De Vere Cameron House Hotel

We came here following our wedding at the other Scottish DeVere hotel, Barony Castle in Peebles, and were looking forward a relaxing few days in what we thought was a luxury 5 star hotel. The decor, surroundings and location of the hotel are amazing and second to none, however my problems with the place seem to echo that of the other recent travellers to this hotel.
On the first day we arrived, a fancied a coffee in my room (something which I have done in every other hotel I have ever stayed in from 2 to 5 star), however was astonished to find there was no milk, even in the fridge. We kindly asked one of the room maids as we walked out, however upon our return, there was still no milk!
The first evening we have a lovely meal in the Duck Bay hotel accross the road from Cameron house, although not up to the decor standards of cameron house, the menu, food and service was excellent.
The second day, we didnt get our room serviced until 4pm, which we thought was quite late, and guess what.... still no milk!!!
We called down to reception, and they promptly brought some up.
Then it got really bad.... We went to the boathouse restaurant (part of the hotel complex) for dinner, and the service was appalling. We ordered our meals, and they were brought over in a reasonable amount of time, but this is where the trouble started, over what should be something fairly simple. When the young waitress brought the food over, we asked for some condiments (salt, pepper and sauces), however when these were brought over the salt was empty.
I sat waiting for 10 minutes trying to get someones attention, without any luck, which caused me to walk accross the restaurant and give the salt cellar to a different waitress asking for one with some salt in it! Another 10 minutes, and she had not returned with a new salt cellar (crucial for their bland potatoes!). At this point I was very angry, with our food waiting cold on the table, I marched over to the nearest waitress and demanded to know what was going on. She came over to our table, and instead of apologising and trying to fix the situation she simply came up with excuses saying that this was not the area in the restaurant she looks after and it was one of the other waitresses. At this point, we were tired, with cold food, we simply got up and walked out! (and you bet it right, no apology from any hotel staff!).
We returned to duck bay for another fantastic meal, and then retired to our room early to read a book and enjoy an after dinner coffee in our room... or so we thought! They had forgotten to replace the coffee in our room.... no problem you would think, a simple call to reception?! 10 minutes later 2 girls knocked on the door with a bag of teas and coffees, asking what we wanted (although we had said over the phone we needed coffee)! They did not have any, only decaff, but would bring some straight away... 15 minutes later we get a telephone call from reception asking us what we wanted.... at this point I simply said not to bother , 30 minutes after the initial call.
DeVere Cameron House, what are you doing! Appalling service, cannot get the simplest and basic of things right!
Other failures include lack of hotel information in the room (most hotels have this, we found it difficult to find out when breakfast is!), the king size bed was two twin beds zipped together, I slept uncomfortable for 2 nights, and considering this was our honeymoon, a big let down! I thought I had booked a double suite!
Light bubls did not all work in the room (I guess you could forgive a 5 star hotel for this!)
We had room service breakfast one day, but were disgusted to find they had charged us a £3.50 room service fee on check out (although on the invoice it said 'misc VAT item' and I had to ask what it was for), however the rooms service menu did not mention a charge. DeVere, you cannot charge people for things without notifying them, you really should know this and need to update your communication to be legal if you are going to continue to do this!
This place does not deserve even 3 stars on your poor level of service, and you should be ashamed for degrading what once upon a time would have been one of scotlands premier hotels in oppulent surroundings, and oh, thank you for making our honeymoon so special!!!!!!!
By the way, you would be wasting your time complaining to the hotel if you have similar experiences, they have failed to respond to my emails and letters! Great service!

my brother and his wife booked a mansion apatment at the carrick for the last weekend in july for my husband and my 30th birthday, they came and so did our 11 year old son, what a beautiful location, scenery is amazing, our mansion apartment was perfect, perfect views over the golf course, clean and tidy, spa was excellant, we used the hotel pool and also had a coffee while in the hotel, it is beautiful, staff were helpful and polite. we took our son to the golf range both days and while in the golf shop the young lad serving was fantastic with our son, really showed an inerest in him and gave him a couple of tips, I have already sent a seperate email regarding his service, he really made our stay there perfect with the service he gave us,its nice to see someone so enthusiastic at their job and so welcoming,his whole nature with my son was really nice. we are now booking a room in the hotel for our anniversary in september because we are so chuffed with the service at cameron house.

1 reader found this review helpful

This hotel is simply superb. Beautiful surroundings, good food, and everything under one roof. My partner and I stayed here for 2 nights as a weekend break.
If you want a relaxing holiday this is ideal. The leisure facilities are great with loads to do for kids of all ages. Swimming, gym, sauna, snooker, etc plenty to do plus the grounds are vast and picturesque.
The breakfast is a buffet-style with a huge selection of just about everything. We didn't eat dinner there as there are plenty of restaurants and pubs in the local area to keep anyone happy as the prices are a little expensive to be honest. The staff were friendly and very helpful although I remember the leisure centre staff being a little dull.
The rooms as nice and have that element of luxury about them. The beds are big and comfortable and surprisingly the rooms are quiet at night with virtually no outside noise. The views over Loch Lomond are superb too (ask for the loch view rooms).
The only drawback about this place is the price of food and drink but you pay for luxury to be honest. if it’s good enough for Alex McLeish and the Scotland boys, it's good enough for me.