Macdonald Forest Hills Hotel

My wife and I stayed for three nights here and it was excellent. The hotel itself is a bit dated but this could also be construed as its charm. The view from our room was stunning and the room itself was spacious and clean so no complaints there at all, the bed was really comfortable, in fact I got the best sleep I’ve ever had at a hotel, usually I don’t sleep right through but I did here. The restaurant is a bit pricey but the food was superb so I guess you get what you pay for. Breakfast was really good, a great choice of cereals and muesli with cold meats, fruit, croissants, various pastries, fruit juices, etc.The fully cooked breakfast was delicious but if we wanted the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs for instance there was a £7 supplement added. Reception take your card details at check in and add any supplements (for instance room service is £8) and charge you at check out. The shining star of this place (apart from the stunning scenery) is the spa though, we had pre booked and paid for a deep tissue massage (me) and hot stone massage (my wife) on our second day and it was sublime, Helena my masseuse was incredible, although not without it’s painful moments (deep tissue massages are supposed to be!) it really was quite spiritual she is amazing at her chosen craft. This was my first ever massage so afterwards I felt a bit queasy but I was thoroughly looked after and pampered by the incredibly attentive Brendan, he was a superstar! The use of the swimming pool, jacuzzi, steam room and sauna are included with the room and the facilities are modern and clean, not to mention professionally and politely served by all the amazing staff there. I would have given the hotel 4 stars because of niggly price issues but the spa bumped it right back up to 5! I would highly recommend this hotel, all the staff are excellent especially the wee wummin that serves the breakfasts (didn’t get her name) but she was a ray of sunshine in the morning. Well done everyone.

a month ago · via Google

We came to celebrate my husbands 60th birthday. The location is wonderful with gorgeous views. The grounds are beautifully maintained, they must work very hard. The ladies at the spa were excellent and we all enjoyed some treatments. There were 2 failings for us, rhe lodge we stayed in unfortunately smelt quite bad on arrival, items in the kitchen were dirty including the knife set being full of mould. This is hard for cleaners to find so I understand the blame probably lies with past guests. The chairs were stained and let’s not talk about the huge hole in the ceiling in the entrance. The biggest issue for us were the bathrooms, they looked great, very modern but the downstairs shower is blocked so floods in one minute, the master shower comes out as a trickle and sounds like it’s taking off and the other shower won’t have cool water so you burn yourself if you dare to try. This left us without showers which to be honest wasn’t great. Finally, the restaurant had great reviews so we were excited to eat there. Im sorry to say it didn’t live up to expectations, , the risotto was bland and our pork was over cooked . We felt that although the staff were so friendly, it just wasn’t up to à good standard. I never write bad reviews normally so I’ve tried to balance with the good as we still had a good time but someone really needs to look at some work in the lodges as they don’t stand up to the amazing site.

a month ago · via Google

Stunning location with lots of hikes around the property. The hotel is rather outdated. The rooms don’t seem very clean and don’t smell very nice. The grounds are stunning and they maintain them extremely well — kudos to the gardeners. The restaurant is decent, with great views, and everyone working at the restaurant was incredibly friendly and hospitable. They really have a great team. The spa was ok, we had great massages and highly recommend Michelle and Helena, though the facilities are also a little outdated. It would be nice for the tranquility room to get a bit of an upgrade, like comfortable lounge chairs, and some hot tea would be great, especially given the price of the treatments. Overall it was a good stay. You can tell this place was once really nice, but it now feels rundown. If they updated the rooms and got new (comfortable!) mattresses, we’d love to come back.

3 months ago · via Google

Three nights stay although raining for the majority of the time this was a relaxing and enjoyable stay. We used the spa facilities including jacuzzi, steam room, sauna and swimming pool, i had a hot stone massage by Caroline which was superb. Also had my eyebrows and eyelashes done by Caroline who was lovely throughout. both treatments were great but the hot stone massage was excellent. the room was cleaned daily to a good standard and was a good size. Breakfast was a cold buffet to help yourself while waiting on your cooked breakfast, You did not go hungry. Went once to the restaurant food was good husband would recommend the pork belly. My Cullen skink was amazing. The grounds were well kept and the views spectacular. Overall a great way to recharge the batteries. The one negative was the music playing in the main parts of the hotel, generic, possibly, annoying definitely (just a taste thing)

a month ago · via Google