Difficult to know where to start.
Ugly 60s tower block recently repainted to make it look like it's been refurbished, which it hasn't. Reception area freezing cold, as both automatic doors broken and left open all weekend. Reception area like a 3rd world bus station. not a place to relax, especially when you would need thermals to sit there for more than a few minutes.

The room? Frayed carpets, right through to the hessian, and an armchair with the stuffing coming out. Grubby, and desperately in need of major refurbishment. But they put some new tartan cushions on the bed, so that's OK, right? Bed comfortable enough but small. Chambermaid made a good enough effort every day, and the towels were all fresh and clean.

The shower is a trickle, even though we were far from the top floor, and bathroom, although clean enough, was tired. No mixer tap on sink, so you can have very cold or very hot, and broken tiles. No obvious ventilation in bathroom (or no noisy fan) and bathroom got very steamed up even with the trickly shower.

TV is ancient and CRT, with limited channels and no text.

It looks like it hasn't been redone since we stayed here under Stakis back in the 80s, but it's been burned down once since then, so they must have done something.

Breakfast was vile. Uncooked bacon, uncooked sausages, lying limp and white in the buffet, and cold fried eggs to accompany them. The mushrooms and beans were OK. On the second day, I gave the uncooked stuff a miss, and took cold meat from the continental buffet instead. Fresh fruit was overboard on citrus, but fresh, so fine if you like oranges and grapefruit, with a wee bit of melon. We get far better at a Premier Inn.

Staff? The (foreign) guy on reception was pleasant and efficient, and we couldn't fault our (foreign) breakfast waitress with the coffee pot. We overheard one (foreign) member of bar staff being downright rude to a customer, and if he'd worked for me, he'd be looking for a new job now.

Ah yes, the bar; where they charge you £3.50 for a shot of normal whisky, and £1.60 for the mixer, and where the prices changed every time you bought the same drink.... We found the drink prices throughout the 'Resort" extortionate, the only exception being the Cafe in the retail area, where adequate coffee was about the same price as Costa.

Apart from one evening meal, we ate elswhere, so not much staff contact. We were in a rush, and so chose starter and dessert. Feeling peckish, I decided to go for biscuits and cheese, rather than a sweet. For my £5.50 (£1 more than a sweet) I was presented with 2 cheap oatcakes, and three tiny slices of cheap cheese, one Brie, one Cheddar, one Stilton. And 2 grapes. No butter, not even a knife. I was speechless just long enough to grab the waitress, who grabbed a manager, who 'resolved' the situation by providing an additional 2 cheap oatcakes and 2 pats of pre-packed butter....

Was I impressed? No.

Eat elsewhere, and drink your own drinks in your own room. Nobody likes being ripped off, and the food and drink were both a rip off.

All in all, it's a standard enough ageing hotel , but it does not deserve 3 stars in the condition it's in today. The prices for food and drink are extortion, and the standards are generally poor.

This is a very large hotel in a very small village. We were told that it was suited more for the ski season. I found the staff at the hotel to be very friendly and efficient. Despite two busloads landing there at the same time they had our baggage in our rooms within half an hour. We only stayed there one night and I found my room to be clean and relatively spacious. There is not much to see in the town though. The restaurant staff were very efficient and the food tasted good although the menu was a little limited but that may have been only what was offered to tour groups. We had our own Bagpipe player and the traditional Haggis ceremony was performed at the end of the meal.

We would normally use the Macdonald brand as a prefered stay in the UK and we booked the Four Seasons months before the stay for a business conference and recieved confirmation of the booking. We even changed one of the party one week before the event so were irate to find that on arrival Macdonald had bumped the three of us into the 'Academy Hotel' on the complex, which is nothing better than a backpackers hostel, without feeling the need to tell us beforehand so that we could make alternative arrangements if we wished, before arrival......in fact I have stayed in better backpackers than this as a youngster, many years ago. After much digging in of heels and the intervention of the local duty manager, -- Gordon, -- I forget his surname but exonerate him completely, the jobsworth on the end of the phone at the reservations centre, [many miles away] put us in 'The Inn' which was just about acceptable and about the standard of a Travelodge. As it was only for two nights we put up with it but the standard of customer care was appalling and I could not recommend this hotel to anyone. They more or less have a monopoly on the market in 'downtown' Aviemore so don't feel the need to try, or care about the customer experience. The only positive from the experience was that the Four Seasons was looking even more tired and run down than it was last year and The Inn was £30 per head per night cheaper !!!!!

Visited this hotel on a business trip and had a look around the whole Macdonald Resort. I learned that this was the oldest hotel in the complex and it is starting to now show its age. When new it would have been and is still to an entent fairly impressive in the public areas. The following is a summary:

POSITIVES
Staff - without exception all were very friendly and professional
Food - decent breakfast and all main meals were of a good standard
Location - good overall location close to the main building and town centre

NEGATIVES
Bedroom - sparse and dated- in need of modernisation. Simple things like no headboard on the bed, TV sitting at a precarious angle , remote control barely working and general decor neding redone.
Bathroom - had to wait about 3 minutes for hot water in the morning. You have to be a controtionist to use the toilet!. Again needs modernised.

Would I stay here again ? I would stay in one of the other hotels min the Macdonald resort but until the bedrooms are upgraded not at the 4 seasosn.