Duke Of Gordon Hotel

Lovely hotel with fabulous staff. We were made to feel very welcome and they managed to fit us in for a meal even though they had 3 coach loads of guests staying as well. The beef they served was the best I've ever had and it was a real pleasure to have the bar man enthusiastically promoting the Aviemore brewery ales, which were truly lovely!

Nothing

Spacious room with view of the mountains. Comfortable Good value for money.. Friendly staff. Space in room to sit and read if I didnt want to go out

Staff in dining room were variable - some pleasant and friendly and others offhand. I wondered whether some were new and had not yet mastered the art of hospitality.

nice stay

lift out of order for service

Great location for a trip to Wolftrax MTB trail centre. Buffet breakfast set me up for the day. Attentive, approachable staff throughout the hotel.

Lift was out of action, not an issue for us but could be for some.

Good location for my needs, but not much else around.

Two issues. The lift was not working but they still gave us a room on the 2nd floor. At 74 years old I had to lug two heavy large suitcases one at a time up 20 steps and then back down the next morning. I asked how long the lift has been out of order and was told 3 weeks. I should have been emailed that the lift was not working. If so, I would have cancelled and rebooked at the Star Hotel down the street. Or I should have been assigned a ground floor room. Also, the room they gave us was right above the “Ballroom”. We had to listen to karaoke music from 8:30pm to 10:30pm. This wasn’t another guest playing loud music, this was the hotel! Both issues are Unacceptable. I complained when I checked out, but all I got was “We’re sorry”.

The location was fabulous and just a conveniently short walk from the train station. The breakfast was help yourself to as much as you wanted, and there were cooked options. The staff were very friendly and helpful.

Breakfast was very goodnothing

Nothing

Lovely traditional hotel with great staff, especially in the bar

Nothing

Quaint, historic, and antique furniture.

We were disposed to last available room and the lift was out and we had to climb up several long winding stairs with no one offering to help. We are older and exhausted and specifically booked hotel with a lift, because my husband had had knee surgery. Very disappointed in the actual hotel vs the picure they show. It sits on a street and the gardens are a small park across the street.

Breakfast was ok but seemed very coach group orientated.

Evening meal was dry, not enough gravy, same food as the coach groups who paid less than half we paid for evening meal.

Great, friendly staff, particularly the lady on the front desk. Excellent location in a lovely village. Great bar with good local lager. Reasonably priced. Ample parking

Corridors and staircases very tired and in need of upgrade. Attention to detail in rooms required - some fixtures falling off the walls, pictures missing but picture hooks still up, lift broken for entire 4 night trip, breakfast noticeably less enjoyable on busy mornings.

Good hotel in general. Would return as we wouldn't expect our disappointment with breakfast, as detailed below, to be repeated !

Only Fault ! Breakfast on the Saturday - Food was almost cold, several items were finished. Most were replenished from kitchen eventually, but this took almost the whole duration of the meal ! Bread, milk, orange juice were also finished, & took many minutes to be replenished. Half of our table cutlery not in place & had to be asked for. Tea/coffee not provided till halfway through breakfast. It was embarrassing, as I had chosen this hotel for our party.

Lovely location, friendly staff and excellent food. Lots of surrounding walks and places to drive to see Scotland's scenery. Lots of parking around the back of the hotel and room was warm.

Would have liked plugs beside the beds but otherwise cannot fault the hotel

Not a lot

Quite a disappointing stay, such a tired hotel, bleak dark and dingy - the car park entrance rug was shabby and the smoking butt cover at the back door had come off and butts were lying around which was rather disgusting. The windows were filthy, handrails felt dirty and the carpets need a good deep clean. Our room was uninviting, dated and also needed a good clean, especially the ironmongery in the bathroom, don’t think it has ever been cleaned or polished and there was hot water coming out both taps - the dining room was oppressive and breakfast room decor was just awful with a mishmash of difference chair. We felt like we needed to wipe out feet on the way out! Steer clear of this place whatever you do 🥴

Breakfast was delicious. Well cooked, nice and warm and lovely hot plates which kept food warm. Choice was amazing. Plenty room between tables and it was non intrusive. Lovely large room with really comfortable beds. Had a great sleep! Fantastic shower and amazing water pressure for such a large hotel. Warm welcome on arrival, receptionist was lovely. Thank you.

Outside entrance requires weeding and tidying up. As with back car park. Wanted to stay longer and help you as we thought the hotel was absolutely amazing. My husband would love to help you!

Breakfast not spectacular, did not look very fresh

Shower needs improving

Friendly staff. Great location. The double room was large and clean. Evening meal was tasty with very quick service as there were several coach parties in. Large car park at the back.

Weird noises in the night due to lift or drainage - not sure where it came from. Didn't get a good night's sleep as a result. The coach parties got in to breakfast before us and replenishment was a bit slow.

Friendly and helpful staff.

The whole hotel is shabby and and requires major maintenance. The buffet breakfast was average at best and food was cold. It is now owned by a coach tour company and I suspect used for cheap and cheerful holidays. Really sad to see the terrible state they have allowed this once beautiful hotel to fall into. We have stayed there many times over the years, but unfortunately will not return .

Staff where really nice

The food was very poor, we had dinner in the evening and it was cold and was definitely not fresh or home cooked. We couldn’t stomach to eat any of it. The breakfast was poor to , the beans where ok out of it all

The breakfast was fine. The evening music and dancing!!!!

The food at Ghillie pub was not nice.

I booked three rooms for my myself & my family for one night on our journey north. The rooms were clean & comfortable, the staff were fantastic & the buffet breakfast was lovely. Pleasant location & plenty of parking.

The hotel is quite dated & appears to cater for coaching parties but heyho...we enjoyed our short stay as welcome break from our travelling

Nice little village in the Caighgorms. Nice staff working there

It looks much better in the photos. Main photo makes you think they have a big garden and it doesn't, it's the park across the street. Every photo of the rooms looks much better. Rooms are old, dirty carpet, dirty shower, horrible bed and doesn't smell good. Breakfast was ok, but not crazy, I missed some continental. Too expensive for what it is.

The location suited our needs

The hotel is in its dying days, it looks tired and worn out, not a great advert for what used to be the best highland hotel. Our room was ok, the beds not comfortable at all. The bathroom exceedingly small. Our room did not get serviced for two days due a key error, management needs to sort that one out. The dinner food was a disgrace, catering for bus tours, cheap and cheerful. Having to go to the bar to collect your own wine at dinner?? Breakfast was just as poor. The staff deserve better from its management company, they all seemed to be depressed.

The staff were great. Our room was huge. (564) nice bathroom Comfortable bed

Outside- gardens need some attention. Weeds in front of hotel and also at outside seating area at bar.

Good location and friendly, efficient staff. Bedrooms and bathrooms were small but modern and clean. Plenty of free parking at the hotel. Great location for exploring Cairngorms National Park.

Hotel seems to cater more for bus parties. As a result of this, the evening food menu was limited. The same set menu was served in the restaurant and bar with 3 choices per course.

It was the evening of the big storm, and the hotel suddenly found itself inundated with last minute bookings. They calmly and professionally dealt with the situation and welcomed us. We were meant to be staying an hour and a half away on a boat and couldn’t find alternative accommodation for hours before availability came up for this hotel. So, we didn’t choose to come here, but we’re glad we did. Highlight for us was one of the staff doing an impromptu karaoke night as the booked entertainment couldn’t make it because of the storm!! The rest of the staff did an excellent job in very challenging circumstances. The room was clean and had all amenities despite being a little dated. They had had a large function over the days before our stay so a lot of the social areas were not clean or tidy, but that was understandable as they were short staffed due to the storm. The bar was a comfortable area to sit in but very quickly crowded. Lots of board games and books available which is a lovely touch. Well presented main areas and again the staff were lovely.

The only thing that let the stay down was the food - it wasn’t great - but that may well have been to all the last minute bookings adding pressure to the kitchen. The hotel had the feel of catering to the elderly but if that’s their target market then fair enough.

Good location

Squeaky floor, thin walls, and basic meals

a good central location to explore the area. Hotel was good and staff helpful

Everything was fine.

Friendly staff

Dated bedroom, dusty and curtains were poor quality let light in a 4am. Breakfast luke warm, not very appetising

Loved the friendly atmosphere. Food was excellent as was the service.

Nothing

The staff and town were great.

The food was abysmal. The catering is clearly geared for large coach parties who don't have taste buds. We ordered different starters and the same main, one of us is dairy intolerant. Almost as soon as we ordered, the starters arrived. Nothing came to the table hot, despite the speed at which we were served. The starters were bland, the lentil soup (the dairy free option) was more like a broth that had been boiled till the lentils disintegrated and the garlic mushrooms were cooked in cream with little to no taste of garlic or any other seasoning. We had sorbet as an intermediary course. It tasted like watery frozen lemonade, not the good kind. The mains were a shocker. We ordered the blade of beef. Everything on the menu came with cauliflour cheese, a Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and broad beans. When the mains arrived, the waiter had to go back to the kitchen for the dairy free version, despite having the conversation about dietary requirements with us 10 minutes before. He returned with a plate that had half the amount of food. The cauliflour cheese was stringy, rubbery and tasteless. The Yorkshire pudding was soggy and clearly reheated. I wasn't brave enough to eat it, so I can't tell you how it tasted. The roast potatoes were from frozen, as were the broad beans. The beans managed to be soggy and dry at the same time. The potatoes were an offence to potatoes. Rubbery on the outside and powdery inside. The gravy tasted like bisto. The beef was also from frozen. I don't think it was turned over while being reheated as it was crispy on one side and chewy on the other. I ate some beef, a few beans, the cauliflower and half a potato. My husband valiently tried each bit of food on his plate. The waiter asked us how things were. My husband said, 'we're struggling on.' The waiter nodded and accepted this as a reasonable response. We left.

Large room,Wi-Fi worked well, food was excellent and good value.