Hotels Near Culzean Castle in Maybole

We stayed here in mid December to celebrate my wife’s birthday. This was not our first visit as we were impressed by the hotel standard two years earlier. The hotel is certainly a visually stunning building situated on a hill overlooking the sea. The welcome into the hotel and the check in experience are first class, as would be expected in a hotel of this standard. However, after that, we felt things went a little downhill. Our room was stunning, with a wonderful view over the Clyde towards Ailsa Craig. The room was a great size and had a nice large bathroom. The bed was exceptionally comfortable. We were disappointed to find the room was colder than expected and a stand alone electric fan had been put into the room to boost the heat, which it marginally achieved due to the size of the room. We had been told the hotel had been fully closed the day before so maybe the heating was off. The normal room heating vent was pushing out warm, but not hot, air but not significantly enough and the room heating controls had no effect. The bathroom was equally disappointing: there were no amenities at the washbasin, only one bar of soap. The drawers at the sink unit were empty - no shower caps, sewing kits, hand washes, skin creams - as you would normally expect in a five star hotel. The shower cubicle only had a shampoo container, but no body wash. We used the pool area. It was very nice and clean and plenty towels available. The vents on the floor beside the windows were pushing out cool air which made the area a little chilly. Nevertheless the pool area was relaxing and very sunny and was fine if you sat away from the windows. Dinner and breakfast were nice with plenty choice to suit most people. I guess we will visit again as my wife is a particular fan of the hotel, but I think I would prefer summer instead of winter.

Booked a room for my daughters to stay. Upon arrival we encountered a completely disinterested member of staff who, quite simply couldn’t care less and sent them to the wrong part of the hotel. We booked an “Executive Room”, but there was nothing executive about it! Upon going inside all the windows were open (at 11pm on a cold October evening), probably to mask the smell of dampness in the room. Decor was well past its best and bathroom hadn’t been upgraded for some time. Breakfast on the first morning was very poor as apparently the chef didn’t turn up due to a family emergency. These things happen but staff didn’t tell my daughters and they waited 90 mins before a less than impressive breakfast arrived - see photo. General decor of hotel is very run down and there was rubbish in the car park related to some ongoing works. Yes, the rubbish has to go somewhere but no need for it to be scattered on the ground - see photo. Breakfast on Day 2 was moderately better but they ran out of bread and other ingredients but, again, didn’t tell guests when they ordered. Instead, when questioned as to why the items were missing, the reply was “oh sorry, we ran out”. Staff, with the exception of one member of staff on the restaurant, were sullen and disengaged. The general state of the communal areas is, at best, tired. Upon asking the manager what made the room “executive”, he said it was purely down to room size. The photos on the website show high specification “executive” rooms but, the manager stated, these were recently renovated rooms in a different part of the hotel and not the room my daughters were in. All in all, it was very disappointing and not a great place to stay. The manager declined to compensate for the below expectations room but did refund the breakfast on Day 1 (hence my 2 star rather than 1 star review). My advice is avoid!!