The Invercauld Arms Hotel

I've been several times, usually driving myself, although the place mostly caters to coach tour groups. That's not a complaint, just an observation. We've often shared tables with people from the coaches, and it's been good fun chatting with fellow holidaymakers. The staff are excellent, from reception and the service team to the dining room.

The rooms were comfortable, and the young receptionist seemed friendly. The rest of the stay was one of the strangest hotel experiences I've had. Breakfast was a mess. There were only about 8 tables in the room, so it was full and we had to wait, even though the hotel had tens of rooms. Cutlery was dumped haphazardly at the side of the table, with no way to tell if it was clean. We waited 15 minutes for a napkin, then ended up cleaning the table ourselves. One waiter even got aggressive when we asked for it. Whenever we went to eat or made an unexpected request, staff kept saying they were new and had only been there two weeks, and needed to ask someone. They'd then walk back and forth without getting things sorted. They couldn't handle simple requests or process card payments. The whole setup felt ridiculously inefficient, like robots working from a badly oiled central computer. Interesting, but definitely strange.

The upgrade was lovely, and the service was very kind. We paid extra to move from the normal double we booked to a premium double, and the superior suite was really nice. The room shown in the online pictures was wildly misleading, though. Our original room was very old, with wallpaper peeling off, carpets worn through, and a restroom that was well past its time. I'd give the stay 3/5, with plenty of room for improvement.

For £10.50, the takeaway scampis came to just eight tiny pieces, with what looked like about 20 pieces of chips. The portions were disappointing. The staff were lovely and hospitable, though. They even suggested other places to go and told us what to expect, which is why we decided to patronise anyway. A quaint Scottish hotel, with really helpful staff.