Atholl Palace Hotel

A mediocre hotel in an excellent location

The hotel front staff were indifferent and did not seem to care about customers, especially the young female clerk. The dinner, which came with the room rate, was mediocre with a limited menu. At breakfast, breads were dry and croissants were not flaky.

The carpet of our room showed age. Th spa, for which this hotel was famous for, was closed, and the cakes at the afternoon tea offered in its stead were, again, mediocre.

But the hotel is a 15-minute easy stroll to the center of the town of Pitlochry, which is very cute.

Not what you expect

Arriving at 14.15 we were told it was not possible to get into our room until 15.00, yes it says 15.00 is check in Time but it was clearly just a ridiculous rule. The ONLY time you could eat was one of 2 sittings, 18.00 or 20.00, not what you would expect from a 4 star hotel. The food was excellent, but the time just did not suit us.

Dated hotel

Atholl palace could do with a lot of updating and safety issues being sorted out. My friend and I were on the third floor and ALL the three window in the room were painted shut my friend and I tried in vain to open all of the windows in vain (I kept thinking about Cameron house and the negligence of staff there when it went on fire) there was a ring on the floor next to one of the beds which we presumed was for a non-existent safety rope to escape should there be a fire !!! We reported this when we were checking out and a member of staff who was in reception said our customers don t like the windows open as we get the bugs in !!! It was November for gods sake in the Scottish highlands. Although in an emergency I would still like the option of escaping . This is a safety issue that needs addressing especially as they have log fires in various places