If you are looking for luxury accommodation, you need to look elsewhere.
However, my family and our dog found ourselves unexpectedly needing a room in Oban one November evening. (As seasoned travellers know, kids and dogs aren't always welcome in Scotland.) After being turned down at one hotel and scared away by the £165/dbl rate at another, we rung The Palace.
The friendly man on the other end of the line said he could accommodate us and gave an amazing rate. When we arrived to look at the room, he handed us a couple of keys and directed us to look at the rooms at our leisure.
Having no pre-conceived notions about The Palace, we took the place for what we found: a tired Edwardian hotel that had all the earmarks of being run by a couple of good-hearted people doing their best to overcome years of neglect.
I speak from experience when I say that they are fighting what may very well be a losing battle -- the vast expense and time of renovating and maintaining one of these places (and there are hundreds of them within 100 miles of here) is enough to make you want to find a bridge to jump off. On our visit, there was clearly renovation work going on, which we took to be a healthy sign.
So what about the room? We chose one in the front with water view, which was perfectly serviceable, and made up for its faults (detailed -- with varying degrees of exaggeration -- in previous posts) with some truly thoughtful extras, such as bedwarmers and little toothbrushing kits (the latter desperately needed on this impromptu stay). Although not completely modernised, the room was very clean and beds comfortable. To our delight, we found that the beds were made with a top and a bottom sheet -- no roasting/freezing with only a duvet on top. (Are you listening, Sofitel?) We were able to walk to a first-rate dinner, enjoy all the benefits of being on the High Street, sleep well and wake up to a stunning view of the harbour.
As for other reviewers’ complaints . . . Parking: our host thoroughly briefed us on the situation. Missing elevator: visit Amsterdam sometime and you’ll never moan about stairs again. Scarcity of staff: learn to read between the lines -- when a Scottish hotel says it's "family-run," that means there won't always be staff around because often the staff is merely a couple, one of whom might be out fetching beer that never turned up on the delivery whilst the other is dangling from the roof trying to coax a bird's nest out of the gutter with a billiard cue. You mustn’t expect constant attention, which is why there’s a service bell.
This was a perfectly fine place to sleep in Oban. Romantic? No. Polished? No. Good value? For us, yes, but perhaps not for others who paid 3 times what we did. Friendly and honest? Yes. We have done much worse in Scotland, and paid more to grumpier people for the privilege.
