Balmoral Arms

We loved staying here. The staff were very attentive. The rooms were charming and spotlessly clean. The bathroom was spacious and modern. The bed and pillows were very comfortable. We did have one difficulty with a teapot, and the manager promptly brought a new one up.

Perfect place for a leisurely afternoon tea on a cold and wet April Sunday. We were served by a charming lad who also kept the open fire stoked with logs. We were so comfortable and cosy. The tea had everything we could have wanted, and more. Lovely selection and the large tea pots were refilled. Very relaxing - could have stayed as long as we wanted. Highly recommended.

Great room with an updated bath. The staff and the food/drinks were great. We will stay here again when we are back in the area.

What a lovely hotel, the decor was sympathetically Scottish. We stayed 3 nights bed and breakfast, we also had two evening meals in the bar. We could not really fault anything about our stay. All the staff were helpful and cheerful. Passes my test, we will stay there again.

Beautiful spacious and comfortable room. Breakfast, and dinner in the Ghillies Bar, were excellent with a good choice of items, the service was friendly and efficient. A peaceful stay in this beautiful part of Scotland. Would definitely come back and stay here,

A lovely hotel run by a wonderful team. From the moment we arrived we felt extremely welcome at the Balmoral Arms, and this continued until the moment we left. The team are professional and incredibly friendly. We were upgraded to a fabulous suite and enjoyed very good food in this relaxing hotel. Ballater itself is a friendly village, the perfect escape from city life. We will return!

Arrived and met by lovely staff. Room was fine, nothing special but also nothing negative. Went to get a shower, no hot water! Left it running a while, still none. Went to report it - a lovely gentleman came and said it needed running for some time. 15 minutes in total before it became hot. Went and had evening meal and drinks - lovely food and staff. Went to bed at approx 2230 to hear constant banging/sanding/drilling. Looked out to see a man on the roof outside our window. This continued until 0015! Morning - let the shower run and took 15 mins again to become warm and went for breakfast. Amazing breakfast and lovely staff. Mentioned the noise on checking out and was told it was probably the cleaners!!! Just laughed to myself and left.

We booked 2 double rooms for 4 people before the pandemic and they handled the situation not even poorly but with no respect whatsoever. We manage to keep moving the reservation until we were allowed to travel again. When we confirmed the dates, they charged us again (we already paid and provided evidence of the duplicated charge). On top of that, we were supposed to travel with 2 persons with high risk of infection but unfortunately they could not travel at the end. And here we are, 4 double rooms paid for just 2 guests. After that, we contacted them to fix it and at the beginning they were attentive and willing to help. They recognise the error and committed to pay back, but it never happened. We kept contacting them but the replies were slowly disappearing until they were totally radio silent. After many attempts to reach them back, they answered impolitely and they completely change their position telling us now there was no error from their side. We were able to rise the complain to the deputy manager and we were told and promise to meet her on our arrival. When we arrived, she wasn't there, we were flexible to reschedule to the following day but of course she did not show up either. Apparently the meeting was arranged 3 hours before she started her shift. Unfortunate mistake by the manager who arranged it? You can make your own conclusion. Luckily for us, they reenforced she had in her agenda to call us the same day to discuss the issue. You can guess what happened, she had the courtesy of not calling at all. We fought for over a year, they perfectly knew our situation, they perfectly knew when we were coming and yet, they completely ignored us. They treated us like an immature and underage couple. We were respectful, extremely patient, open to solve this situation in other more convenient ways for them (room upgrade, a courtesy dinner...), but they just decided to not solve the problem at all. We were not even angry nor mad just sad. The worst feeling we ever had in a hotel! By the way, not allergy friendly at all if you are allergic to gluten/milk/eggs and it is a 5 start hotel....

Very responsive, helpful and kind staff. Really impressed with the loch muick room that we got. Lovely breakfast too. Short walk (less than 5 mins walk) to lovely cafes and restaurants, gift shops in the town.