Guest User
September 21, 2023
A family of three travelling from Australia and returning to Scotland to spend 4 weeks travelling Scotland staying in B&Bs and airbnbs. This was our experience at the Ardconnel guesthouse in Inverness. At check in we were welcomed by Elaine and given the key to our family room (sleeps 3 for a 2 night stay). The room was small but was relatively clean and warm. The B&B is also conveniently located close to the town centre for places to eat. The bathroom facilities were less than adequate as they were cramped and the shower was appalling. It was noisy, a tiny space making it difficult to wash yourself properly and the water pressure was abysmal. The next mornings breakfast was underwhelming and only offered between 8-9am. This would make it very difficult for tourists who sometimes need an early start. We had the continental which consisted of pastries wrapped in plastic (which were squished and tasted stale), lack lustre cereals and ‘fresh fruit’ consisting of half a bowl of Blueberries and a partly opened container of grapes from a supermarket with the wrapping still hanging off the container. Toast, tea and coffee supplied but the food hygiene was questionable, crumbs and food scraps still evident with half a loaf of bread still in packaging by the toaster. Whilst we were told breakfast was between 8-9, Elaine was still unwrapping the fruit and prepping the hot water well past 8am. The B&B is situated in an area with resident parking only, however, there was mention in previous reviews of parking permits being made available by the host to allow you to park on the street for free. However, we were told that there were only two available parking permits both being used by people staying longer than us. Therefore, we had to use the paid parking at the end of the street requiring top up in the morning and evening. Additionally dragging our bags and belongings down the road and up three flights of stairs. We decided to leave early the next day to avoid the previous days breakfast experience, so we decided to pay for our stay in cash (as preferred by the host) the night before. We asked for a receipt of this cash payment at the time of payment and was told it would be sent by email as the printer was broken. As we were paying cash, it was important that we received a receipt for this at the time of payment to ensure our bill was settled. We attempted to get this email from Elaine throughout the evening but could not get hold off her. As a last resort, we emailed her to remind her but received nothing. We’d also like to note here that as per the instructions in our room in the case of an emergency, we were to contact the host by ringing the bell on the ground floor or call the mobile number provided. All these instructions proved fruitless as between 4pm-8pm we were unsuccessful in contacting anyone in charge of the B&B. If there had been an emergency in any of the 7 rooms (fully occupied as there were no vacancies) we wonder what action would