Macdonald Spey Valley Resort - Aviemore

kristinapA2244LE

We stayed at one of the chalets for three nights. |There is pretty much everything you could need inside these little houses. Fully equipped kitchen, bathroom with bath, living room, two bedrooms, one with double bed and one with two singles. Extra pillows also provided. TV and wi-fi also provided. There is a picnic bench outside each chalet. Iron and board, as well as small airing rack available. French press was a great surprise for us coffee lovers. |A walk through the fields gets you to the Aviemore town centre in 15-20 minutes on foot. Loads of footpaths nearby also. The main resort reception also has a pool, free to use and has slots for adults only swim. |The chalets are on the older side but it does give them character. Windows may be sticky when opening and closing especially if they have been in the sun and the wood has expanded. Make sure you turn the hot water switch when you arrive, as the hot water tank may take a while and is a finite source, i.e. has just enough water for two full drawn baths. Heaters throughout work well. |Bring your own washing up liquid and surface cleaner but scouring pad, washing up bowl and draining rack provided.|Had an issue with the bathroom door handle, which staff sorted out early the next morning.|Overall would stay again in a heartbeat, although the chalets would need a refurb in the next ten or so years to keep up with competitors.

Ben S.

Pros:
- Great location, easily walkable or drivable to the town centre.
- Lodge was spacious with some good facilities such as a sauna.

Cons:
- Didn’t get the lodge we thought we were getting. Pretty sure we booked Topside on the website but got a lodge.
- Very dated, things were broken upon arrival and could have been cleaner. One the chairs was broken, dishwasher never worked and one of the bedrooms had mould on the walls.
- Hot water and water pressure hit or miss.

Karen P. H.

Ms. Alley(the Receptionist )is truly friendly and helpful, she provided a clear explanations for the site! The room was fairly clean, and the environment was tranquil. It was also very convenient to go to the city center for supplies!

EPirie

We were extremely disappointed with our weekend away. The complex was very run down looking and the lodge needed an upgrade. You had to pay extra to use the pool with a flume and wave machine (£10 per adult £5 per child). We arrived with children at 8 30 but the flume doesn't open until 10am which wasn't pointed out to us. The showers weren't working either. We got our money back and went to the free pool near our lodge. The pool seemed to have a problem with the chemicals and the floor was covered in grit. The jacuzzi was also not working. We left the pool after 10 minutes. All in all a very poor experience.

evangellica

We’ve stayed in Aviemore many times before on a family holiday, but this was the first time at Macdonald Resort. The initial “sell” was its price point, which when booking was extremely competitive against other self-catering options in the area. In the end, we considered this to be perhaps the best self-catering option we’ve stayed at in the area, upping the price from being “competitive” to being all out “excellent value for money.”||The Good:|- Excellent amenities. Aside from the usual Aviemore activities (biking, skiing etc) the resort itself comes with amazing facilities. The sports hall is fantastic, especially for teenage kids. There’s tennis, football, table tennis, squash, and a gym. There’s a good sized pool for kids which isn’t very busy. A children’s playground. Even a fishing pond. Overall, especially on those evenings when everyone’s tired from the day’s outdoor activities, it’s a great place to be with no shortage of things to do. ||- A walk on 9-hole golf course, and a bookable European tour 18-hole course. My eldest is into his golf, and couldn’t stop raving about how good it was to leave his holiday apartment to get in a round of golf. He also said the 18-hole course (which is discounted for residents) was one of his favourite courses he’s played on. Again, for those evenings when everyone’s tired from a day’s bike ride or whatever Aviemore activity you were doing, the walk-on golf course makes for a bit of fun for the younger (or indeed older) golfer among you. ||- Decent lodging. This fell somewhere between “the good” and “the less good” but overall for the price I actually thought it was good value for money. Sure, some of the furnishing looks straight out the 1970s - but the fact is everything that you really need worked great. The shower warmed up fast and had plenty of pressure. The hob was good. The oven was good. The pots and pans were good. The cooker hood was good. The garden furniture was good. Were the curtains and carpets a bit outdated? Sure. But it was more than made up for with the rest of the apartment. ||The “not so good”|- This is not a Gleneagles style 5-star resort; so don’t hold out for the top-class Scottish hospitality treatment. Staffing is quite light, and while they were all friendly and lovely and helpful, it doesn’t quite stand up to the standards elsewhere in Scotland (nor, indeed, other Macdonald hotels such as Aberfoyle). Overall I can’t really complain, but it’s the main reason why this got a 4-star review and not a 5. ||- On a similar note, if you need anything in a hurry (for example bedding), you’ve only really got til 10pm to sort it out as the bar can shut then leaving a skeleton staff footprint. So it’s worth making sure you’ve got everything when you check in. ||- A quick win for the resort to maybe up itself from a 4 to a 5 star review: a few tea bags, salt, pepper… we had brought everything, but it’s a nice touch if your accommodation has a day’s worth of provisions for you on arrival. It’s just a nice, personalised touch (it could even come with a “welcome to Spey Valley” note. I should add it did come with some cleaning things - but that little bit more just would have put a smile on my face I think after a 7hr drive. It’s small, but it’s why it’s also do-able. ||Overall:|A fun stay and one that was pleasantly surprising. We would book again for sure.

Petr N.

Very happy with the service and accommodation at the Spey Valley resort. As others mentioned, the interior is a bit dated, but not dissimilar to 90% of UK hotels. Our three-bed, extra-spacious lodge was more than big enough for our family (two adults and five children). It was very clean and well-equipped. We would return.

d M.

Rooms / Accommodation are fine, as you'd expect from stuff in the area and quality rating of the hotel. However, facilities and staff knowledge aren't good at all in general; untrained new staff left to their own devices, double booked facilities, poor changing areas (unclean and extremely limited family areas), inadequately chlorinated pool, rude staff at the pool, staff are somewhat pushy in fact and seem to have forgotten that people are there for a holiday. To top it off electricity is charged separately! at a stated rate of 30p/KWH which sounds reasonable, but I can't see how we used 70KWHs per day of our stay!!! Overall can't give it more than 1 star as it was just somewhere to stay and these negatives far outweighed any positives.

jacquelinear2017

Avoid. Property in need of total upgrade. Front door warped & rotten. Heater hanging off wall. Decor very poor. Lights not working. worn out pillows. Cutlery missing. Reported to staff. Staff smart & polite but ineffective. No faults addressed during stay