This review is from 30th April 2023. I wanted to review about this place for quite some time but didn’t get enough time to write one. Finally I get time to give a detailed review of my experience with this place. To start off - It was our friends Wedding Day and there were around 30 close friends from different part of the country to come celebrate her biggest day of her life. My stay at MacDonald Pittodrie House Hotel left me quite underwhelmed, and I regret to say that it fell far short of my expectations. Despite its charming exterior and promising first impression, my experience revealed a number of disappointing aspects. To begin with, the service (Not the wedding) at the hotel was inconsistent and disappointing. Long waits at the bar to get drinks, card machine not working properly and above all the prices of the drinks were extortionate. Young staff members were friendly and accommodating, but there were instances where the level of professionalism and attentiveness was severely lacking. It seemed as though the staff was overwhelmed and not adequately trained to handle guest needs efficiently. The condition of the rooms was a major letdown. The furnishings and decor appeared outdated or I don’t know if it was deliberately given that kind of looks for the added atmosphere. It lacked the expected comfort and elegance for the price we paid. The bed mattress had seem some better days and overall the room left much to be desired for. To add to the experience the Groundskeeper started mowing the lawn at 8am when you had slept at 2 in the morning. The food provided in the Wedding was very good. The service was fantastic and the staff was very polite. The morning breakfast was also good and the staff who were working in the night were there in the Morning too! In conclusion, my stay at MacDonald Pittodrie House Hotel was far from satisfactory. The lack of consistent service, dated rooms, extortionate prices especially alcohol (£14.50 for a double Captain Morgan and £2.50 for a 250 ml coke zero) and inadequate amenities left a sour taste in my mouth. For the price paid, I had expected a much more comfortable and enjoyable stay. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend this hotel to others based on my disappointing experience.

We greatly enjoyed our time at Pittodrie House. The hotel is set in stunning grounds and the management is to be commended for the effort they put into maintaining around 2,400 acres. How many other hotels can compete with that? It was a joy to explore them. Overall the staff were professional and friendly. We were especially impressed by the young woman on reception on the first and last day of our stay who was extremely attentive and polite. Our room (a suite) was well-appointed and freshly decorated. We had views to Bennachie. It is just what you want a "fairlytale castle" as the Pittodrie house sells itself to have. The breakfast and dinner were very good quality. The food and drink is certainly on the expensive side (£27 for fish and chips...) but is understandable given the small dining capacity (we only saw one other table eating that night) and the chance to dine in opulent surroundings both inside and outside of the hotel. It would be a perfect place for a memorable meal or a place to take guests for a special event. We do harbour as small niggle about a charge for our child's breakfast. We notified the hotel ahead of time that we had a child but weren't told there would be an additional charge for her breakfast. We did ask the waitresses on both days if breakfast was included for her and we were told yes of course, but we saw on the bill one day's breakfast was added. It was only when looking over the bill later we realized the charge. I see from a review below this might be a recurring issue. If we had known we'd incur an additional £15 charge we'd have just shared a meal. The other niggle is that our two dogs cost £15 per dog, per night (£60 total). I suppose Pittodrie is not alone in setting fees in this range, but it feels a bit steep. We so much enjoyed our stay we were going to return for my wife's birthday later this year for a three nights stay, but an additional £90 on top is a bit prohibitive. For less than that I know other hotels give a perfunctory attempt to give something back for the fee (e.g. a few weeks ago a hotel in Perthshire included a dog bowl, ball, chew-sticks and waste-bags when we paid nothing like £60. Just a thought...) Very, very minor niggles aside, we thoroughly enjoyed our time at the hotel. It is obviously run well and deserves to have success. It's become one of our favourite in the MacDonald chain of hotels.