Morar Hotel near Mallaig

[silverbutcher]

We had booked this hotel after seeing a special offer in the Sunday Herald.

?200 for 2 people for 2 nights dinner bed & breakfast

Normal tariff is ?55 pppn  bed & breakfast only

The hotel is situated in the heart of the village of Morar just by the level crossing. The front of the hotel looks towards the mountains inland, and the rear faces the beautiful estuary and silver sands of the river Morar.

The rooms are split between three upper floors and there is no lift that I could see. Our room was on the third floor and faced the estuary. The bedroom was spotlessly clean and quite tastefully decorated. It had a television, heater and tea and coffee making facilities. It also had a Visit Scotland welcome pack. This contained information for attractions all over Scotland, but alas nothing for the locale we were in. There was also a hotel pack with the do?s and don?ts and fire escape procedures etc. But it did contain an order form for picking and choosing a packed lunch for the next day. This we took advantage of even though it was a wee bit dear. It would save us mucking around the next morning looking for something.

The bathroom could have done with a spruce up in the d?cor, and the bath was a wee bit mouldy where some of the silicon sealant had come off, but it was big and had plenty of clean towels. 4 hand and two bath towels.

The Restaurant was a let down. Very poor service and cold food. On the Monday morning our full Scottish was cold when we eventually got it. We would have sent it back but wanted to get on our way, so ate it cold.
When we got back in the evening for dinner, we were ravenous, so we decided to give the starters a miss and go straight for the mains and we would have dessert after. We ordered at 7.30 and we still hadn?t a bite by 8.30. By this time we had drank most of the nice bottle of Rioja we had ordered to go with our meal. As we finished our meal around 9pm we decided we just could not face a wait for dessert and retired to the bar.

The bar is well run by a Hungarian fellow who can pour a nice pint of Guinness. It has a wee selection of malts. The prices are quite steep, over ?7 for a pint of Guinness and a Bacardi and coke.

The reception was quite helpful when approached and although they knew nothing of the fishing thereabouts, they did put me in contact with a local fellow who did.

The STB rate this hotel as 2 star and I would agree with that rating. It is in a fabulous location, and if they could sort their restaurant out, it would be a place I would highly recommend.
Would I go back? Yes if I got the same deal. If not I would go for one of the self catering cottages in and around the village. And I wouldn?t mind trying out the Thai food takeaway sold from one of the houses in the village.

Hope this report helps someone
Billy

[Wildfisher]

 :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: 55 quid for B+B  :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

A nice place looking at the photos, but a bit out of my price range I fear

Must be aiming to attract   southern clientele like Swithun rather than torn-arse Scottish, Argos tent dwelling  trout fishers like most of us I think   :biglaugh;

With prices like  that and petrol heading for 1.50 / litre Scottish tourism is going to have to  do a bit of serious self examination I think

[superscot]

Billy many thanks for the information ...as Fred says is a bit steep for b&b at ?55 but if it gathers a huge amount of brownie points may be well worth it ...The fuel situation may just scuppers weekends away unless our so called government drastically reduce the price of fuel .....which i canny see happening ...went last night and hitting ?1.30 for diesel in Falkirk......?67 to fill from a quarter tank ...so must be around the ?75 or so for a full fill........outrageous !   

[silverbutcher]

Quite agree Fred. If dinner hadn't been thrown in I wouldn't have looked at it. The hotel would be nothing without it's location. i've stayed at better travelodges. This trip also cost me around ?60 i petrol.

Oh and I forgot to tell you about the piped traditional music piped into the bar. Horrific :shock:

All the best

Billy

[Wildfisher]

And the really serious point is I'll bet they are not making a huge amount of money considering what they have to put up with. I would not do it. Scottish tourism in the highlands is going to be in deep shit if it is not already. Prices can only rise and put quite simply they can?t compete. For an average earner like myself going to such a place is completely out of the question and most folk in the  UK are average earners, most in Scotland are below the UK  average. Two nights for myself and my wife would cost 220 quid  + at least 50 quid for petrol and we still have not done anything or factored in packed lunches and evening meals. That?s a lot for a great view.

[silverbutcher]

Yer right Fred, thats why I took it with the price being right. Ye,ll jist have to keep watching the papers 
I'm afraid my storemans wages don't allow me to do this very often. Even at the cheaper deal with dinner thrown in, this was a well deserved treat for my wife.

And what a view eh :lol:

All the best

Billy

[Wildfisher]

Billy 50 quid with dinner is not bad. A bit more realistic.

[silverbutcher]

Aye it's still going Col. Had a read at the menu when we were out for a stroll on Sunday night

All the best

Billy

[murgord]

hi billy
I tried the thai takeaway/b+b 3 years ago when self catering up there and it was simply awful!
murray

[fishindaft]

I stayed in the morar last spring and also thought it was very poor. but also the hotel manager told us we had to back in the hotel by eleven pm or we would be locked out!