The Culloden Estate and Spa

Now I will hold my hands up and say that maybe our expectations were high. But this is the revered 5 star Culloden hotel. So I feel that anyone spending the money to stay here has a right to high expectations. I've also stayed in a couple of the Hastings group hotels and got married in one, none of which were 5 star so I thought this would blow my mind. There was a mix of fab and not so fab. It can't be denied that the grounds and the hotel itself are both stunning. Opulent, elegant, tasteful. Everything is heavy and expensive. Even the throw on the bottom of the bed weighed a ton. Comfy bed, good shower, nice welcome treat for my friend for her birthday, beautiful wine glasses supplied in room and lovely toiletries for use. Robes and slippers for the spa were a bonus. Friendly staff throughout, polite and professional. Everything that we seen spoke to class and style. However..... On arrival when I mentioned I booked dinner in the Cultra Inn I was not informed that concierge could take us there nor told which path to follow so we set off in heels and went the wrong way. Only when we seen the Hastings van did we realise we could get a lift. The deputy manager was a lovely man, brought us down and back. I had also tried to call reception to ask for the dinner to be pushed back a half hour as you can't get through to Cultra Inn on the telephone. I called reception 5 times and waited for an age to be answered then when we arrived my name wasn't booked, even though I originally booked online and had the email as proof. On arrival I also requested a fridge. An hour later still no fridge, but when my friend arrived a lovely guy called Henry brought her to our room and went to hand carry a small fridge to our room for us. The pelmet on the windows was black with what looked like mould that someone had tried to clean off. And the duvet on the large bed didn't fit the whole width so at 2 am my friend called reception 3 times for another duvet and waited 40 min in total then had one delivered with a cover for her to put on herself. We lost sleep waiting on this. We went to the Lough bar on 2 occasions and despite lots of staff milling around (the first time there was only a handful of guests) we waited and waited to order. Even after requesting to order staff walked away and didn't come for nearly 10 min. The 'jazz' singer was monotone and a bit boring. Kept taking the mic away from his mouth and could have sang with more pizazz. I realise this is very fussy, I just love live music and he fell short. The jacuzzi / hot tub in the spa had something red in the bubbles that looked like blood so we got out and didn't go back in. Food was really good in Cultra Inn but again more waiting. A girl with short hair and tattoos greeted us and she was lovely. After our mains we waited 30 mins and had to request that plates be taken and to see dessert menu. We didn't take dessert in the end so asked for the bill. Cheapest bottle of wine was

We stayed here for almost 2 weeks and it was incredible. The hotel and its grounds are beautiful kept. The place is well staffed and gave excellent customer service. Gym, interior pool, spa are all great. Locals seem to come in the weekends. Real fire place and lots of little areas to sit with a laptop and do some work. Jacqui Gordon