Best Hotels near Spindrift of Tomintoul, Ballindalloch

Unfortunately it is slightly misleading to say this hotel has a lift to the 1st & 2nd floor, there is a lift but it is only on level with a few rooms, the majority of rooms are along multiple corridors & required going up & down stairs. Even ”ground floor” single rooms are up a few stairs. Would advise against staying if you have mobility issues or phone to ensure you can book one of the few rooms on level with the lifts. I had to go all the down to reception report my TV not working, then had to do it again an hour later when nobody had been up to deal with it, The receptionist had to ask for my room number again, so guess the original note went missing. They did come up shortly afterwards and then had to go and find a replacement remote control as it was faulty. Had a decent breakfast & at least there was plenty left, unlike last time when half the hot plates were empty & even the staff moaned when they started helping themselves when guests were still eating. Nice enough hotel, but it is a rabbit warren of rooms & don't try to use the lift when coach parties arrive with loads of luggage, you'll have a long wait. Need to put up proper yellow health & safety warning signs on doors with a step behind them and also repair uneven floor areas.

Bad experience from start to finish. Booked the Macdonalds Morlich hotel for a 3 night stay. Things didn't get off to a good start when we entered the room, there were flies all around the window (counted 10) luckily the window opened fully so I was able to get rid of them. We were on the third floor in room 351, from a health and safety point of view there were no safety catches or security screens on windows which I found a little concerning? In addition, a squeaky toilet door and radiator not attached properly to the wall just added to our initial concerns. We choose to ignore all of this as it is an aging hotel and does need some serious refurbishment although not cheap by any means. The straw that broke the camel’s back was next morning around half 5 when we were awakened by the constant noise of the lift in use not only by a coach party leaving early but every other customer who used the lift after that, it was incessant and annoying to the point of giving my wife a severe headache, even the noise of the tv wasn’t enough to drown it out. We eventually gave up and my wife contacted reception and spoke to the night manager who said he would speak to his manager and call us back. He called back promptly and informed my wife that he had spoken to his manager and we would be moved to an executive room in the Highlands Hotel later that day. We duly continued our holiday with a wonderful walk around Loch an Eilean which I would recommend to anyone, but before we left we spoke again to a new receptionist to clarify the situation and she said the information had been passed on. On arrival back at the hotel late afternoon, we spoke to the same receptionist, who then informed us that the duty manager had stated there were no rooms available. We immediately asked to speak to the manager and informed him of our complaints and the promise made to us by the night manager. The manager was adamant that they were fully booked and there was nothing he could do, no explanation was given as to why the room promised to us in the morning was not available now. Apparently our only options were to endure another 2 nights in the same room or cut our holiday short. We chose to leave immediately which was a really sad and disappointing end to what we hoped would be a well earned break in Aviemore. We have had a few enjoyable holidays in Macdonalds hotels over the years, namely Forest Hills in Aberfoyle, Holyrood Hotel in Edinburgh including Highlands Hotel many years ago but never encountered such an unacceptable and unprofessional standard of service. Furthermore, if we had been informed in the morning that there were no rooms available we may have been able to find accommodation elsewhere in Aviemore but as you can imagine at such a late stage in the day and after a long frustrating time web browsing we were unsuccessful and returned home. Your customers deserve to be treated with more respect and empathy and I would not recommend this hotel to anyone. Cue yet a

Beautiful, quiet location in the trees with bird song. Ballater is a shirt walk or drive away with cute shops, cafes and restaurants. Nice rooms. Co-op (small grocery) is in ballater which you will need to stop by and get breakfast as no one opens earlier than 9am and the hotel has very expensive, ala carte items that are stingy and not good at all. If you want to get an early start you'll definitely need to get your own food as they don't offer the ala carte items until 8 and real food until 10. Dinner is expensive as well with 2 SLICES OF BREAD costing you £3.95 and water costing £4.95. Dinner was delicious however. Additionally there is no AC, the beds are very lumpy and there are many steps to get to your room. Location: 5 stars Everything else: 3 stars

Some of the reviews on here seem a bit harsh. It’s a bit faded (a lick of paint here and there and they could make more of the grounds) and at times, understaffed but we had a great time. It was great for little ones and the staff were generally working hard to give people a good time. We had a lovely meal (including fantastic service) at Giuliano’s; and a good dinner (with great service except towards the end when our waitress who was fab, just had too much to do and so it was slow to get plates cleared and get the bill). The food at both places was great. Kids’ activity centre and the evening entertainment were big hits for us. Ollie in the activity centre and the lady who was also in there were great to make sure we knew all the options for the kids and were happy in there. And loads to do in the different activity rooms and soft play etc. We also enjoyed the pool. It got a bit busy one day, as did other areas of the hotel like breakfast, but to be expected with it being the Easter holidays. Enjoyed breakfast - pretty standard selection but was good and decent and good coffee and juice etc and would rather than than more options but lower quality. Staff at breakfast were plenty and replenished things quickly and were clearing plates non stop - I actually didn’t think they needed to clear as much as they did. The dinner element of the dinner, bed and breakfast stay we had was a good offer. And a great location for wandering into Aviemore or to go to Loch and Eilen and elsewhere. And loads to do when it’s wet. We’d go back.

When we first arrived at the hotel we were greeted warmly and given checked in fairly quickly. I had chosen a “cosy double room” didn’t realise quite how cosy this room would be. The bed was smaller than a regular double bed and the bathroom was pretty small too. There was plenty of parking in front and behind the main hotel building. Our room was in the courtyard which was separate from the main hotel building. The courtyard is not well signposted and we were quite confused trying to find our room initially, we had to ask a cleaner for directions. Other than being small the room itself was fine. The bed was fairly comfy and there were spare pillows in the small cupboard. The room had tea/ coffee making facilities and a tv with multiple channels. The walls were pretty thin so we could hear everything the people next to us were saying so bare that in mind. The bathroom appeared clean at first but upon further inspection the shower had spilled soap/ shampoo on the floor from the previous people that stayed there. Next to the hotel is the woodshed. The Woodshed was cosy, clean and served a variety of different snacks and drinks. Amy who works there was very friendly and welcoming and showed good knowledge of the surrounding areas. It also had popular music playing and a pool table. Dogs were welcome in this area. There was a real fireplace in here however this wasn’t lit when we visited.

Temporary booking, old-fashioned country hotel, not bad