I booked this hotel through the Thomas Cook website, back in November 2007, for a post valentine break. This was for four couples.

Check in

Arrived at the hotel about 12.30pm but were told that we could not check in until 3pm. No problem, there is a shopping centre next door so we had a look around there and had some lunch.

Public Rooms

The foyer has a really grand staircase, the ladies toilets on the ground floor are a joy to visit, the breakfast room (possibly the main restaurant at well?) was ok. I agree the carpets throughout look a bit ropey, but as we were only walking on them, I don’t see a problem. Do be careful in the dining room though, I saw a member of staff nearly trip over a bit of loose carpet,

Rooms

We booked back in November 2007 and asked for two double rooms. Both of our rooms were small twins. I complained to the reception that we had booked well in advance but that our request was not met. It took about 20 minutes with the reception girl going back and forth between us and the manageress before the manageress came out and moved rooms around so that we had two double rooms. We didn’t stamp our feet, but we did push the point that we had booked 3 months ago and our request should be honoured.

When we got to our room, it was clean and tidy. Yes, the carpets and decoration was a bit dated, but we had clean bedding and towels (towels changed daily).

Food

We were booked in on a bed and breakfast basis. There were a variety of cereals to choose from, pastries, toast and hot food. I tried the mushrooms and tomatoes. The hot food was not very hot, but was ok. Tea and coffee was poured at your table. We stayed Saturday to Monday and found that Sunday was the worse day, where people were queing for the hot food.

Bar

We only had one drink at the bar and it wasn’t too expensive. However one of the couples we were staying with wanted to order a drink at the end of our evening out and were told that the prices went up after 12pm. Although they ordered their drinks at 11.50, the barman told them that he couldn’t find the bar prices (?!) but he miraculously found them 1 minute to 12 and then promptly tried to charge the higher prices. The drinks were declined.

Surrounding Area

The hotel is right next to the train station and in the heart of the centre of Inverness. There are plenty of bars and restaurants close by.

If you like Indian food, try the Jeera restaurant. By all accounts, Gordon Ramsay went there and said if was fantastic (in his own expletive way!). We went there and can confirm that the meal was truly delicious.

Visit the Hootannay bar (turn right out of the hotel, walk about 5 mins and take a side street on the left). They had a Gaelic group on the Friday and Saturday night and it was real toe tapping stuff.

Beware if you try to go out for a meal on a Sunday evening…..most of the restaurants and bars, stop serving food after 9pm. The only options after 9pm are the many Indians establishments, but after a curry three nights in a row, we couldn’t face another one. Domino’s pizza is a 5 minute walk from the hotel (again turn right out of the hotel and keep walking, you’ll see it on your right), They close at 12am on a Sunday.

Parking

There are only 9 hotel parking spaces, directly in front of the hotel. There are also about 9 spaces opposite, but these are for the train station and you can only stay there for two hours between 7am and 8pm Monday to Saturday. If you need to hire a car, ask for a firm called FOCUS. We didn’t plan on hiring a vehicle, but as there were eight of us in total, it was cheaper to hire a minibus than take taxis everywhere. The company charged us an extra £5 to drop the minibus off at the airport (a taxi one way cost us £30 for two cars) and they were very helpful. A 15 seater minibus cost us £90 for 24 hours.

All in all I would definitely go back hear again, and would recommend it to my friends.