Aviemore Highland Resort Hotel

We stayed in one of the lodges for 4 nights in July. The lodges are very clean and spacious. three bedrooms, each with ensuite bathroom and a roomy, open-plan living room, dining area and kitchen. Our lodge was close to the main entertainment/restaurant and shopping complex. The swimming pool is excellent, built with families in mind. The pool has a wave machine and is excellent for children. The Highland Food Court is an excellent restaurant. No chips/fries and other 'fast food'. All good quality fayre in a buffet style. Kids entertainment, the 'Aviemore Adventurers' is very good. very talented people involved. Would recommend the resort to anyone visiting the area

Stayed at the Macdonald Highland Hotel here for 2 nights (9th - 11th June). This resort has been fantastically improved since our last visit to Aviemore more than 7 years ago. The room (2303) was pretty standard but clean and comfortable and the bathroom small. There is no mini bar or fridge supplied but there is tea and coffee facilities in the room. We were booked on a DB & B tariff and found the restaurant to be excellent. The menu gave 3 choices for starter and 4 choices for main courses and over the 2 nights we could not fault it. Desert and coffee was aslo included. The suroundings are modern and throughout the meal a pianist played and sang a variety of songs at a volume that did not spoil any conversation at the table. Breakfast could also be described as first class and although it was a buffet style all the choices were fresh and delicious. We must also mention the staff who we thought were some of the friendliest and most efficient we have ever come across in british hotels. All in all we had a great weekend and would recommend the resort.

Spent an evening at the Higland resort, and stayed in the highlands hotel, and have some mixed feelings about the resort. We booked in at the reception area, where there were only 2 staff dealing with arrivals, so we had to wait approximatley 25 minutes for check in. When we went to our hotel, we were shown a "shortcut" through the maze of corridors to the room. The room itself was quite well sized, with a large comfortable bed, and views over the leisure arena. On further examination, the problems with the room were apparent. There were damp stains on the wall, cracks were forming in the walls and ceiling and there were exposed screw heads in the bathroom. The glasses provided were dirty, and some of the television channels were unavailable. We decided to spend some time in the leisure arena, but it was closed due to "chemical imbalance" and we would have to use the pool at the 4 seasons. I found it strange that there were 5 members of staff at the arean, when it was closed, I thought they could be more better suited to the check in! The pool at the four seasons was dissapointing to say the least. It was dirty, and out dated, and the sauna and steam room were not functioning. Poor indeed for a 4* hotel. The staff were pretty unhelpful, and the leisure reception was closed, meaning we had to obtain our towels after changing, but none of the guests knew this. A simple sign would have remedied the situation! Dinner however was faultless. Beautiful food, and excellent vegetarian options. A drink at the bar, however was rather expensive...£13 for a whisky and bottle of beer! The next day, the resort seemed to close down. The only bar open was in the resort reception, which was dissapointing for the standard of hotel. In summary the hotel despite being 2 years old is a little tired and run down, and the facilites were found to be lacking. The staff, however were friendly and coureteous, and the food was of a very high standard.

We enjoyed a long weekend at Aviemore Highland Resort for three days courtesy of a 3 nights for the price of 2 offer. Even better than that we were upgraded free of charge from the 3 star Aviemore Inn to the 4 Star Highlands Hotel, which included our Dinner and breakfast. Good Points The meals in Aspects restaurant were excellent. Our Room in the Highlands was clean, well presented with nice furniture. The shopping complex is on-site and the hotel is conveniently located for the village. The central check in was very efficient. Our baby monitor worked from the room to the bar and restaurant which was such a bonus for us, and we enjoyed sitting in front of the fire in The Laggan barin the evening. Bad Points There were a lot of inexperienced staff in the bars and restaurant, and many had poor English. This led to slower service and "lost" dinner reservations. The resort literature does not explain the differences in individual hotels adequately. The weekend we were there was school holidays and it was extremely busy. The pool was so full that they had to have a waiting list and we had to queue to use it. Breakfast at the Highlands was from 8am which we felt was relatively late, especially if you have hungry toddlers to feed. If travelling with children The Highland Food Court was pleasant enough and had plenty of tables, but would run out of highchairs quickly. Some of the highchairs looked like they needed a good scrub! There was a microwave and bottle warmer for heating baby food. The overall ambience in the evening was quite stressful though as many families piled in at 5.30pm when it opened. The rooms were of average size but once you added a travel cot if felt quite small. It was difficult to bath a baby in such a small bathroom with a fixed shower screen. The water in the baby pool in the leisure centre was quite chilly. Overall we enjoyed our stay. We would definitely go again but probably as a midweek break, and not during the school holidays.

Stayed overnight at the Highland Hotel in March 06, which looked to be the biggest and most modern of the 4 hotels in the Macdonalds resort. The hotels are served by a common reception in the central conference centre. The room was very clean and comfortable, the hotel's restaurant was excellent and there was a nice cocktail bar with an open fireplace. Very happy with our stay.

Just back from a nights break at the MacDonald Aviemore complex. Stayed at the Highland Hotel, having stayed at the Four Seasons twice previously last year. The Highland is head and shoulders above. It is modern and more initmate and also connected internally to the leisure arena. Found the rooms to be clean and tidy and just the right temperature. Breakfast was plentiful and tasty. Not a great fan though of the central check in system. Whoever thought of having one check in/out desk for four hotels needs their head looked at. Everybody likes to check out at the last moment thus overwhelming the two members of staff at the desk !!. Found the leisure complex fine, although the hot tub is a squeeze if you get in at all. Overall worth the money (£70 B&B per room (not person) and use of leisure arena). It is just in walking distance of the Cairngorm Hotel and Skkingdo which both do the best meals in Aviemore.

We stayed in the Highland hotel from 27-30 Dec to have a well deserved break from the stress and exhaustion that Christmas brings! The resort centre and leisure complex were excellent and the Hotel itself was good -I'm just not sure if I'd expected more from the actual hotel/room as this was the 4* option from a choice of 4 hotels in the complex. Breakfast was excellent - huge variety and high quality. Good central base for exploring. We would visit again but in warmer weather - it was minus 12 the day we left!

We stayed at the highland resort for a 4 night break and we were not at all impressed with this hotel. The building and accommodation is just plain shabby - the hotel has had a recent lick of paint in some areas but it doesn't hide what is fundamentally a tired old building that was obviously built on a limited budget. (Notice that the hotel website doesn't have any pictures of the hotel buildings or rooms - always a telltale sign!) The rooms are large and comfortable however when we arrived it was obvious the bathroom hadn't been property cleaned and there were splashes of stale yellow urine all around the toilet. I found this personally disgusting and felt that if they can't be bothered to clean the toilets properly then I doubt’s that anything else in this hotel gets a proper clean. As such I recommend you go elsewhere. The only good thing to say about this hotel is that it has a good location near the centre of Aviemore so you can escape your hotel room and enjoy some of the local hospitality which generally speaking was very good. (I recommend a trip to Skiingdoo particularly if you fancy some cheap and wholesome food!).

Went to the highland resort for a 4 night break with mother and 4 year old son, staying in the four seasons. We arrived to our hotel to a deserted foyer and no one to tell us where our room was. After a long look around did find our room but was so disappointed as it was very dirty and very run down. Manager was very unhelpful and not very polite. The Meals were good and most of the staff were friendly. Pool very basic and as you would expect from a local government pool. Would not recommend at all

We stayed at the highlands hotel on 18th feb and we loved it! Despite looking at what other people have said, we thought everything was gr8! No complaints apart from they doubled booked our spa appointments. Food is amazing and staff were friendly. Try the brilliant cocktails, the aussie barman wasnt sure how to make them but he's a funny guy and tried his best!! Would def go back....