The Airds Hotel and Restaurant

What a fabulous friendly welcome by all of the staff who looked after all your needs The manager who is South African was amazing and took time out to talk to us after dinner Which was spectacular and very tasty as was the garlic butter sauce the best I have ever tasted There is also a cosy bar where you are served by a lovely Australian chap The bedroom was dog friendly and spacious I would have no hesitation in returning The pre ordered breakfast was ample and delicious I am glad we chose here for a short break

Our room N°10 was large and very comfortable. It had it's tiny but charming private garden we were sadly not able to use because of the permanently June horrible weather in Scotland, certainly not the hotel's fault!! The room is large, well equipped and towels and sheets are of very good quality, far superior to what you see in similar places. Bathroom is spacious with both a bathtub and a big shower: if the owner wanted to make it perfect he would need to add a shaving mirror and bath robes. Answers to our requests were immediate and friendly, which is great considering they must not have more than 10 rooms or so. Good breakfast and good gourmet dinner. Even the few wines by the glass are good, especially the Shiraz. With some sun, this place must be a peaceful, remote and quiet little paradise.

I wouldn't have even awarded 1 star but that isn't an option. Firstly, the photos on the website are old and do not in any way reflect the current state of the hotel. The conservatory has gone, the beautiful drawing room is partitioned off with what look like badly tacked up army blankets. The dining room is absolutely soulless. No table cloths or flowers, uncomfortable chairs. The male waiter was scruffy, with black dirt under his finger nails. Oh dear, now to the food. My husband ordered "artisan" bread as a starter and I had the grilled langoustines. The bread was generic, dry and tasteless and not made in-house. My langoustines arrived so undercooked that they were raw, dangerous for some people, including the elderly. I sent them back . When I finally got them, they were the tiniest langoustines I have ever been served on the West Coast, impossible to open and eat as they really had no contents. My husband had the sea bream but the cooked courgette had been substituted with cold cucumber. I ordered a steak dish ( £42 ). Having sent the first one back because it was so slathered in salt as to be inedible, I couldn't even chew the second one. Needless to say , we gave up at that point. After a rather heated discussion in the hallway, the manager agreed to remove the steak and langoustines from our bill. For anyone who remembers the golden times of The Airds, when it was the best hotel on the West Coast, it is enough to make you weep!

Staff were helpful and friendly and deserve credit for their nice customer service. The location is of course stunning. I grew up in the area and remember Airds as a very special place and last visited about six years ago for dinner. It’s fair to say it has changed. The cosy, nurturing country house atmosphere has gone. It feels less authentic and personal. The modernist vibe doesn’t work for me. There is key pad to get in (no staff on duty overnight) and the food/menu is no longer outstanding as it once was. The once beautiful garden has what looks like an open sewer running down it (mentioned in a review from a couple of months ago). This may be coming from a septic tank and is surely a health and safety risk. I would not return personally but I did appreciate the nice staff, the dog friendly attitude, and the clean room. I think The Airds has lost its special charm however and anyone who had been before might agree.

Arrived on a wet afternoon looking forward to this “luxury” boutique hotel which looked fabulous on the website. There is no conservatory at the front anymore. Just a broken wall remaining and some weedy planters. The front door was locked with a notice telling us to phone to get in. Not a good start. Still we looked forward to the roaring log fires and maybe some afternoon tea we’d seen being served on the website. Forget it. Not a fire was lit during our stay and we’ve experienced more atmosphere in a Travelodge. The front door is locked all day until 4pm seemingly with guests being given a key code to gain access. Shades of Youth Hostelling! The dining room obviously isn’t used anymore but a small room at the front and the bar (which we never saw anyone in) closes at 8pm! We had hoped to enjoy some local seafood for our dinner - it is the west coast after all. Langoustines, mussels, maybe even lobster. Nope. The oysters we were told weren’t on and much of the menu seems to have an Asian feel to it. We decided against eating in the hotel and went down the road to the recommended Pierhouse restaurant. Highly recommend. The next morning brought sunshine and we decided to wander round the gardens opposite the hotel. On the website there were tables and umbrellas out for dining - obviously taken in summer conditions so we didn’t expect to see them. What we didn’t expect to see was the contents of the hotel’s septic tank running down the lawn and the smell….This for us was the final straw. This hotel is being run down by its current owners and is relying on its past reputation. The good points (if there are any): our room was very nice but we suspect this is due to the work and investment of the previous owners. Parts of it were getting shabby and will need work soon. The Manager, Katie, couldn’t have been nicer or worked harder. The owners obviously have nothing to do with the running of the hotel. She seemed to be doing everything quite literally bar cooking. NB: There is no one on site at night but there is a phone number in case of emergency. Such a shame as several people told us that the Airds Hotel used to be one of the best hotels on the west coast. Sadly this is no longer the case and we and our friends will not be returning.