An unfriendly, unwelcoming Hotel, which was cold and in need if an update. The room was bijou and cold, shower -powerless. Scotland and no porridge on the menu! Two of the 5 mornings served mouldy toast. A polite complaint was shrugged off a "these things happen"! Evening meals were expensive, and v limited on the vegetarian front. (drove 22 miles 2 of our nighs to get a decent meal) Booked for 4 nights and would have left after one if we had not travelled 450miles for the Highland Games. Nowhere to dry out walking gear. No mobile phone signal. Saving grace? Locals were friendly but even they admitted only drank at Hotel so it did not close down.

My mate and I go walking once a year in Scotland and this year we did the Cateran Trail. The GlenIsla was the only place we booked for 2 nights out of the 7 we were away (circular trail), but wish we hadn't. We arrived on a Sunday, only to find out that the hotel had decided to close on Mondays!. I only wish the they'd told us that when we booked 1 month before. The actual hotel owner was there, but she didn't appear to be overly welcoming. The rooms required updating, the shower was poor, and the menu was limited. The food was expensive (once you'd ordered a basic steak, you needed to add on the sauces etc and it then became really expensive). The food however was very good and could not be faulted - only the price. The selection of real ale was poor. The local shop never opened all the time we were there, and the bus only runs on Wednesdays. Sounds quaint, and we appreciate 'quaint' but we got the impression we were an inconvenience rather than guests. The lady (not the owner) who served us our evening meal, our breakfast, and who prepared our packed lunch was lovely, but overworked and probably underpaid. Take a pack of cards and plenty of money.

My wife and myself have just completed a six night stay at The Glen Isla Hotel, five night's as part of their Cateran Trail package (£299 bed breakfast and packed lunches for each day for both of us and local taxi transfers to the day's start point and pick up at the end point of the section of trail being hiked). The room was very comfortable, plenty of hot water for showers, tea/coffee making facilities and complimentary short bread packets each day. No TV in room.
The owners and staff were all very friendly and welcoming. The bar meals (no restaurant) were excellent and usually one main course was sufficient to fill us, even after walking between 7 and 14 miles! The real ale available (Ossian) was well kept and tasted superb. Breakfast was filling, especially the full cooked breakfast which was accompanied by a choice of cereals, tinned fruit, fruit juice and toast. The packed lunches for The Cateran Trail package were sufficient for the shorter days (7-8 miles) but needed to be supplemented on the longer walks. The packed lunch consisted of choice of crisps, choice of sandwich, choice of fruit, hard boiled egg, kit-kat or aero bar and small pack of fruit juice.
We did find that the residence lounge (with TV) was on the chilly side in the evenings, even with the radiators on full. Similarly this was the case for the breakfast dinning room in the mornings.
The exterior of the hotel does require some maintenance, in particular the fading, rotting, holed name sign. However, do not let this put you off the welcoming interior of this delighful small quiet hotel.

Stayed here for a long fishing weekend in April, unfortunately the weather had other plans with snow all weekend!

This hotel is set in a wonderful location, only 1 1/2 hours from Edinburgh. We paid £45 each for B&B on single occupancy basis- which in my view was fantastic value. Yes the rooms are in need of some updating but the hotel provides a great place to stay.

The food in the bar has improved significantly with the home made pies absolutely wonderful. The bar area has a nice atmosphere with locals and tourists all mixing together.

I will be back- hopefully less snow and more fish!