Macdonald Lochanhully Resort

Great place to stay Great location. Views are amazing. Great swimming pool.

I arrived here on January the 2nd at night for a 3 night stay with my wife and 15month old baby. The uk as a whole having a very cold weather snap with weather warnings in place,- 3 to be exact with significant snow fall. On arrival I was asked for a credit card in case of any damage I might do to the cabin, seemed an odd introduction with not much information care or attention taken to welcome us to the resort. On entering the cabin there was no heating on which on inspection turned out to be electrical panel heaters that had seen better days, the building was damp as it of course had obviously lay vacant with no heating to heat the fabric and make up of the building resulting in a damp smell and unbearable damp cold rooms. This then instantly felt like a survival situation to turn on all the heating and figure out how to set the heating with a small baby in the freezing cold, not quite what I had intended for a wee family break. I might add that this is very poor and although my wife did mention to them a day later and they had assured us it was not correct and it should have been on for our arrival, the very first thing that was mentioned on arrival at reception was a credit card and how because it was an ******* online booking we didn’t need to worry about an electrical bill payment! Call me suspicious but it evident that it’s there protocol to save money. Lastly the roads and paths no salt or clearing just black ice everywhere! Very dangerous!

Accommodation needs a facelift Negatives: There was an overwhelming damp/off smell when we first entered the apartment which I later discovered came from the vacuum cleaner when I used it. The bathroom light and hot water tap didn't work and the duvet for the sofa bed had a yellow stain on it. The "free kids club" is a run down cabin in which you pay £1 per game of pool (don't expect chalk). There are no plug sockets beside the bedroom mirror/dressing table. The bar area was always empty. Positives: The area is fantastic. My kids loved feeding the ducks and walking around the grounds finding the assault course, as they called it. The kitchenette was well equipped. The pool is ok. It was peaceful and really lovely to be surrounded by nature. We used the accommodation more as a base for discovering attractions nearby. However, had the restaurant been open or if there were better amenities indoors (for when the weather was poor) then we might have spent more time at the resort.

Moved to Spey Valley resort due to overbooking. We were 'upgraded' to the sister resort in Aviemore as this resort was no longer available due to overbooking. The lodge at the Spey Valley Resort we were moved to was old and very tired looking, the whole lodge needed repainting outside and the bathroom had not been updated in probably 20 years. The oven had one shelf and was seriously lacking in cooking trays etc. The bed was uncomfortable so we ended up sleeping on the sofa bed!

It was a nice place The only annoying thing was there was only a single bed and a double bed made up. We had to make up the sofa bed and the single pull out. They knew there were two children. Apart from that it was fine and had everything we needed. We were busy throughout the day so we left the sofa bed up.