We stayed for three nights at the Ayre hotel. The room was ok, with a good view over Kirkwall bay. However, we were forced to move rooms after my girlfriend woke up covered in bed bug bites after the first night. The management gave us a small discount and we moved rooms - no problems during the last two nights. Breakfast was good, and the attached bar had a local atmosphere. However, all in all, for £100-£110 per night I would have expected more - Woodwick House, where we went for dinner one evening, would have been far better, albeit 20 mins drive from Kirkwall.

The hotel's in a good cebtral location, next to the harbour. The room was clean and looked as if it had been refurbished recently. Dinner was excellent and breakfast was just as good. All in all it was a nice place to stay.

This is probably as close as Orkney gets to a business hotel, as evidenced by the fact that the British Airways crew who flew us up were checking in as I was. The hotel is therefore a bit characterless but efficient, and the rooms have en suite and most of the other trappings – tea and coffee making facilities, trouser press, Sky TV etc.. One thing though, they’re not well sound-proofed and you can hear everything your neighbours are doing in the middle of the night, including trips to the toilet.
I preferred the hotel bar, which looked more designed for the locals with two dartboards and a pool table. It looked as if the BA crew enjoyed it too, as worryingly enough they were at the bar until midnight. I didn’t see them for breakfast, which was nicely cooked, and better than a sweating buffet.
In summary, this is not a bad place to stay and is central to Kirkwall, but I think two nights in the place would be more than enough.

Very good location, at harbour and near town centre. Public rooms ok, nothing special, but bedroom very pleasant. Friendly staff on the desk, and they really went out of their way to help me when I realised I'd left a couple of things behind in my room, after I'd got home - getting in touch with me to sort things out: very helpful.