We stayed at Thainstone House Hotel for one night while attending a wedding which was being held at the hotel.

A number of rooms were 'blocked' for wedding guests and we were told that they would all be in the same area. Not so. As the hotel is an old country house, we were spread all over the place.

First impressions were quite good as we drove through the grounds which are beautiful, but that didn’t last long. There are approx. 10 steps up to reception which makes the hotel unsuitable for people with walking difficulties. The red carpet was out for the wedding, but unfortunately it looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in weeks.

The bridal party were told that the rooms would be available from 12 noon despite check in being 2pm. However this was not the case as we arrived at 1pm and didn’t get into the room until 1.45. A pre-authorisation was taken of my credit card, but I wasn’t told that there was a £2 charge for using it and only found out next day when I saw a sign at the far end of the reception desk.

We were allocated Room 402 and the room was tiny and dark, approx. 12ft x 10ft but we thought it would be adequate for one night. The furniture was very old and the room was shabby. We didn’t have time to think about the room. The wedding was at 2.30pm and as my husband was usher, it was a mad rush to get ready as he needed to be there before the guests arrived.

The room had a double bed with a glass topped table and lamp at each side. You had to squeeze past the small desk on one side and the bathroom was opposite the other side. There were tea and coffee making facilities on the desk which didn’t leave much room if you wanted to work at the desk. There was a double wardrobe and a chest of drawers with a small TV above.

The bathroom was small with a 3 piece coloured suite and shower over the bath. The toilet was temperamental and wouldn’t always flush. The door was warped/swollen and didn’t close which turned out to be just as well as the handle came off when trying to open it. The shower was OK. No opaque glass in the window so you had to keep the blind closed as it overlooked what appeared to be a smoking area.

Sleep quality was poor. There was only one soft pillow each and the bed felt as if it dipped in the middle with very little support. I am a very heavy sleeper and can normally sleep anywhere. Not here. I woke and got up twice, giving up at 5.30am as I had found it so difficult to get to sleep in the first place. I spend at least 6 weeks a year sleeping in hotel rooms and only once before have I been unable to get a full night’s sleep.

Breakfast was good with a choice of cereals and hot items were served buffet style.

Some wedding guests said their rooms were nice. However I can only speak as I find. We would probably have asked for another room if we had had more time, but didn’t feel like it when we eventually got back to the room around midnight after the wedding. I believe all the rooms were the same price and ours wasn’t worth the £95 we paid on a weekend night.

The hotel does have a spa and indoor swimming pool which we didn’t use and it is close to the town of Inverurie which has a good shopping centre. I believe there is WIFI in the hotel which is £10 per day.

At checkout I asked the receptionist for a reduction in the rate as our room wasn’t a patch on another room we saw which was charged at the same rate. This was refused and I was told that the wedding party got a special rate. She didn’t seem to think that we were also part of the wedding party with my husband being an usher. We had also made the reservation 8 months in advance, as soon as the wedding was announced so it wasn’t a last minute booking.

I telephoned and asked to speak to the manager the following week and eventually managed to speak to him a couple of days later. He called me back after checking the room and agreed to a refund of£20. I still don’t think the room was worth that amount.

Would I stay there again? Not unless I was guaranteed to get a refurbished room. I also don’t think I should have had to jump through hoops to get the rate adjusted. I felt as if I was begging for something that the hotel should have offered without being asked.

The room was probably more awful than I have depicted it here and if we had received another room in the first place my review may have been very different. I would have much rather had a nice room in the first place than the grotty room we got at a reduced rate.