Quote: White Heather Hotel
The Harbour
Kyleakin
Isle of Skye
IV41 8PL
Tel: +44 (0)1599 534 577
email:info@whiteheatherhotel.co.uk

We recently had a trip which involved a week in the Lake district then a further week in Scotland staying in Glasgow, Skye and Edinburgh. We chose this small hotel to stay in while in Skye as it looked very welcoming on the website and seemed quite reasonably priced.

ARRIVAL
We managed to find the hotel which was only five minutes from the bridge and right on Kyleakin harbour front. There were a few parking spaces for hotel residents but there were not many so not sure how the place copes when it is full.

We found the front door and went into the hall and then rang a bell. Gillian the owner came to meet us and check us in. She was very welcoming and told us so much on our first meeting that I couldn’t take everything in but most was pretty self explanatory.

OUR ROOM
We were escorted up to our room and on the way we were shown the guest kitchen which was down some stairs, the computer room with internet access and Gillian told us the code for getting on. Then down the corridor to the end as our room was right at the end of the corridor near the fire door.

The room was pretty small with just enough room to get around the double bed. It was so hot in there that we had to open the window and turn the heater down or off for some time.

Apart from the size the next thing we noticed about the room was the lovely view of the harbour from the large picture window. This we had to access by taking turns to walk past the end of the bed.

The room had the bed and a large chest of drawers plus two bedside tables and a small hanging wardrobe for a couple of coats and not much more. We unpacked our stuff as there was no where to put any bags or cases with anything in them so after unpacking the bags we flattened them and popped them behind the chair in the corner.

As you might be able to tell from my description the room was pretty full as well as being quite small and the ensuite was even cosier.

The ensuite had a toilet, basin and shower cubicle and was entirely lined with pine a bit like a sauna or sixties room. It was clean but pretty basic. The shower worked well but anyone large would have had trouble getting in there.

The room and ensuite were both okay and acceptable but very dated as if we had travelled back at least twenty years and it was not a room you would want to spend a long time in as it was pretty small and very hot despite the weather outside being cold.

There was a small TV in the room CRT style with limited channels but we didn’t plan on spending much time in the room so we were not that bothered.

There was free wifi in the room which I thought was great for such a small hotel and unusual for the UK although all three of the places we stayed in Scotland gave us free wifi.

PUBLIC ROOMS DOWNSTAIRS
There were two sitting rooms with a number of sofas and chairs in the same rather dated style of decor. The owners had put lots of guide books, other books and games in these rooms and there was a TV too. If you were staying with friends in the hotel it would be nice to have these rooms to sit and chat in.

BREAKFAST
We had breakfast in our room rate. Each night we had a breakasft menu left in our room which we ticked off what we wanted in the way of cooked food. As i don’t eat a cooked breakfast I didn’t order anything from this menu and just helped myself to the buffet stuff of fruit juice, fruit, yogurt, and cereals and shared my husband’s toast which was brought fresh to our table.

My husband really enjoyed his freshly cooked breakfast on both mornings and it did look like a decent home cooked meal with good sized portions. I thought the idea of the menu was great as I am sure a lot of people don’t eat a cooked breakfast and this way there was little wasted food and it was freshly prepared for each person with what they wanted on the plate.

ROOMS AVAILABLE
There are five double rooms, three twin rooms and one family room which sleeps four . The family room and two of the twin rooms can take a travel cot and one twin room can take an extra single bed.

COSTS OF STAYING

The hotel is open from March 1st through to 25th October so it is close during January, February, November and December.

The hotel quotes their rates per adult (aged 12 and over) per night which caught us as we read it as per room per night so it ended up being quite a lot more than we originally thought for our stay. Children under two are free.

Adults sharing a double/twin room for 1 night or two £38 pppn and 3 nights is reduced to £36pppn
Children 3 -11 cost £19 for ½ nights and £18 for 3 or more nights
3rd or 4th adult sharing in the twin or family room is the same price as a child.
A single adult if a twin/double room is £52 or £50 pppn depending on length of stay.
Two adults in the family room cost £47 or £45 pppn depending on length of stay as above.

This worked out at £72 per night for us which in fact was not that cheap compared to the other hotels we stayed in and the facilities offered there in comparison. In my opinion this really more like a B&B in standard and the price we paid was actually quite a lot for the room facilities but it was clean and my husband enjoyed his breakfasts so I guess all was okay.

RECOMMENDED
If it hadn’t been for the fact that the owner was so lovely and welcomed us like friends and the free wifi and good breakfasts then I would have felt rather ripped off but taking all that into consideration then I felt it was okay. I certainly wouldn’t describe it as great value as things were very dated and the room we had was very small although the bed was comfortable we found it far too hot to be really comfortable and the ensuite looked like a Swedish sauna and was about the same size!

I wouldn’t rush back here if we went back to Skye unless everything else was a lot more expensive. The owner was lovely and so friendly and helpful, a real joy and that made up for the lack of luxury!
oliday