again. Went down stairs and put in a complaint to the manager, who apologised profusely and arranged for the cleaning service to clean the room. We were given a voucher for 3 x free drinks by way of apology. At this point, we had to leave the room and wait downstairs for the cleaner to finish. We went out for dinner, came back and I went to use the vouchers only to find out it was for soft drinks, bottled beer or house wine- none of which we drink. I asked if I could "upgrade" the drinks and pay the difference, and was told "no sorry, that's not allowed". So not really a goodwill gesture. At 1am, all the hotel alarms went off- you couldn't make this up. So the entire hotel was evacuated at 1am, and let back in at 1:30am after the fire service gave it the all clear. Exhausted, we went to bed, and sadly our daughter was completely disregulated and struggled to get back to sleep. I know this can't be helped, BUT it turns out it was a burst water pipe, which meant in the morning, no hot water. Upon packing in the morning, my partner couldn't find his ring. It had been left in our room before the cleaning service and during the fire alarm evacuation. As we checked out, I spotted the ring behind the counter at reception. We have no idea how this could have happened, as he left it on the counter by the TV. When we returned yo pick up our luggage, we ordered a drink while we were waiting to go to the airport- the staff very kindly gave us a large glass of "not house" wine free of charge, and offered my partner a drink too- but he is driving this afternoon, so couldb't accept it. And so, it's the team that make up for a very poor experience. The hotel really needs attention, and a rethink on what it's trying to be, because two or three stellar team members can't save the experience for everyone all of the time.

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“Good and bad”

Staff were brilliant. Leigh on reception was very helpful and Megan in the bar/restaurant was really friendly. The experience was let down by the size of the room and, in particular the bed. Small double was uncomfortable. So much so that we checked out a day early.