Ben Nevis Hotel & Leisure Club — Hotel in Great Britain

Too late we noticed that we should have looked at the reviews more closely before booking. The whole hotel is in a state of utter disrepair.

First of: DO NOT stay here, the whole hotel screams health risk.

The hotel greets you with a good view of their falling apart logo. A good five letters are missing from it already. There is plenty parking and the lot is easy to maneuver in, so that's one good point. We parked on the right side of the building. The reception is all the way to the left. On the way there you get to walk through the outdoor hallway, which has black mold on the ceiling and extensive water damage all around.

Yes, there was a little notice about some recent storm damage they have been working on. But it was only a little leaflet in the added building. The receptionist didn't mention a thing. I am sorry, but most thing I mention were probably already that bad before the storm damage.

The revolving door at the reception is old and not well maintained. Not a good welcome sign. The receptionist was friendly though, no complaints here. The hotel lobby does seem, like other reviewers already mentioned, like it's directly from the 1980s and hasn't changed since.

Getting to our room was quite the walk. Through many hallways and up the stairs. No elevator is not a problem for us, but could definitely prove difficult for older folk. There were also a lot of fire doors in the hallway, some of which are quite hard to open when your pulling your suitcase behind you. Each hallway did have a different smell, like decades of cigarette smoke and very stale air. Not pleasant.

Our room itself was quite spacious, but the quality was lacking. The heater was turnt all the way up and just blasting the room. We didn't find any bedbugs, but the sheet had stains and the mattress looked horrible from below. With giant old stains. Something that should've went into the trash a long time ago.

The TV didn't have a signal, because the cable was ripped out of the plug.

Fire alarm went off at around 6AM, the receptionist mentioned that it was malfunctioning and might go off at any time, but they're working on it...

Broken corners in the room, ceiling lights that were painted over, no toilet paper holder, teared carpets and an old pillow case behind the nightstand just show how little care and money goes into this place. That is not storm damage.

We were glad that we only had to stay for one night.

The breakfast next morning was very disappointing. Sausages looked horrendous, bacon was barely warm, fried eggs looked and tasted bad, the scrambled eggs were swimming in water. Pancakes were hard and unappetizing. I didn't try the haggis or black pudding out of fear that they might be even worse. I don't like food waste, so I had a very hard time eating all that. Only edible things from the warm buffet where the tomatoes and hash browns(obviously just frozen). Coffee and juices tastes mediocre. The service also was a little to eager and completely cleared our table while we went to get some food. It had a full cup of coffee and juice on it, well then we sat at the next table. Other than the warm buffet they offered some cereal and various fruits out of cans, toast and some cold cuts and cheeses. In the end we left unsatisfied and with a bad feeling in our guts.

This hotel need a complete renovation and modernization. We will most definitely not be back. Maybe the receptionist expected that, because we weren't asked how we liked our stay. Must've heard the same complaints too...

I literally checked out of this Hotel a little under 15 minutes after entering the room I was given. And, I spent those few minutes frantically trying to find another hotel online. I was appalled that any company, in good conscience would offer such sub-par low standard accommodations for $174 per night. After driving for hours under the stress of diving in an unfamiliar country it goes without saying that many people would most likely not walk into a hotel room and choose to check out immediately, unless situation was intolerable. Well, INTOLERABLE is one of the nicest ways in which I can put this. I walked into the room and was greeted by a musty, moldy, dirty laundry-like smell. When I looked around to get a better idea how miserable this night would be, I felt the bed and it was hard as a rock. In addition, there was no blanket on the bed or anywhere in the room. The sheet was as thin as a one-ply toilet paper. I looked out the window to see the “view” and saw that there was shattered window in a room nearby. My first thought was this cannot be a clean place if the owners are willing to allow the building to fall into such disrepair. I believe that these people are seriously taking advantage of tourists. They are banking on the fact that most travelers are probably willing to grin and bear it, first because they are weary when they arrive, and second other places are sold out during the height of tourist season. Luckily I was able to drive out of town to the next town about 15 miles away, and was willing to pay $480 per night for a last minute booking. Not willing to, but more like had to pay $480 per night to get away from this Ben Nevis “Inn.” Min you On a sort of hilarious note, that had myself and my husband laughing hysterically as we drove away was when I called to say that the room was unacceptable there were no questions asked. No questions were asked about the state of the room. Why we were checking out. The lady apologized, and said she’s sorry they didn’t have anything better to offer because they were completely booked. Unfortunately I was charged for the first night which I was not willing to dispute then and there because I was too exhausted. I just wanted to find a place where I could literally breathe easily, and would not have to count down the minutes until daylight. Stay here at your own risk. You could end up spoiling your vacation on this one mistake (booking this place). Even though I can’t say what the rooms in the main building are like, I can say that this other building is absolutely filthy, and in disrepair inside and out. Shame on the management for taking advantage of tourists. You SHOULD NOT rent rooms that you know are not worth what you are changing. At best this room was comparable to a $39 room in a place like San Francisco that typically charges $300 per night for a standard room in the city. Meaning someone may rent a$39 to avoid sleeping in their car but certainly would not choose to stay there on a vacation. I also noticed that a lot of people congregated as if on a tour. I got the impression that many people were here by virtue of traveling on a guided tour. Hence not many options one they arrive....

Summary: Moderately good food and a comfortable bed. Most staff helpful, but others less. Unclosable windows that let all the noise in, and a shower that needs an exorcism.

5* Dining staff 5* Bed 3* Front desk staff and chef(s) 1* Room due to noise and water temperature

Dining: The food is okay. The dining staff is absolutely willing to accommodate dietary restrictions, but seem to lack permissions in how. They checked with the chef for my options and several times I ended up being served plain, dry meat dishes with no sauce. Not impressed.

Our group's allergies and restrictions were sent in advance, and they confirmed and corrected the list when we arrived. What is impressive is that for every single dinner, every single menu item had at least one ingredient on the list requiring removal or modification, often to very poor results as noted above. And then even with modifications, they still always included sides and garnishes that were restricted.

All this despite knowing exactly what restrictions existed.

Room: The room I stayed in had a big, comfortable bed.

Unfortunately, I still had a less than great night sleep due to the excessive road noise. The room has windows that do not fully close because the seal is not well matched to the windows and frames. I confirmed this by manually forcing the windows fully shut, which reduced the noise dramatically - until I let go.

I shared this info with the front desk only to be assured that “nobody ever complains about that room”. This is not a good sign. It somehow both dismisses my concern while also communicating that other rooms are complaint-worthy.

I have never needed earplugs to sleep before, but decided to try them out for the first time. They helped, but did not drown the noise out completely.

Also, one night, somebody decided to have a cigarette outside. I could clearly smell the smoke through the “closed” window.

Shower: Next, when showering, the water temperature is in a constant state of flux. It swings from flesh searing hot to ice cold in seconds, and the only solution is to set it to purely one or the other.

By the last day, the hot stopped working entirely. When the hot tap was used, it dispensed ice cold water - even colder than the cold tap.

Finally, I ended up sick while staying here from unrelated sources. The dining staff were amazing in bringing food so I wouldn't need to bring any contagion to their dining room. I felt bad imposing on them, especially whenever I called to coordinate because the front desk acted extremely put out every time.

Conclusion: This is now the second Strathmore hotel I have stayed at, and I do not plan to...