Duke Of Gordon Hotel

The staff were all great, friendly and helpful.

Very Friendly staff and good food, breakfast was free and good too, hotel was warm and comfortable.

Very good location with plenty of free parking. Spacious bedroom with plenty of wardrobe space and an updated bathroom. Bar was well-stocked and homely with efficient staff. Breakfast was self-service with a good choice.

The breakfast was tasty. The only thing that let it down was that breakfast was between 08.00-09.00, this is contrary to the information in the booklet.

Mooi hotel, zeer vriendelijk personeel! Leuke pub en een heerlijk ontbijt

We were travelling from afar and decided to stop for the night once we’d had enough driving. We found the Duke of Gordon Hotel on Google and the website sounded ideal for a reasonable price. Unfortunately, our experience didn’t quite match what was advertised.

Parking was the first challenge, as access to the car park was blocked when we arrived. Inside, we were greeted by a lovely member of staff who explained they were short‑staffed and that dinner service was finishing soon, so we needed to commit to eating straight away. We completely understand staffing pressures, so we dropped our bags and headed straight down.

At the bar, the young lad serving seemed overwhelmed and didn’t acknowledge the queue. A more senior staff member stepped in and took over, but she handled the glasses by the rim, which isn’t great practice. Drinks were reasonably priced, though.

The dining room itself is huge, yet all diners were squeezed into one small area. Every table had bread already placed on it, even when no one had been allocated to sit there. We chose the £27 three‑course menu. Starters were tomato soup and a ham and pea terrine. The soup was bland and lacked seasoning, and the terrine came with two stale crackers. Mains were sausages, which were okay, though the gravy was very watery. Desserts were the biggest disappointment: the lemon meringue was overpowered by raspberries and inedible, and the apple sponge was smothered in jam, lukewarm, and didn’t taste of apple at all.

Heading back to our room, we noticed how unclean the communal areas were — cobwebs on light fittings, dust on surfaces and ledges, and threadbare carpets. We hoped the room would be better. At first glance it looked clean, but again, the higher surfaces were dusty. The TV was positioned so awkwardly that darker scenes were almost impossible to see. On a positive note, the bed was very comfortable, the water was hot, and the building was warm throughout.

The staff truly were the highlight — friendly, polite, and doing their best under pressure. Sadly, that’s the only real strength at the moment. The whole experience felt a bit like Fawlty Towers, which is a shame because the building itself is beautiful and could be wonderful with some updating and a thorough deep clean.

Both of us work in hospitality, so we always try to be fair and understanding, especially knowing how much reviews can impact a business. We don’t enjoy leaving negative feedback, but we also feel it’s important to be honest. With some investment, better cleaning standards, and more support for the team, this hotel could be so much better.

Just back from stay here with Cairngorm holidays. Nice big spacious hotel. Good choice of food for meals. Lovely friendly staff who will have a laugh with you. The bedroom had everything you would need. The down side is the bedroom is in need of modernisation, especially the bathroom. Apart from that, its a lovely place to stay for a few days whilst touring the Highlands. Thank you Paul and staff

Das Hotel ist etwas in die Jahre gekommen, aber es ist urig-schön und sehr gemütlich. Das Personal ist durchweg freundlich und sehr hilfsbereit. Vielleicht ist das, was die innen erwartet typisch britisch. Auf jeden Fall verfällt man sofort dem Tartanteppich, dem Kaminfeuer und dem verwinkelten Fluren mit seinen krummen Treppenstufen.
Wir kommen bestimmt wieder.

Jolly staff and a suburb location

We stayed here as part of our Scottish Highlands trip to the Cairngorms.
The hotel is excellent in every respect.
I had a room on the second floor which was lovely with plenty of room and storage facilities.
All the staff at the hotel were extremely pleasant and helpful and the dining room was beautiful. The food was superb with a printed menu every day and three choices of starter and mains and dessert. There was something for everyone and everything was superbly served and presented. The breakfasts were very copious and delicious also.
Absolutely faultless.
There was entertainment in the ballroom every evening and a nice quiet bar to have drinks as well.
The hotel is very well located and the village very pretty.
Thank you to all the hotel staff for making our visit to your hotel so enjoyable.

Not a lot! Kingussie is lovely and staff friendly

Just had a 4 night stay here with Cairngorn Travel. The hotel is in a great position, it was lovely and warm at all times, everywhere was spotlessly clean and all staff were friendly and welcoming especially Laura and Pete. The evening meals were very good, great choices and really enjoyed all of them. Breakfast was buffet style and tho good choice of hot food, would have liked some pastries instead of just toast every morning and maybe more fruit options. The only real downside to our stay was our room which tho very clean was very dated, worn and in need of a total refit especially the bathroom. If the rooms were refurbished this hotel would be top notch.

The rooms are big.

Duvine breakfast and staff were amazing.

The room was very comfortable. The staff were exceptional, friendly and helpful this made our stay.