The combination of lovely 1600 acre Culcreuch Estate, ancient Culcreuch Castle, Hotel with modern Conference Centre, with the convenience of three different types of accommodation, make Culcreuch well suited to Business Events of all kinds.
We can do no better than let you read the review below, published openly by a recent Business Event organiser
Our entire Business Team is committed to maintaining this standard:
“Great location for work and relaxation”
I arranged a 3 day meeting at Culcreuch in May 2008, together with about 25 business colleagues from 7 countries.
We filled the whole castle and self-catering lodges, and were provided with the function suite and some other rooms for our large-group and small-group meetings.
Everyone agreed that the location was perfect: you have a feeling of being way up in the highlands, but are in fact only about an hour from the airports at Glasgow and Edinburgh (important for international guests on tight schedules). The countryside in the area of the castle, and the castle grounds, are very beautiful.
We had arranged a full package with all meals, coffee breaks and drinks included in the price for 3 days. The food was excellent: tasted good, was well-presented - and there was absolutely no chance that anyone would go hungry!
Those of our group who got to stay in the castle itself enjoyed that very much. The rooms are NOT the standardised "perfect" rooms you find in international hotel chains. They each have their individual character, and indeed *feel* like they are rooms in an old castle. In the many, many times I have stayed at a hotel for a business conference, it is the first time that the meeting participants arranged a tour of each others rooms to compare and contrast, because the rooms were so interesting! It's true what some others have said in reviews that some aspects of some rooms are a bit "worn". But what do you expect in an old castle? And our experience was that people had all the facilities they needed in the rooms, the beds were comfortable, and everything worked.
The people who stayed in the self-catering lodges were also pleased. The lodges were comfortable and had nice views towards the hills. Part of our package with the meeting group was that people got single occupancy in the lodges, with their own room and bathroom (instead of filling the lodges to full capacity, like might be more appropriate for families). So it was really just like having a hotel room, and everyone was happy.
Meeting room facilities also functioned the way we wanted.
On our last evening we had a "gala" dinner, complete with bagpipes, haggis and the reading of Burns poems etc. All done very nicely, and enjoyed by all.
The only slight problem we had was that wireless internet was not available all places in the castle, and some of our group found that a slight restriction at times. The manager told us that plans exist to address that for the future.
All in all our group had a thoroughly excellent time, and were well pleased. I would certainly recommend the castle as a meeting venue for anyone looking for something a bit different, relaxing and inspiring! We also felt that value for money was good.
The best part of my review has to be kept for the end, and it is the staff at Culcreuch. I was very impressed at the way in which all of the staff managed to combine professional efficiency with informal friendliness. In many hotels you find neither, in some you find one or the other - but it is rare to find both. But the staff at Culcreuch managed this balance perfectly, and we really felt well looked after and relaxed the whole time.
Call us to discuss your needs and we will do our utmost to create and deliver a package to make you equally satisfied.