I have never written a review like this before. Oban Bay Hotel is in an ideal location, right on the bay front, the parking is not bad and the staff is mostly young but seem pretty well trained, the breakfast is made to order and was good and served in a newly and nicely decorated dining area. The bar area is most perfect, looking out on the water, beautiful! The dining, bar and sitting areas have been remodeled and look nice. We are two couples traveling for 3 weeks around Scotland. This was our fourth stop and was for 2 nights.
Our room was way in the back of the hotel, not a problem although quite a walk. We passed all types of construction tools, wood, tile, paint cans piled in corners on the way to our room. It was the most disgusting room that we had on our 3 weeks in Scotland, actually the most disgusting room I have ever stayed in. It was very dark (multiple burnt out light bulbs), smelled super bad (moldy, dank), could not open the very small window-it was so moldy and stuck and the room was almost underground, ground level came up next to the window (like a dungeon) VERY small closet and so dark we could not even see into it, when we arrived and opened the door we were met by a giant spider!, the toilet did not flush correctly and stuck most times it was flushed, the bath room was scary, mold all around the baseboards, in the shower everywhere, the ceiling had a crack through the bathroom and all the way through the bedroom with mold growing along it.Looked like the floor above could fall down on us. The bed was lumpy, very worn and very old! The linens on the bed were questionable and the towels in the bathroom were moldy smelling.The carpet was worn and dirty, the paint was chipping off of the walls, no place to put our luggage-did not want to put it on the floor because of bugs. Only ONE plug for all of our electronics!? No plug in bathroom for hairdryer and not mirror in bedroom area?
We could not be moved the first night because the hotel was full. Our friends had a horrible old moldy room also but it was not on sub floor level.
It was obvious why they are remodeling but they are going about the remodel very wrong. I have done remodels before, you need to shut down the contaminated and degraded areas (not rent them to people-that is greedy and mean!), We had no other options the town was full. We spent our time in the lobby mostly, I would
have slept on the sofa if they would have allowed it.
The next day we checked the availability of switching rooms and we were able to get into one of the redecorated rooms. It was very nice, comfy beds, clean, nice window that opened, new bathroom that worked, no bad smells, pretty coordinated decor. All was nice but I feel bad for this hotel and whoever is spending the money (which I know how much these large remodels cost), they are going about the remodel very poorly and are waisting their money in many areas. They are cutting corners and repeating many of the same mistakes and will end up with a moldy, smelly, worn out hotel too soon. They should shut down certain sections of the hotel (it is very large) and work on it until finished properly and then reopen and rent only the refinished areas.
Our new bathroom, new shower, new flooring, new sink and toilet was already collecting mold. There is a half door on the shower (which is a good idea) but it is raised and they used wood molding around the bottom of the bathroom floor and shower which is already warped and moldy because of the shower water, they should have used tile, tile is made to get wet, not wood. Our friends were moved to a new room and that bathroom had a tile floor that went straight into the shower at the same level which was smart but yet the wood molding was already warping.
Just sad for the person paying the bill for all of the cut corners.
As our trip progressed we stayed at other hotels and guests houses that were remodeling and they were still clean, tidy, not odors and doing a great job with the resources they had.
My suggestion would be to ask to be put into one of the already remodeled rooms. There are other big hotels on the water front.
Very disappointed. read more