Oban Bay Hotel

Great location but parking and...

Liked: The location is great, and the room was comfortable.
Disliked: Parking - terrible. And staff - not great. Don’t book this hotel if you need parking. There are about 7 spaces available and over 370 rooms. When we arrived we were told “parking is full and so is the free car park, so you’ll have to just find somewhere on the road or use the pay and display up the street” - the receptionist didn’t even know how the pay and display worked (we arrived during the ‘free’ hours but would need to pay in the morning and had to figure this out ourselves). The service at both dinner and breakfast was pretty terrible. We were sat down and then ignored for half an hour (no menus, no drinks, nothing)… eventually we went up to the bar and found a menu ourselves and then needed to chase again for service. The waitress even came back to offer us menus after half an hour when we had finally ordered from someone else! The same thing then happened in the morning at breakfast… we were sat down and then promptly forgotten, so had to go and ask for someone to serve us after we had waited 20 minutes. One staff member was particularly helpful, but on the whole very poor service at dinner. And at breakfast the staff seemed over stretched.

Superb

Very quaint and a lovely...

Liked: Location and vibe

This hotel could really benefit...

Liked: The location of the hotel is good.The staff uniforms are nice but I expect uncomfortable for the staff to wear in hot weather as it's a tweed jacket/waistcoat.
Disliked: On arrival, it wasn't clear where to park. Had to park in difficult space to go ask staff, who advised us that parking at the hotel was £25 per night or we could park away from the hotel and directed us to a car park not owned by the hotel. The receptionist was not trained properly and seemed to enjoy delivering negative news rather than being helpful. She told us that breakfast was not included in our stay and for £325 (£162 pn), we would have expected breakfast to be included. She then asked if we wished to buy breakfast and started listing very restricted slots that we could buy to eat, so we declined. The bar is also very overpriced but the staff at the bar were very professional and pleasant. Also at night, sitting on the glass-front of hotel, the light reflection internally meant it was very difficult to see outside to the waterfront. Overall, the hotel felt like a Ryanair flight where the staff were constantly advised to upsell. The decor of the hotel is great, but the upselling made it feel greedy.

Superb

not worth it

Liked: Clean & comfortable, they had fans available for the rooms.
Disliked: Breakfast was too much food & too expensive, coffee is bitter. I just a simple breakfast not too many carbs and I need high protein. I had to elsewhere to get scrambled eggs and toast at a reasonable price or else pay for a full scotish breakfast. I wish they had a mini-fridge. The location was too far from town, a mile from the train station. The staff acted unfriendly. It was a long walk from reception to my room w lots of stairs.

Very good

Comfortable, elegant hotel on the...

Liked: Elegant, great location, comfortable and well appointed rooms, friendly and attentive staff.
Disliked: Very little parking on-site, so one is required to drive to a nearby site which is also small and can be a bit of a squeeze.

Family holiday

Liked: Rooms were satisfactory. Towels were changed every day.Room cleaned daily.Staff were extremely helpful and very friendly.
Disliked: Food and drink very expensive. 18 pound for a glass of chardonnay wine was a bit extreme.Car parking was a disaster,only space for six cars...