The Grey Gull Hotel

The location overlooking the Loch, but still next to a busy road. The bed was comfy.

On arrival, couldn’t get parked in the small car park as full of trades vans (typical guests). The whole building outside and in is very tired and run down. Reception horrible and unwelcoming. Carpets thread bear and dirty throughout. Decor cheap nasty not-tasteful faux “Scottish” touristy tat. Staff not very friendly a bit quiet going through the motions. Rooms have been part renovated very poorly with cheap items you could buy out of B&M (discount store). Carpet still old. Musty old smell throughout. The room I purchased (double with sea view- with pictures) was not the room I was given. They obviously just put pictures of the best possible room in booking .com. I was actually given a tiny dark and dingy single at the back of the hotel overlooking a car park. Breakfast worst I’ve ever had, highly ultra processed cheap discount store badly cooked with a terrible choice. Inedible. This Hotel is extremely overpriced, should be a 3* at best- maybe hostel status and price to match.

The position of the hotel is wonderful.

Bins on the drive way to welcome guests. Grubby entrance, dirty carpets, bathroom and bedroom. Evening meal and breakfast woefully.

Called them 43 times no answer arriving late due to storm Amie travelling 12 hours which should only take 3hours room very dirty and very cold no heating and breakfast was definitely not edeble cold not even fully cooked. So basically paid for a room for 5hours sleep no breakfast for a £125 rip off sorry

Location

We booked 2 rooms both smelled awful and the bathroom was full of mould. The carpet was not fitted and grip rods were exposed, overall very neglected Unable to upload video to site

We didn’t like anything about it when we arrived outside to a run down shabby building

We booked it for one night our room was on the third floor of a rundown shabby hotel we declined the room as my partner could not make the stairs they said there was no other rooms available for them to offer us they would not give us our money back while we were having discussions a couple came in looking for a room we said give them our room and he said he couldn’t ?? Which after talking to booking .com he could have easily

Booked at really short notice as the ferry was cancelled. Welcoming lovely staff, great room and we had the dog. The food was good as well :)

Nothing

Staff were knowledgeable and friendly and answered all our queries

Spacious and quiet room

Very convenient for an overnight stay before getting the ferry to Islay. Lovely, helpful staff. Rooms comfortable and well equipped. Food good and reasonably priced.

Looking a little tired, needs some upgrading. Curtain fell off rail when I drew it.

Hotel was clean

Where to start.. no water pressure at all out of taps & zero hot water. Hotel room was very dated to say the least, advertised as a sea view room which technically is correct but I’ve saw bigger windows on easyJet! Bathroom had shower rail hanging off wall. Staff albeit friendly had trouble with communication. Food in hotel restaurant was well below average, complained about the mains and waiter just smiled and walked away. Would not recommend or stay again.

Great room and bathroom was excellent. Large shower and decent water pressure. Bed was comfortable. Evening meal was fine and breakfast also very good. Plenty parking. Great value.

Appears (visually) rather old and worn but actually a very comfortable stay so nothing to dislike at all

Beautiful lochside location, lochside views from very large spacious bedroom, comfortable beds, quality decor, curtains & linen, carpets spotless, however skirting boards need cleaning & front of hotel needs weeding! Free Parking, Delish food in restaurant - however could do with better choice of on tap local ales! Peak summer season but ice cream counter was empty - could put signs out front & be drawing in customers if they stocked good quality Gelato's - were surprised how quiet this hotel was for the time of year! A few tweeks here & there could really make the difference to this hotel!

Dirty skirting boards, dull hotel signage & weeds outside the front of the hotel

The staff were very friendly. Nice beer garden.

The outside of the building was very rundown looking. The curtains in our room were inadequate, couldn't be pulled across. The food was very poor, seemed reheated.

We booked very last minute. They were able to accommodate all our needs and more. We got a table for dinner and the room was very nice - clean, modern - everything we could need for our short stay. The water temperature was great and the shower had good pressure.

I think my room the bed mattress and pillows could do with upgrading. But the other room we booked was much better so I assume they are being done on a phased basis. The towels could be a bit bigger / nicer but they were clean and fine for our needs.

Staff very friendly and welcoming. Very laid back and felt more like home. Food was great and just generally fabulous service

A nice comfy hotel just by the water, in a quiet village - simple, old building, which I like, with everything you need, and a good value for money! Not many buses but still manageable and a restaurant/pub next door. I recommend this place. :)

Did not have breakfast But had meal at night

No hot water in the room so we could n9t have a shower

Location

No hot water no working heating in room

I've stayed at the Grey Gull at least a dozen times over the years. The location is fantastic overlooking the sea in the form of Loch Gilp, the old pier and lighthouse and backing onto the picturesque Crinan Canal - hard to find better! The staff are lovely (but run off their feet) and the rooms immaculate after refurbishments a few years ago. There is a lounge area ajoining a large restaurant and bar area both of which are open to all comers.

As stated I have stayed at the Grey Gull many times over the years, I have an affection for the place and this is the first time I've been less than happy. We stayed the first week of June 2024. This review refers to rooms 2 and 3 which are on the ground floor - useful as the hotel has no lift and the stairways are quite steep. We booked a double room which turned out to be room 2. Room 2 wasn't the smallest room we'd ever stayed in but it's probably the smallest in the hotel which generally has huge spacious rooms. The double bed seemed actually smaller than a double but as neither of us are exactly petite (not huge either) we asked if we could pay for an upgrade. We originally paid just over £500 for 5 nights and the upgrade to room 3 next door came in at another £170. Room 3 was clean and spacious (twice the size as room 2) with King sized and single beds. The WiFi signal was almost non existent however and wouldn't connect to phones or notepad PC (maybe that was our fault...) and the TV wasn't receiving. I fixed the latter myself by manipulating the cable and connectors which hung beneath until getting "the right spot" the TV sprung to life - no big deal. The main problem was that there was barely any shower pressure just a dribble and the water that DID emerge was barely lukewarm. The manager Eleanor apologised and did her very best to get the boiler working properly but we spent the 5 days showering in a cupful (slight exaggeration, it may have been two cupfuls) of tepid water. The water did at least heat up on the last day however the pressure remained moribund. We couldn't even wash up in the sink as the integrated plug wouldn't stay in the down position and stubbornly kept springing back and gleefully emptying the contents into the drain. I want to say that the staff were lovely.

Location was good for our needs. It was a good price. The room was spacious.

The carpets were grubby in the hall and bedroom. There was only cold / luke warm water for a morning shower. It seemed to be under staffed based on our check in and check out experience but the two staff we met were very nice.

Friendly staff

No hot water

Cleanliness. Staff welcoming. Surprised by the hot tubs

Coffee. Only used Nescafé from a tin. Unfortunately had to move rooms twice and was offered a 3rd move. Husband surprised me with having an upgraded room with a bath in the room as a treat unfortunately there was no cold water to the room. Moved to another similar room same problem. Third room offer had no bath. Problem with second room room 6 when tv which was up high to the ceiling in the lounge it was loud in the room as it was directly under us

I booked two rooms for colleagues, one was fine, the other didnt have a TV so they were moved to another room which had no heating or curtains.

Inadequate room with no heatinfg or curtains and because this wasn't thought about by my colleague until bed time there was no staff around to help.

The location is superb. The Barman Jay did all he could to make up for the shortcomings. The Restaurant serves good food.

We arrived as arranged at 9 pm, nobody on Reception just an envelope with room key. Found there was no hot water, called emergency number and barman was sent to explain, he asked whether we had been informed they had run out of Calor Gas so no hot water or heating in corridors or restaurant. It was so cold we had to go to bed fully clothed, the shower rail was hanging off wall and curtain was hanging down. Next day they moved us to a warmer room, still no hot water until mid afternoon and there was mould in the shower tray. Staff refused to take any responsibility for not informing us there would be no hot water when we arrived, so we had no chance to make alternative arrangements.

very friendly clean and great location

nothing

My partner has family in Ardrishaig, so it’s nice to be near them. The view of the loch is amazing.

N/A

The room was clean and comfortable

Generally the rest of the hotel was run down, the staff were very good but service was slow resulting in a long wait for food.

Staff lovely, bed comfortable. Sauna in room was a novelty.

WiFi non existent. Restaurant and drinks very expensive with small portions. No Outlook from window . Room above kitchen with music very loud

Outstanding staff, great room, perfect location for our visit.

No bar on Sunday evening, as a Scot returning from the dark side of down south, would liked to have wallowed in booze ha ha. And this is nothing on The Grey Gull, I wish I had made use of the Hot Tub. My Bad.

Great location

Whilst the room was clean, other areas, such as the carpets seemed unclean

Breakfast Small but enough. location great.

Just a little tied