Royal Highland

The breakfast room is magnificent, and I enjoyed the cold meats, cheeses, pastries, and breads. Hot breakfast seems to cost extra, even though breakfast was included in our booking. The hotel has a lovely heritage feel and a great location, and I’d return despite the service and parking issues. Parking is very limited, about eight spaces for roughly 85 rooms, so finding a spot seems unlikely. We used public parking about five minutes away, at around £10 a day. Our room was huge, with a separate sitting area and a large, comfortable bed. The bathroom looked newly renovated, and the shower pressure was amazing. There’s a lift, and the room had good tea and coffee facilities, opening windows, and no fridge. The openable windows helped since there’s no air conditioning, which may have been an unrealistic expectation given the weather where we live. Service was poor. Reception was not very helpful, and at breakfast no one offered assistance. We saw two breakfast staff watching a phone and dancing to music clips while a third stared at a wall. A disabled gentleman with a walker had to carry his own food and drinks to his table. Our room cleaning request was ignored for two days. When we asked for fresh towels, we were told to collect them at reception ourselves. The towels were good once we finally got clean ones. There also seemed to be a cat in the hotel. I saw it in the sitting area on two different days. Once it was on the table beside a couple’s afternoon tea stand. I was surprised, though the couple seemed happy about it. Maybe it was their cat. It’s a beautiful old hotel and the breakfast was pretty good, but those service and parking details are worth knowing.

Fiona made our stay extra special by helping me arrange a birthday surprise for my husband, and we loved breakfast too. Our spacious room was spotless, with high ceilings, nearly floor-to-ceiling windows, and a very large bathroom with a deep tub. The full Scottish breakfast was prepared perfectly, with loads of continental buffet choices as well. The fruit scones were among the best I tried in Scotland. For anyone who likes historic places, this hotel is full of character and kept to modern standards. Take a little time to look around at the art and appreciate the scale of the building. Lovely location, food, and staff. We’d recommend it again and again.

After a walk around the nearby shopping mall and tea and scones at M&S, we were able to get our room half an hour early. It was cold and icy outside, so that was very convenient. The room was spacious and warm, with everything we needed: extra pillows and a blanket, a hairdryer, tea and coffee, a working TV, plenty of plug points, and a big bathroom with a heated towel rail. There was lots of hot water for both a bath and a shower. We’d come by bus from Ullapool, and the hotel was only a five-minute walk away, so the location worked perfectly. The reception staff welcomed us warmly and looked after our luggage while we waited for check-in. It’s a beautiful old hotel in a grand building, with a stately entrance and tasteful old-world furnishings. I loved the warm, colourful, comfortable decor, as I’m not a fan of ultra-modern rooms that can feel cold and bare. I highly recommend it and look forward to staying again.

We were given our stay as a Christmas present, and booking through itison or similar also came with a complimentary cocktail each. We enjoyed those in the ash restaurant and relaxed with our drinks. Breakfast in the Wallace room was a lovely selection of continental options, nicely presented in a clean, beautifully decorated space. There were croissants, muffins, pastries, yoghurts, ham, cheese, salami, tomato, cucumber, fruit cocktail, porridge, toast, cereal, milk, juices, and hot drinks. The staff there were wonderful. We arrived around noon expecting to leave our luggage until the 3pm check-in, but the reception lady told us our room was already ready. She said we had one of the finest rooms, and she was right. Room 206 on the second floor was big, clean, warm, and comfortable. The bed was amazing and high up, with curtains that pulled all the way around to block the sun. We had tea and coffee facilities with full-size mugs and two kinds of milk, plus a fan, a lovely warm fireplace, and a wall heater. The gold chair was comfortable for relaxing, and there were two more chairs and a table for sitting with a cuppa. I loved the old-fashioned decor, especially given the age of the hotel. The bathroom had a Jacuzzi bath that could fit two, little complimentary bottles, and a clean, bright toilet. There was a good-sized wardrobe with hangers, a safe, extra pillows, an iron and board, a decent TV with Freeview channels, and proper keys for the room doors. We had the best sleep, couldn’t find a fault with the room, and will keep asking for it. The hotel itself is stunning. The main staircase is outstanding, the decor throughout is beautiful, and the tartan carpet in the lift and around the hotel is a lovely touch. Everyone was friendly and welcoming, and the staff went above and beyond. It’s the best hotel we’ve stayed in so far, and we can’t wait to come back. Highly recommend the royal highland hotel, and many thanks to all the staff for the appreciation they deserve.