The Brander Lodge Hotel and Bistro

Food good, service from most staff friendly but the accommodation was dreadful. Stairwell to 1st floor rooms had holes in the ceiling, walls were filthy, emergency fire door looked like something had chewed through the bottom. Room was extremely dated, smelt of damp, quilt cover had a rip in it, spotlights not fitted correctly over the bed and in the shower, shower cubicle had mould and there were stains on skirting below the sink. Really sad as it’s a lovely location with nice grounds which go down to the river and the food was good. Charging £90 for this accommodation it shouldn’t be more than £50. I was staying on my own had I been with my wife we would have turned around and left.

The young staff were friendly & welcoming. Our room was nicely decorated & the bathroom light, airy & clean. It was unfortunate that the bathroom blind had a lot of mould on it and would not rise particularly well. The squeaky floorboards from above caused a measure of surprise, but once in bed our neighbours above caused no concerns. The gardens to the rear were lovely & the grounds overall well presented. The meal in the bistro was sound & enjoyable. Again the staff, in particular Emily, were lovely. The heating was more than adequate. We would return again but have other favourite hotels that we’d prefer.

Don't bother. Walls and ceilings are paper thin so very little sleep to be had due to creaking floors, noisy guests and noisy showers. Basically if someone goes to the toilet everyone can hear. Rooms are only cleaned if specifically requested therefore towels, biscuits and coffee are not replenished. You have to pay up front otherwise I would have left after the first night. Bar and restaurant are cold and damp and not very clean.

I cannot rate Brander Lodge highly enough . It is in an excellent location for exploring . The hotel is immaculate and the food is absolutely delicious , compliments to the chef . We were not planning on eating in the restaurant every night, as Oban has a wealth of great restaurant however the quality of the food seen us eating ther every night . Every dish delicious from the homemade steak pie to their chicken dish . Breakfast was cooked fresh with a great variety and quality of products . Staff were very friendly and nothing was too much bother , even making us a packed lunch as we were going on a sightseeing trip and wouldn’t be back till late evening . The room was spotless , to be honest there was nothing to fault . It was a wonderful stay and the views from the dining room wee lovely . I would just like to say however , on coming on to post this review I was surprised at some of the negative reviews and found myself wondering was it the same place they were talking about . If you are reading these reviews please , please do not be put off the place is a wonderful wee tranquil haven with the best of Scottish hospitality from David and Helma and I will most definitely be returning soon . Thankyou for a wonderful stay

I booked a 2 night stay for my sister and I months ago and we were looking forward to staying here. On arrival we went to the reception to check in. When the lady on reception asked me for my bank card I said I’d rather pay as we go. She then told me I she needed it to charge me for the stay. I let her know I had paid the stay when I booked. She told me I had not. I again said I definitely had paid when I booked and she said she had processed my booking my and knows I had not paid. I said I was sure I had paid, and she said that if we had booked via itison it would be paid, but because I booked directly with them, it was not paid. The receptionist again asked for my card to charge the room and I reluctantly handed it over. We were given room 6 and it was not at all welcoming. It was very run down. There was a patio area but it was also run down and the patio doors were tied together with cable ties (the manager later said this was because the last guests in this room had done something to the locking mechanism). On arriving in the room, I accessed my confirmation email and noted the date, then looked up my banking app and found the payment was made to Brander Lodge at the time of booking, just as I had said. I took my phone to reception and showed the payment to the receptionist, who called the manager/owner. He also had a look and I offered to create a pdf of the payment and send it to them. They said this wasn’t necessary and without apology, let me know they’ve had a new computer system put in, excusing the error. I returned to my room at this point, baffled by how blasé they were about it and dismayed at their lack of apology for categorically telling me I hadn’t paid. Now, if you are a hotelier or receptionist and a customer let’s you know they have paid, you would surely check your systems and not simply tell them they are wrong multiple times and demand their payment card. Surely? And if you’ve recently updated your system, surely you would definitely check to make sure you’re not wrongly demanding payment and telling a customer they haven’t paid over and over again…while asking for their payment card. But no, none of this happened. I had to find proof and evidence my payment to them. This is extremely poor customer service. It is even worse that when this error of theirs was discovered they did not apologise. Instead, they let me know it was an error due to changing systems. Having evidenced my payment to them and listened to them excuse their earlier behaviour by blaming it on computers, I returned to the room. I expressed to my sister that I did not feel comfortable staying here. If it had been a busier place and I was unlikely to bump into these people throughout my stay I might have felt differently, but the hotel was empty and these appeared to be the only two members of staff on duty, so the remainder of our stay would have been terribly uncomfortable for me. My sister agreed and we decided to leave. While I was in disc

The grounds around Brander Lodge are absolutely stunning, unfortunately though the hotel itself is rather sad. The choice of decor in the rooms is bland and in the restaurant is rather sterile, eating dinner in there was a bit of a miserable experience because there was no ambience at all, although the food was fairly good. The hotel needs some urgent investment, it's not a "destination" hotel nor is it a place to visit just for a meal. The staff we met, David and a waiter, were pleasant and helpful. If you're looking for a proper Scottish experience in this very beautiful part of the world, I'm afraid you won't find it at this hotel.

Absolutely shocked from the moment we arrived. Supposed to be having a 2 night stay here... didn't last 30 minutes! My sister & I had booked a wee relaxing 2 night break. From the moment wee arrived the staff, which consisted of the Owner/Manager/Chef and his Receptionist, were rude, obnoxious and arrogant. Basically calling my sister a liar, saying that the stay had Not been paid for before arrival and therefore needed her card to take payment. When my sister explained that it had been paid at the point of booking she was Told it definitely had not been as she herself (the Receptionist) had taken the booking and did Not take payment. When my sister then replied that it was a male who had taken the booking & payment the Receptionist continued to disagree and demand my sister gave her bank card over... which she did... confused & doubting herself. When we went to our room (room 6, which was the worst room I have seen in a long time at any given establishment), she had to scroll through emails and banking app to find the evidence that YES it had been paid at the time of booking. Going through to show this evidence the Receptionist and the Owner (and all his other titles) were completely rude, spoke over us, demanded that we let him speak, which became a 'talking down' to us and a 'bumming' up his Receptionist, who was still taking no acknowledgement of her abrupt & unwelcoming manner. Anyway, end result, we left & found a delightful Hotel with stunning views & rooms and extremely friendly and welcoming staff. We will never set foot in the premises of Brander Lodge again and would recommend people to Stay Away.

We throughly enjoyed our stay here and honestly couldn't fault a thing. On arriving, we were given room 9, fantastic room with outside table and chairs and a short walk to the beautiful river. Our room had the biggest bed, so fresh and clean and very comfortable. The room had everything you wanted and needed. Very clean and fresh too. We had dinner included in our room rate and an excellent choice too. We both had smoked salmon starter and scampi and chips, both delicious and fresh. We had the cranachan too, very creamy and the perfect end to our dinner. Drinks were excellent; my husband said the ale on tap was very good and a very professionally stored ale. Our breakfast was a full cooked scottish breakfast but again excellent choices; the haggis cup was very intriguing sounding. There was toast, coffee, tea, juices, cereal, fruit, yogart and pastries, oh and cheese and ham too. Spoilt for choice. We will most definitely be returning to this very reasonably priced (actually an amazing price for dbb) hotel and is a hidden gem. Staff were all very efficient and extremely polite. We had travelled up with our boat which we took out on loch Awe so this was extremely handy and clear by too. What a fantastic stay, couldn't recommend this hotel more honestly the best.

From the website extract below, as there is no menu published, but there is a high expectation of good local produce. ........ Our menu Fresh local produce is what we aim for, and our menu reflects the wonderful options of the region, with meat from Grants of Taynuilt, fresh smoked delights from Inverawe smokehouse, fresh fish & seafood from the Atlantic in the West and North Sea in the East coast of Scotland and local fresh water and sea water Lochs........ Unfortunately, all this seafood amounts to a fish cake on the menu. Hopefully, the Grants are supplying the beer burger; I'm not sure what else they were supplying. Inverawe Smokehouse, I think their produce has fallen off completely. Further variations include: menu says "salad" = plate has only green leaves, I don't think that is a salad. The staff were polite and friendly. Bar area up to date and clean. Please be honest on your website. You can just publish your menu and there won't be any accusations of the advertisement falling well short of the product. Maybe the chef was off ill, I do not know, and I did of course, have the option to leave once I had seen the menu and realised it was not as I expected. or hoped Choosing to stay was on me, but this is between towns, so with a minimum of a 20 minute drive to somewhere else, what would you do.