Muthu Alexandra Hotel

Rose Anne really made the experience for us, and John was just as welcoming and personable. We loved our stay at the Muthu. Our room looked over the loch and felt charming and moody. Thanks for a great visit!

Jude upgraded us at check-in to a room overlooking the bay, and Stephanie was especially helpful when we checked out. We had a very pleasant stay at the Alexandra Hotel in Oban, and enjoyed its Victorian features. The only letdown was that the steam room wasn’t operating.

Dinner was what finally pushed me to write this. We paid 25 Pounds for a mediocre three-course meal, and they were out of both whiskies we asked for neat. We had to ask twice for water. Only two people were serving, clearing tables, taking orders, bringing food, and checking guests out. They looked overwhelmed and overworked. The manager or owner was there the next morning, but I think he should have been working beside the staff the night before. The staff also told me that tips added at Muthu Alexandria go to the corporation, not the employees, and that no 10% is automatically added. I checked this with several staff before we left. In Scotland, a 10% tip is standard, though tipping more is optional, and tips are supposed to go into a separate account and often be shared among restaurant staff. The employees said that isn’t what happens here. For the record, I believe this is illegal in Scotland. I hope what they told me was a misunderstanding. If not, I hope the local labor board looks into it. The employees already seemed short staffed, stressed, and overworked, and they should at least be paid fairly. We won’t return to any Muthu hotel. The hotel seems badly run, and I felt the staff were being mistreated by management. This had nothing to do with the lovely employees or the location. We were on our way to the Isle of Mull and didn’t stay here on our return. Check-in was unpleasant too. We were lectured about parking and told to be exactly on time for our chosen breakfast slot, with a warning there might not be room for us in the empty dining room. The food was mediocre, as I’ve said. The shower was awful and wouldn’t mix the water to a warm temperature, just hot or cold. We’d spent two and a half weeks in the UK and had used plenty of different showers, so this was possibly the worst. There was no usable plug beside the bed: the one behind the extremely heavy bed frame was impossible to reach. The TV seemed like it was from around 2007, about 21 inches, sitting on the dresser where it was hard to see from both beds. You couldn’t cast to it or use YouTube or Netflix. The beds were adequately comfortable and the duvets warm. Parking was meant to be available, but the lot was full when we arrived around 6:30 pm, so we had to leave our rental car outside a designated spot. Parking wasn’t guaranteed even at that reasonable time.

The staff were friendly, but the hotel is dated throughout. The floors squeaked in my room, and there was no hot water in the shower in the morning. For the price per night, I was disappointed and would look elsewhere next time.