Macdonald Aviemore Hotel

What People are saying

Stay here, eat elsewhere

tomtravellerHerefordon 21/11/2017 11:20

This hotel is part of a spread out, large resort which dominates the town. However, it has shopping, is near to the town centre and service in the hotel is good. The check in procedure was efficient and easy and then you drive to your own hotel. The on-site Itakian is not very Italian, but the food is acceptable if overpriced. Service there though is awful, slow, and staff have a couldn't care less attitude.

40th Wedding surprise

motorbikeron 18/11/2017 15:25

I am very disappointed that I have to write this review, however, I seem to be getting no where with the management team. I took my husband there on 24th October for 2 night's. I purchased the deal though Wowcher. When, we arrived at the reception it was completely unmanned, we waited 20 mins for the receptionist to arrive, we were then given the keys to our room, which was very nice. We booked dinner at 8.00pm but when we arrived we were told they were running a little late, do go to the bar and get a drink, there wad no staff there either, we eventually got a table st 8.50pm, considering this is a four star hotel service was terrible. The next day we want to breakfost, after ordering our tea and toast, we headed to the buffet, 40mins after we sat down still no sign of our tea and coffee or toast, the thing is there seemed to be plenty of staff just no-one seemed to be in charge. Next day just the same. When I got home I did contact the management team and they did admit yo some training issues, and after 3 phone calls and few emails I was offered a discount which was more than I had originally paid, plus it would be a standard room, not the upgraded one I had been given with the voucher deal, so we declined, if we were doing another round trip of 7 hour's it had to be something special. All in all a very disappointing 40th Wedding anniversary trip.

Swimming Pool

mirrlees348on 13/11/2017 23:02

I was very upset to find I could not get a daily swim this visit to Aviemore and had to buy a week pass at £30 per person !
so I thought I would like to get my full use from my pass so made a point every evening to have a swim and sauna after my hard walking day, first of all the pool floor was so dirty and smelly I looked for a cleaning person at the end of my first swim to complain and there didn't seem to be anyone even in reception so I thought it must be because it last thing at night so left it this time.
the second evening it was just as bad if not worse the smell was so bad I didn't walk over that part of the floor :-( the bins were overflowing with nappies and the gutters full of hair,plasters and dirt from shoes as there was people watching kids swimming with outdoor shoes on !! I could go on and on with my 5 visits but I feel reading though the reviews everyone is pointing out these points and management constantly apologise and it does not seem to get sorted :-(
one other thing I would like to point out is the outside bollard lights don't seem to be on and I did tell a member of staff she didn't have anything to say to me and did go outside to look, although it never got sorted as each night I did walk up in the dark. please sort out the problems.

Worst ever Stay for our first wedding anniversary

Sarah Don 08/11/2017 23:15

So unhappy with our stay here ! On an recommendation we decided to book this stay for our first year wedding anniversary ! It was supposed to be a treat as I was heavily pregnant at the time !
Room was suitable sized for a short trip and was clean enough but there was so many let downs for what was meant to be a 4 star hotel
Bath all cracked and worn looking
Plaster cracking off the walls in the corridor
Window handle was burst
Staff sent me to many different parts of the hotel to find one of the one site restaurants- walking around between the site for ages only be told it’s actually a drive away - this was very difficult for me while I was 8 months pregnant so eventually I just had to go down to the Main Street and find somewhere to eat
Some staff had very poor English
Very expensive stay and would never book this hotel again
Put a very negative feel on what was supposed to be a special trip away for our anniversary before the arrival of our baby
Very disappointed

Room was nice but that's as far as it goes.. not 4 star in my opinion

Lynsay Mon 06/11/2017 22:27

On arrival we stayed in Morlich and the hotel on the inside was lovely and decor nice. We had a double room and this was decent and spacious.

However this is where the good ends as far as I saw.

We went to look at the pool, jacuzzi and sauna area after our arrival. It was just after 530pm on a Friday night. The pool looked very tired but seemed a decent enough size. The jacuzzi was not working and there was no signage up saying this and the staff couldn't say why.

I was also a little disappointed that the coffee shop/ cafe closed at 5pm and the actual shop closed at 530pm.

We thought we would check out the "sports bar" in the shopping complex. Oh dear, sorry but two sofas and few tables and chairs with TVs playing BBC news doesn't make it a sports bar. There was nobody about, staff or customers. Eventually someone came, served us one drink and then went away. After 5 minutes two staff came back, took out the till and walked away. Clearly closing but with no signage of opening and closing times. Also there was absolutely no acknowledgement from the staff that they were closing. Sorry to me this is shocking service.

It's also disappointing that there are clearly no bar facilities open in any of the hotels during the day. We were there to relax and maybe on a few of the days just sit in the hotel, get a few drinks and relax. Not possible so we had to go out every day.

Breakfast was very chaotic despite not being busy. The first two days there was hot buffet on offer and this was okay. Despite not being busy things weren't cleared very quickly and plates stacked up on a lot of tables.

The next two days the food was being cooked to order, I found the change from one to the other strange but it wasn't too much of a problem. Except on ordering the full breakfast on the first occasion it came with potatoes cones missing, food over cooked and grease flooding out of an over fried black pudding is not good.

We ate in the Italian which was actually okay. Again it was a little expensive for what it was but in a four star I would suppose the prices reflect.

Speyburgers was our second evening of choice. Never again!!! Sorry the food was awful, inedible and the customer service non existent. The smallest menu especially since throughout the resorts they advertise this place and what it offers but what it says it offers in reality it didn't. Expensive!!!!

This experience at this restaurant put us off going anywhere else in the resort.

In my own honest opinion this place could be special due to location, however it lacks simple things like appropriate information for guests about the hotels facilities. It lacks everything many 4 star hotels have.

If you want a base for exploring Aviemore the. As I said the rooms are nice and comfortable. You don't pay four star prices for a base.