I previously reviewed this hotel in March 2011 ("Undersized room") but took my own advice and decided to try them again. As my husband is partially disabled I decided to speak to them during the booking process to ensure that we had a suitable room (not too small, not with any stairs, preferably ground floor close to reception and restaurant) and it was agreed on the day of booking (14th Nov 2011) that we would be allocated Room 2 on the ground floor. We arrived at 5pm yesterday evening (19th Dec 2011) to check in and I was surprised to be told that we were in the annexe in Room 30. I queried this but was told that it had been expressly written on my booking that we were to have this room. I tried to argue the point but my husband said he didn't want a fuss made so we went along with it. The young lady who checked us in then took us out of the hotel, through the car park and into the annexe. I was then further surprised to find that Room 30 had steps down into it, so I again pointed out that I had booked Room 2 specifically as it was step free and close to all the amenities. Again, my husband did not want a fuss made so we accepted out lot. We were handed a bunch of keys that we were told would gain us access to the main part of the hotel.

We dined in Loch Fyne restaurant and had a lovely meal and then retired to our room. At 02:20 we were rudely awoken by the fire alarm going off in our room. Water was pouring through the ceiling, mainly spraying through the alarm itself. At the time we did not know if this was a fire with the sprinkler system going off or something else. My husband is not good on his feet in the middle of the night, so on checking outside our room that it appeared there was no fire, I left him there and put a coat over my nightdress and headed for the hotel. The keys we had been given did not open the door. I banged on it to raise the alarm but got no response. I then proceeded to bang on the restaurant doors with no response so headed out of the car park and round the road to the front of the hotel and banged the door knocker, rang the bell, repeated this twice more before someone came to our aid. A very bleary eyed porter let me in and I explained that our alarm was going off in the annexe and that water was pouring everywhere. It had taken me almost 15 minutes to get anyone to help us.

He accompanied me back and told me on route that the back door lock to which we had been given a key had been broken the previous day and not fixed. On seeing the mess and damage and ongoing alarm ringing in our room he did not really know what to do so went for keys to Room 31 next door to us. When he returned with these he found Room 31 was also flooding. So, off he went for more keys and then led us up the fire escape with our bags to the top of the hotel and into Room 15. Not easy for someone with MS and Parkinsons to negotiate!! however, it was by now 3am and we were very shaken by the whole incident and desperate to get into the warm and possibly get some sleep. The porter was apologetic.

My husband and I both found it very difficult to get any sleep at all after that. We could hear people going into rooms around us, not sure if they were affected by the debacle or just late arrivals! Room 15 was ok, however the sink had a major cracks in the bowl and the grout in the shower could do with cleaning and a climb in bath type shower is not suitable for someone disabled.

We made our way down to breakfast at 8:15, which I have to say was disappointing. It probably didn't help that we were both still suffering from the shock of the evenings events, but the cooked breakfast really was not up to the standard we had experienced on our previous visit.

On check out the lady on reception was very apologetic and said we would not be charged for the nights stay. The flood was the result of the toilet in the next door room flooding. She also said that we had originally been booked into Room 2 but it had been changed yesterday with a note saying we must be put in the annexe and she implied that I had requested so. I pointed out that I had not!

I did say that I appreciate that the unexpected can happen so the flood was an exceptional circumstance, but that we were more concerned that:

a) We could not gain access to the hotel as the lock was broken
b) The night porter was unaware that an alarm was going off in the annexe as I had to wake him up
c) The fire brigade did not come
d) Had we been given the room we had initially booked and my husbands disability needs recognised we would not have got caught up in this!

It's not about not being charged for the nights stay but more about one of Health & Safety.

All we wanted was a decent nights sleep in a hotel that we had been intending to use on a regular basis when we visit my husbands disabled parents who live close by.

I am not sure we will be staying here ever again!!