Macdonald Norwood Hall Hotel

Almost perfect. The room was huge and very comfortable - homely. The food was excellent, and it was nice to have the option to have breakfast delivered. I don't feel check in was done properly as he just gave me the card and took me to the lift, where normally I'd expect to be told about breakfast and where key things are. There were a couple of mismatches between written info and actual service: the welcome letter said breakfast was from 7am, but service was from 7.30am when I phoned reception to ask if I needed to book. The breakfast room service menu offered bircher muesli (which is almost like overnight oats), and I was served regular dry muesli. I did request no feather bedding, and this was confirmed to me by reception, but they did have a cushion on my bed that had feathers. I also happened to notice a significant amount of dust under the TV cabinet, so addressing this would make the place friendlier to asthmatic people. I initially had a manky kettle that had weird sticky grime on it and black spots inside, but when I mentioned this to reception they replaced the kettle immediately and it wasn't an issue. This sounds like a lot of complaints, but they were all exceptionally minor things and it definitely didn't detract from the enjoyment of my stay. I will be staying here again for sure!

This hotel is comfortable and traditional. The dining area, bar and foyer are old fashioned but in a good way, as the furnishings are antique. The staff are smartly dressed and pleasant. The rooms are spacious and the beds huge and comfortable. If you are looking for a whitewashed funky hotel with generic pictures on the walls, look elsewhere.

From the outside the hotel is gorgeous. Amongst old growth trees and very isolated from buildings around. The foyer and entry is a bit dark and uninviting with a bit of clutter around. We had reserved a deluxe double room for three nights. They put us in the basement--the very last room down a maze of corridors with low ceilings. The room was extremely disappointing to the point where our moods degraded noticeably the longer we stayed in the room. There was glitter all over the floor--obviously very difficult to get out of the carpet after some previous guest. The fabric at the foot of the bed had stains on it. The promise of "spectacular views of the surrounding Aberdeen countryside" were actually a ground view of a fence, trees, and a drainage cover. To the hotel's credit, when we asked to change rooms they upgraded us to what they described as a nicer room, but it too was very average but a significant improvement from the basement. Apart from that the room had no kettle, coffee, or tea. Very expensive for a very disappointing experience.