Hilton Grand Vacations Club Craigendarroch Suites Royal Deeside

We had a lovely stay overall. The hotel is in a great location and the bar area was particularly nice, with a really welcoming atmosphere. A special mention goes to the young barman who looked after us with some excellent cocktails. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch his name, but we ended up chatting about our time in the Army, and he was friendly, attentive, and a real credit to the hotel. All of the reception and bar staff were lovely throughout our stay and made us feel very welcome. My only criticism is that the electric fireplace in our room wasn’t working. This was actually one of the features we had been looking forward to most when booking, so it was disappointing to find it out of order. What made it more frustrating was that there wasn’t really an apology or acknowledgement of the inconvenience when we raised it. That aside, we enjoyed our stay and would definitely be back in a heartbeat.

What a beautiful hotel and location. Greeted on arrival by Ross who was just wonderful and explained everything we needed to know. We stayed in Suite 21. Fabulous suite, very nicely spaced out. We loved the outside balcony as it was full of little wild birds. We did not use any of the spa facilities during our stay. We only used the bar/bar menu. We had a wonderful stay and would highly recommend.

Excellent resort, well maintained with a great leisure centre. Friendly, helpful and efficient staff recommended

My family are ballater residents and have been members of the country club for 35 years. We have seen a decline in the service at the bar/restaurant as of late. On numerous occasions we have been left waiting for small things like coffee and scones that had been ordered and forgotten about. One time we left after waiting 30 minutes for our coffees and another round of drinks, regardless of the fact we'd reminded staff members that we were still waiting. Today's visit has further disappointed us, when the breath of a member of the bar staff was smelling extremely strongly of alcohol while speaking with us. This same member of staff has been present during our previous disappointing experiences.

Perfect location for a quiet break. Beautiful, countryside. Pleasant amenities. Though avoid peak times for kids. Not much rule keeping in the Adult pool or age restrictions being observed. Plenty to do, though the digs are comfortable but a wee bit 1990s.

HGVC normally haved kitchens… these dont. no thermostat and room was waaaayy too hot even though its cold outside with all windows open. cant sleep and hungry all week

We had an amazing stay exploring as much "Wild places as possible, one of the best was a day trip to the Ski Resort at Aviemore -10 and blowing a blizzard at the top, a totally amazing day out!

Stayed for 4 nights in a studio suite. Pros: - Free parking was provided. - Room was spacious and came with a mini kitchen (Basically oven with full set of utensils) - Rain shower was soothing and water temperature was consistent. - Housekeeping helped to fold my clothes which was a nice touch. - The folks manning the reception were warm and helpful. - Although we did not utilise the facilities, we walked around and saw nice indoor pool facilities, snooker table, table tennis table and gym. We were told we could use these facilities free of charge as a staying guest. Cons: - Room was still dim after switching on all the lights. - Shower head holder was chipped off at the edge, causing me to cut my finger.

We thoroughly enjoyed our mid-winter break at Craigendarroch (an RCI exchange). The beautiful top-floor suite was cosy, clean and comfortable, with views of the River Dee, snowy hills and forests. The Keillor restaurant really impressed us, too: a great selection of high quality food and excellent wines & spirits at sensible prices. Service was relaxed but never slow. The kitchenette in the room made long lie-ins, lazy lunches and early nights so easy. It's a pleasant 30 minute walk to the cafés, bars and shops in Ballater. The range of on-site activities is exceptional.

Horrendous experience which totally ruined what was once an amazing venue. Myself and a friend went for lunch on the 23rd January. Firstly extremely lacklustre service - we felt we were an inconvenience to the two staff present. Our server (Iona) seemed really cold and disinterested in us. Fast forward fifteen minutes and lunch is ruined by a guest who proceeds to repeatedly bellow at full volume obscenities towards a family member at the adjacent table. All other diners look round at this point and see the two staff stood at the bar area doing nothing. This performance went on for around ten minutes upon which I quickly paid the bill so we could get up and leave. Incredibly stressful and inappropriate behaviour in a supposed civilised luxury establishment. When paying Iona didn’t ask how our experience was (why do you think that might be?!) and then ignored us when we were leaving. No apology was provided for our lunch being ruined. Never ever again - you have lost two once loyal customers. Once more I will be warning anyone else visiting Ballater to give your hotel a miss.