Strathspey Hotel hosts respond to Ukrainian complaints about living conditions
Macdonald Aviemore Resort Ltd., which is hosting a large number of Ukrainian refugees in the Strathspey Hotel, has responded to 'hell of a list' of complaints made to the local community council this week.
"I am very concerned to have received this and would wish to respond to the points raised one by one," replied managing director Iain Miller, who has now met with those who had raised the issues with the local watchdog group.
Mr Miller explained: "The fire alarm in the building is a complete new installation and was installed not that long before the hotel reopened for the summer. Hotels often experience false alarms and in normal circumstances you might experience this occasionally during a given stay, in this case with long staying residents they will be aware of every such incidence.
"To add to this the system has an issue with some detectors in the lower ground floor triggering falsely, the detector heads were replaced but we were still receiving errors, this has been identified as a sensitivity issue and ADT (the supplier) are attending to rectify this as a matter of urgency. It is in no one’s interest for there to be false alarms."
On the question of the unserviceable lift – needed to get families up at least five floors of the building – he confirmed there has been a fault which meant it has not been in use for a week but the repair had now been carried out.
He said: "Additionally we are have ordered a new lift and this work will start on site next month with completion in the new year. No one is staying on the seventh floor, the highest floor we have guests on is three rooms on the fourth floor.
"We will offer a move to a lower floor."
The families had reported vermin – namely mice – and shown video evidence to the community councillors but Mr Miller reponded: "Categorically the building is not infested with mice, all our premises have a contract in place with a pest control company, in our case Rentokil.
"The contract consists of both proactive measures in place, regular inspections and reactive elements. As you know this is a rural location and it not that unusual to see mouse activity especially at this time of year as it gets colder. Rentokil are dealing with this."
Regarding claims of hopelessly slow wifi speed, which was frustrating the Ukrainian families' efforts to communicate with their homeland, Mr Miller said the company was unaware of any issues.
"We will look into it, the broadband connection we have to the site should be more than acceptable if all were online and streaming.
"With regards to the children, they are our guests and have access to everything that our other guests do, this includes the swimming pool, entertainment programmes that we have running through the holidays etc.
"A week today is the start of our Santa Breaks, the families are being invited to that and it includes three days entertainment and a pantomime."
Complaints about the food prompted this response from Mr Miller: "We endeavour to tailor our menus to the group and have learned over the course of their time with us what generally works and what does not, furthermore we employed two as part time cooks so that there would be dishes that would remind them of home.
"The food comes from the kitchen in the hotel and is temperature checked and we have records of this, as we do for all the kitchens. We do speak with our guests and have not heard of any particular issues with the food although over time menus may be becoming repetitive. We will of course review given the comments made."
On the question of leaking ceilings, there had been two notable instances, Mr Miller noted.
"One was where a guest had left their bedroom with the taps on full which had flooded down into the kitchen, restaurant and into the lobby. The other was during very heavy rain we had a leak into the restaurant and also into the reception area, this does not happen with normal rainfall levels.
"Both these areas have flat roofs and the drains were overwhelmed in exceptional weather resulting in water coming through into the hotel. Long term solutions are being worked on.
"We have a dedicated manager looking after the hotel. I called in to see him this morning and we had a conversation on how things were going. The only point of note that he raised was the lift being broken."
The issue was now with the management team, he confirmed.
Mr Miller had been surprised by the revelations since the guests had become friends in many cases.
"We employ about 45 in our business, many on a part time basis and we are grateful to have them staying and working with us. We talk regularly, more so with those working and have not been getting the same impression."
At the same time, he conceded that taken as a whole the list did not appear good.
"I also fully appreciate that false alarm and a broken lift add strain to an already difficult situation for them."
