We stayed at this hotel for 2 nights during 5 days in Scotland.

The first ("Comfortable") room we were sent to (No caring staff here offering to help with luggage etc as I've always experienced in hotels of similar quality) is possibly the smallest hotel room in the UK with a miniscule bathroom. The enamel on the bath was worn through to the metal below. The room was at the front of the hotel, with lots of traffic noise & very dark.

My partner returned to Reception to complain & was assured this was a standard size room comparable with all hotels. Not in our experience! We were given the option to move - at a cost, as this would be an upgrade.

We lugged our bags to the 2nd ("Desirable") room which was much bigger & lighter. Again the bath enamel was worn through - we were told that they couldn't afford to do up the bathrooms yet.....!!

Unfortuantely it became apparent that the vents from the kitchen ran right outside our window, which were incredibly noisy. Reception assured us they would be shut off later in the evening once food service ceased. At 10 to 2 the following morning, after several frustrating hours without very little, fitful sleep, my partner phoned down to Reception to be told that someone must have forgotten to turn the extractors off & they'd do it now. At quarter to 6 we were awakened when the system started up again ready for breakfast - the noise was ridiculous! We phoned down to Reception again & my partner went to speak to the Duty Manager who agreed with us that the1st room we were shown was awful, said they'd had lots of complaints about noise in the 2nd room we'd been given & stated that we shouldn't have been charged an upgrade. We were now offered a 3rd room in which we could hopefully get some sleep, which we accepted & were promised another (free) upgrade the next day. Amazingly this 3rd room had the bath enamel intact (Woo hoo!). We managed to sleep til 11 - thus losing half a day of our holiday.

My partner went down to Reception to organise our upgrade & was told that we couldn't move ourselves, we had to wait for housekeeping. 45 minutes later we were still waiting so decided to go for lunch. The Receptionist's response as we left was "Oh you're ready to move now?" & a claim that she'd told us to ring down when we were ready, not to wait for housekeeping.....

Our final ("Enviable") room was a very nice room - though nothing particularly special - & the bath enamel was worn!!

In summary, the location of ABode is great & we went for an incredible meal in the Michael Cains restaurant - everything we could have hoped for, but then again we could've have eaten there as non-residents.

However, I have never witnessed as many customer complaints at check-out (when incidentally there is one member of staff on so you have to queue & queue. Perhaps this is to ensure you have the satisfaction of hearing what an awful time everyone else has had?!!)

When we checked out, staff tried to make amends by reducing our room rate & giving us our internet free, but unfortunately that doesn't make up for a lack of sleep & feeling stressed, rather than the relaxing time we'd anticipated.

All in all, the hotel is very expensive for what you get, particularly as breakfast is at an additional cost & there is no parking at the hotel. The multi storey you're directed to costs £10/day.

They seemed to have skimped on all the wrong things. Yes the toiletries are lovely, but find me a luxury boutique hotel without decent toiletries..!!

The "tuck box" in the room is NOT complimenatry, although I couldn't find anyone who realised they'd be charged as there was no price list - apparently psychic powers are a necessity if you stay here!

You even have to pay for mineral water in the room......!!

I would never choose to stay at an ABode hotel in the future & will be recommending to my family & friends that they avoid these hotels at all costs.....

Oh - & check your bill as there were restaurant items on ours which related to a different table.....