Name: sandwick bay guest house
Address: 30 millar road, Stornoway, Stornoway, Stornoway, HS1 2RX, United Kingdom
Rating: 7

Smoke-free property

Heating

Garden

Adults Only

No elevators

Reception desk

General

Non-smoking rooms

Hairdryer

Rooms

Luggage storage

Services and amenities

Breakfast

Meals

Free Wi-Fi

Internet access

Internet

Russian

English

Languages Spoken

Parking

Fax and copy machine

Business

Pets Not Allowed

Pets

Location

At the guest house

Mol Bheag

Stornoway Lewis Ferry Terminal

The Good Food Boutique

Lewis Loom Centre

Hebridean Way End Point

Stornoway Airport

sandwick bay guest house

Stornoway

child-bed

child-bed-fee

external-private-bathroom

private-bathroom

shared-bathroom

10-beds

11-beds

12-beds

13-beds

14-beds

15-beds

16-beds

17-beds

18-beds

19-beds

2-beds

20-beds

21-beds

22-beds

23-beds

24-beds

25-beds

26-beds

27-beds

28-beds

29-beds

3-beds

30-beds

31-beds

32-beds

33-beds

34-beds

35-beds

36-beds

37-beds

38-beds

39-beds

4-beds

40-beds

5-beds

6-beds

7-beds

8-beds

9-beds

king-bed

queen-bed

limited-time

lounge

treatment

no-window

bay-view

bosphorus-view

canal-view

city-view

courtyard-view

garden-view

golf-view

harbour-view

inland-view

lake-view

land-view

mountain-view

ocean-front

ocean-view

oceanside

panoramic-view

park-view

partial-ocean-view

partial-sea-view

partial-view

pool-view

river-view

sea-front

sea-view

street-view

sunrise-view

sunset-view

water-view

with-view

annex

basement

main-building

1-bedroom

2-bedrooms

3-bedrooms

4-bedrooms

5-bedrooms

6-bedrooms

not-guaranteed

wired-internet-access

smoking

sauna

duplex

safe

mini-bar

breakfast-for-1

breakfast-for-2

pets-allowed

wi-fi

kitchen

Why was this B&B such a catastrophy? :
First of all we were greeted a bit sourly telling us that Monsieur had to go to bed early as he had to get up early for his guests. (but no problem just not the best welcoming)
First experience entering the rooms (ground floor) was the size of mine and the view (see video), a wall for myself and the neighbours for my Mum (just an anecdote, my 85 year old Mum was getting dressed and neighbour gentlemen just walked past and saw an 85 year old in a bra & knickers as NO CURTAINS and view onto next door's garden/house ... Poor man!)
The room doors were so hard tight with security hinges that my Mum bruised her foot when it "returned" on her (see photo)
No lights in corridors,
No heating in rooms (luckily the weather was extraordinarily amazing),
The shared bathroom which was fine as it was expected but no security mats in or out of shower, I had difficulties having a shower as VERY slippery so I insisted that my mum not even try as too scared for her security as she WOULD HAVE slipped and hurt herself seriously,
THE BEDS! Every single bed in the entire B&B squeaked so all night there was squeaky beds (including my own), kept me awake with the other's squeaking and my own every time I moved over in bed, NOT A HONEYMOON DESTINATION... Ever...
Bad sound insolation, heard everything in B&B & especially people above me walking.. And their squeaky beds (Luckily NOT honeymoon couple or if so, not interested!)
No place to hang or dry towels in the room,
No curtains so for someone who can't sleep with daylight, not very agreeable (what with the squeaky beds and noise from all and sundry, didn't sleep well at all for both my Mum & I)
 As you can see from the photos that the rooms were not clean AT ALL, I had a spider in mine who even he wanted to get away and got himself into my clothes and I found him with me on the Rabbies bus happy to be gone,
The windows hadn't been cleaned inside or out since the construction of Hadrian's Wall,
Lamp dating from 1970 and not only very ugly (but that's subjective.) but broken,
The chest of drawers, open a draw, and they all open (see video)
State of the carpet, floors & room overall very dirty & old,
AND their dogs were barking during the night (which I personally didn't hear but kept my mum awake), she politely told the owner and he said it must have been our fault turning on the lights in the hallway we put on when we needed the shared bathroom/WC during the night, Madame Owner was very sour faced with us (never did she say hello to us) after that, Mum (in copy) has recordings of said dogs if you're interested!
Last but not least, all shampoo, conditioner, soap were left overs, opened and half-used by other guests,
The breakfast was good and the softener/conditioner smell of the linen was nice, I'm not all that difficult!

Joke apart, I could go on but you see the point I'm making here, had I booked the B&B myself I would have walked out straight away, I DID try and find new accommodation for the two nights but unfortunately all booked or far too expensive for me; it was an embarressment to invite my mother to Scotland/Rabbies and have her spend 2 days in such a disgraceful accomodation and a disgrace that someone doesn't care about their guests and makes no effort to upgrade their B&B & facilities to please guests not to mention to respect sanitary/hotel/safety regulations and requirements,

A éviter

Not an enjoyable visit. Only stayed 45 minutes before deciding to leave. 
Room was very dated. Needs a complete makeover from the wooden floor to the ceiling. Bathroom (shared) dated back to the 70's. No pre warning of the "big£ dogs the owner delighted in telling us about, in a menacing way. All in all, would not go back and would never recommend to anyone else. I value my friends too much!

Not an enjoyable experience

For the solo cyclist this accommodation is close to the main Stornoway shopping area and about 20-25 mins walk from the Lewis Castle estate.  The accommodation is also not very far from the Stornoway ferry to Ullapool.
The room was comfortable, without having been recently refurbished as  other properties across the Outer Hebrides have been.  I didn't feel cold in the room and owing to a bout of my IBS - NOT caused by the guest house - I was awake and out of bed for a siginificant portion of the night.  The shower space and shower are good, but shared.  The toilet also.  The dog is intermittanly vocal, but kept apart from the guests, whom I am sure it gives notice of, but with whom I am sure it would prefer to be involved.  This being essentially a B&B, your dinner will be out.  Stornoway, though, has a number of what I believe are good eateries.  There are also a Co-Op and Tesco nearby.    

Good accommodation for the leg weary cyclist at the end of their Heb Way.

Dog and smoke smell on entering
Uncomfortable room with badly fitting window (wind blew through when closed)
View of grim backyard with dog kennel and waste ground beyond
Broken / missing downpipe outside meant rain water dripped and splashed noisily all night
Shower screen came off runners
Clean enough and pleasant owner but really NOT as described and seriously over-priced.

Would not recommend

We stayed two nights at Sandwick Bay B&B during our trip with Rabbie´s - Outer Hebrides & Skye Adventure Tour. We made the booking via Rabbie´s and the first impression got us confused. The owner Jim didn´t have us as guests on his list but after some checking he found the booking from Rabbie´s and we were given a Twin with shared bathroom in the hallway. The downside of shared bathroom was that there were many rooms that shared two bathrooms.
The twin room had great view but the room have a sence of hostel feeling over it. The windows couldn´t open and the door was superhard to open and the lock was hard to understand. The beds were a bit to hard but that is a matter of personal opinion. Back to the bathroom on the upper floor, it had a blue wall-to-wall carpet! In 2022 we do think this is so out of fashion and that bathroom really needs an upgrading TLC. We filled out a form regarding the breakfast and it was a typical Scottish breakfast. Sandwick Bay B&B is a 20 minutes walk to Stornoway ferry terminal. There is a local Tesco 10 in minutes walk from the B&B. Jim the owner was friendly and shared our passion regarding photography.

A feeling of a Hostel accommodation

No hosts to greet us at 7.30pm (“gone to bed”), doors open to all!! Room smelt damp and there was no secure space to store our cycles. More like a youth hostel, not a £115 per night hotel. Very overpriced. Host unfriendly at breakfast. Do not stay here!

Damp rooms, overpriced, unfriendly hosts.

We were extremely disappointed to find that there were 8 bedrooms ie up to 10 people sharing a bathroom and only two toilets between us. Appalling in this day and age. A man in a neighbouring room insisted on a long soak in the bath regardless of who might need the loo. This is more like a dated hostel. Avoid. We raised the high cost with the owner and his response was to suggest we moved eksewhere at 6pm.  This is close to the ferry and the owner exploits this to the fiul.

Rooms and bathroom did not appear to be refurbished

Great views and friendly owner. 

Good place to store bikes and packed breakfast as we were leaving early on the ferry. 

Let down by lack of en suite and having to share one toilet/ shower amongst four of us  - think we must have had the non refurbished rooms as they were pretty basic and we had trouble opening\ locking the one door (number 7).  In summary make sure you are staying in the refurbished en suite rooms.

Good location, friendly owner but basic rooms.

Not centrally located but is close to the ferry terminal. Tired accommodation , which definitely would benefit from a revamp. Too much money for what you get, I’ve stayed in Hiltons for the same cost. 
If you want basic then stay here, I would certainly not recommend this place to any friends or family.

Cost too high for what you get

Jim was an outstanding host and looked after me and my girlfriend during our stay. The room was clean and comfortable, breakfast was hearty and cooked perfectly and the hotel is a short walk into the heart of Stornoway.

sandwick bay guest house

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