During a road trip in Scotland we stopped in Fort William and stayed at Inverlochy Castle.  It used to be part of Relais & Châteaux but is now part of Small Luxury Hotels (SLH).  The quick takeaway is that the common areas were impressive, the room not as much, and that I did not get any noticeable benefits as SLH Indulged member which contributed to the high price tag being questionable value.  It is a small boutique hotel popular with local celebrities and royalty so you need to pay for the privacy.

Location

The hotel is located on expansive grounds far enough from the main road that we could not hear any noise and the entire area is quiet and peaceful with beautiful landscape.  From the outside the castle looks great, without being huge as the hotel only has 17 rooms which gives a private and personal experience while on site, which perfectly aligned with what the SLH brand is all about.

Room

I booked a “Large Double” room type and this is the room type I received at check-in.  The hotel was almost fully booked and technically the room type immediately above mine was occupied so it was correct to not give an upgrade.  However there were a couple of room categories a notch above which were only modestly more expensive than what I booked (20% price difference) so they could have easily made an effort for an upgrade but they did not, in fact my status was not recognized at check-in so I am not even sure they knew. 

The room was relatively spacious and felt larger than the 34 square meters noted on the website and it had a view of the garden in front of the hotel.  The color scheme was odd with shades of pink, but despite the historical nature of the castle the room was well maintained and in good condition.  The bathroom had a separate tub from the shower; while the tub was nice, the shower reminded more of a Hampton Inn or Courtyard hotel with a frail glass door.  There were some modern and luxury technological features in the room such as Bang & Olufsen speakers, and the TV was interestingly a wooded frame mirror which blended nicely with the rest of the rustic room. 

As mentioned above the hotel was very quiet and we could not hear a single sound during the night.  The problem with sleep was more about the temperature in the room; even when opening windows it was quite hot and not comfortable. 

Dining

For breakfast they had a few separate beautifully decorated rooms, all of them with only 2-3 tables so dining was very private.  They had an a la carte menu with decent choices and all the food was high quality.  While we did not eat there for dinner, I would mention that the hotel restaurant used to have a Michelin star so the restaurant at this hotel generally speaking is considerably above average.  For breakfast I am usually not a fan of porridge but the brulé version was excellent.  The smoked salmon with caviar was also among the best I have had in various hotels. 

Common Areas

The common areas of the hotel were the strength of the property.  There was a game room with a snooker table, lots of DVDs to borrow if staying in the hotel during a rainy day, and the two-floor living room was a great place to relax and enjoy a drink during the evening. 

Wifi

Wifi worked very well with speeds of about 60 Mbps.

Overall

Overall this property is solid although the rooms are perhaps not as impressive as some other historical hotels found elsewhere in Europe.  The main problem was that the value for the money was not immediately apparent.  I guess the lack of loyalty program benefits has an impact relative to what I am used to.  Staying in a very small private hotel comes at a greater cost than a larger property so it’s fair to some extent, but it’s not one of the most competitively priced SLH properties I have come across.