Copthorne Hotel

Our family of four (two teenagers) spent one night at the Copthorne Hotel. It was for a Friday night, the start of our two-week holiday in Scotland. We paid 80 pounds for one night for a room with two double beds (for the four of us). The cost included a very high end Continental breakfast (fish, cold meats, cheeses, fruits and pastries). Hot breakfast was at 15 pounds per person which would have been a poor bargain considering the quality of the free breakfast. Given that most hotels do not have family rooms and many B&B's charge by headcount, a room for four at this price is an amazing bargain. It is not a fancy place but offers all the standard amenities of an international chain hotel. There is a car park below the hotel. It is a plus big plus for us. The area is a short walk to the center of the city and the immediate neighborhood has a few fine restaurants including the excellent Howies recommended by the staff. The hotel is in a quiet semi-residential neighborhood. For a reasonable price, it is an excellent hotel. The staff was very helpful and friendly.

Having stayed in many many hotel throughout the world, I firmly believe that the Copthorne Aberdeen is one of the poorest and low value for money 4 star hotels anywhere. The supposed "club rooms" are nothing more than one would expect to find in an average B and B in Blackpool, and I do mean average. The bathrooms are tiny, the shower curtain sticks to you like glue, and despite the fact I am only 1.74M tall, the shower head was at my shoulder level. Probably the most uncomfortable shower I have ever had, even worse than on an aged cruise ship a few years ago. The toilet could not flush to save its life! Rooms are generally noisy as they sit alongside a residential tower block. Alongside the usual and completely unneccessary pay to view pornographic movies, the only sattelite channels offered were three sports channels, no light entertainment at all. The car park is nothing more than a sardine tin and you are required to leave your keys at reception. Reception staff are business like but not at all friendly. Some are rude. Breakfast was average, though we noted supposedly clean dishes had dried food stuck to them. The bar/restaurant staff were in the main distant/unfriendly and your bill was simply thrust onto the table in front of you without even a bye or leave! Aberdeen is a very busy city with a continual and chronic shortage of hotel rooms. Accordingly hotels can and do charge ridiculously high and unrealistic prices for mediocre rooms and service. The tip for Aberdeen is to BOOK EARLY and NEVER at the Copthorne.

The Copthorne hotel, for the price that we were charged was absolutely ridiculous. The room was small, albeit somewhat comfortable. When we arrived, we had problems getting the toilet to flush and had to go to the front desk for help. We were asked if we knew how to flush the toilets over here and when we told them that we basically had to disassemble it to get it to work, they got someone up there to fix it for us. When you shower, you must do it with the door open, as the sign in the bathroom lets you know that they have very sensitive smoke alarms and that the steam could make them go off. We had to open the window in the room to keep the steam down to a minimum. The shower curtains don't close all the way around the tub, so you tend to get water all over the floor. We tried to order room service one night, but after trying to call for 35 minutes, we decided to go down to Mac's bar to order something. After waiting for 45 minutes, the sandwiches that we ordered were finally ready. We heard very loud music coming from dowstairs until all hours of the night, I guess that we were over a reception room and that they were having Christmas parties. The lobby smelled like very stale smoke and getting somebody to help us check in or out at the front desk was another wait that we had to endure.

We stayed in this hotel at low season and this is the first point. It is not a special hotel, in fact it is distinctly average, yet was priced at high season prices. I'm Irish and berate Ireland's prices as much as the next man but i know from my weekend breaks in Ireland, most Irish hotel providers understand low season- very low prices. For example, there was a four star hotel in Galway offering B&B for three nights and an evening meal for 99 euros per person at the same time as we payed £80 for one night with no breakfast. Now I know the euro has exchange issues with sterling but Jesus Christ!! Setting aside my economic woes the hotel itself had issues that could not be assuaged even by price. I'm six foot one, not unreasonably tall I hear you say. However, the shower head in my room had been somewhat mysteriously placed at five feet. Do the mathematics...i felt like a very unfit limbo dancer after washing. (The next bit may sound like a joke but i promise its not) They also advise you by showering with the door closed you may evacuate the hotel due to it's sensitive fire alarm system. I lived in fear of the alarm going off and being the laughing stock of Aberdeen; dragged red faced and naked crying my innocence 'it was the sensitive fire alarm I tell's you'. Our room was exceptionally small-couldn't swing a cat and all that- in fact unless it was of the domesticated variety would have had difficulty in finding it floor space including in the bathroom (did I mention that the bathroom was tiny or was that the showerhead...) In all honesty this hotel is a brand and its corporate owners and advisors need to pay a visit and possibly even stay in it.

Just back from a weekend break in Aberdeen staying at the Copthorne. Was concerned after reading review from Merseyside contributor. However,hotel was clean, well decorated and rooms had all facilities you would expect in a city centre hotel. We used the restaurant for breakfast and dinner and the food was excellent. In the evening the restaurant was a little cold but the food & service made up for this. All staff were most helpful and the restaurant manager actually went out of his way to apologise to us because the restaurant was so busy on the Sunday morning and he felt we had maybe had to wait too long for service, something we were not concerned about. Prices for wine at dinner and for drinks in general in the bar were high but I suppose that is the case in most city centre hotels.If back in Aberdeen I will have no hesitation in using the Copthorne.

Dirty, expensive & tired hotel, one of the worst hotels i have stayed in whilst in Aberdeen - Never again !!

Great service, comfy room and great city centre location. Will definitely be going back!

I stayed here for a weekend in January of 2003 (this year). The hotel is not a new hotel, and the hallways and rooms and bathrooms are quite small, but it has a charm about it, and is in a relatively clean, and quiet area of Aberdeen. Tragically, like most full service hotels these days, whether there in Europe or here in the U.S. or just about anywhere, most of the staff are young, not adequately trained, and don't know what they are doing (and I suspect not paid very well at all). I suspect that many of this Copthorne hotel's young staff members are attending the University of Aberdeen. My room was fairly clean. The room was well appointed. I tried to extend my stay there past the weekend, for up to another week, and they wanted to charge me an outrageous rate, far more than what I was paying through the British booking company's rate I had booked the weekend stay---thus I switched to another hotel while staying in Aberdeen. I would definitely give this hotel one more chance, PROVIDED they gave me a reasonable rate!!!