Anna Braven-Wootton

Review of Crieff Hydro Hotel and Resort

We went for a weekend with a small wedding party a...

We went for a weekend with a small wedding party and I cannot fault the desk staff for bending over backwards to help with all the fine details. The choice of activities was excellent and the staff that run them were fun and enthusiastic which made the weekend enjoyable and very memorable. However....

Our room was basic and comfortable, It was sold as a suite, but it was a basic Hotel room. It was far from clean with so much dust I found myself congested the following day. Room service was awful. We returned to our room at 1.30pm to find a member of staff still in there, but took ourselves down the corridor to allow them to finish as we did indeed want our room serviced. The results were not satisfactory. The floor was left un-hoovered, the bottom bed sheet was not properly pulled across the bed and towels I had left in the bath to be replaced (only 2 of them) were hung back over the towel rail and not fit to be used the following day. I did note earlier in the morning bedroom doors propped wide open with no staff in them and it was obvious the room was still occupied. This is an awful situation for anyone with valuables.

On the first night we were sat in the brasserie bar beside the kitchen entrance and a member of staff twice hit the back of my husbands chair with a glass tray from the dishwasher, yet said nothing. During a meal in the Meikle a member of staff bumped into another member of our party and dropped glasses. Those that were still on the tray were man handled and still used to serve champagne - while I have no doubt the staff members hands were clean I watched the glasses not being picked up by the stem. I had to ask for a replacement glass.

The food was a little hit and miss. I love to eat fresh smoked salmon and feel I can only do so when in certain places. The Crieff isnt one of them. Fresh salmon doesn't smell "fishy" but my plate was ripe and I couldn't eat any of it. My husband sampled it and agreed it wasnt fresh, also this starter was sold as a salad and there were hardly any leaves to warrant such a description. Second night at the Meikle and the carrots served Al dente and again not as advertised on the menu. My husband had an awful time eating a plate of meat with little to accompany it.

Bar staff were rude, having once been told "we dont serve that here" rather than arranging to bring one up. Then later forgetting a drink when an order for a round was placed and despite being spoken to about it at the time, the barman turned around and rushed back to the bar, ignoring what we were saying. My friend had to go back to the bar for his drink while the rest of us were a little miffed and we received no apology for the additional wait.

I have rated it poor against the 4 star rating of the hotel and promise that the hotel offers. It was a very expensive weekend for the service we received.