October 2023 by Fotis M
Very happy with the staff, maintenance and cleanliness, but the small size of the room and lack of amenities and comfort really put a dent to my overall experience.Rooms: A small single room in a well kept old building. Very cold initially, not great draft insulation on the window, but after finding and turning up the small electric radiator and also the towel rack heater it got better after 3 or so hours.Equally small TV, no point using it, my phone screen at close distance was much more comfortable.Sound insulation non existent, could easily hear people come in and out, cough, etc, to the point you think they're in the room.Food & drinks: Breakfast's decent, can't complain, very well done on the runny poached eggs! Obviously limited options.
September 2023 by Lobow20 (LoBow)
From an American perspective.The West End Guest House was tucked into a cozy location right off the main shopping and restaurant streets, was homey right away. The rooms are small and lack amenities like a fridge or microwave, same with stiff beds, but that seems to be the standard here. It took us a bit to figure out. A fun, Scottish style continental breakfast was provided and the staff was friendly and helpful. What an amazing introduction to Scotland! We accidentally forgot to book our final night there during a busy tourist time. Andrew helped us find another place immediately and even offered to take our luggage. If that isn't service, I don't know what is. The West End Guest House and all of Orkney was magical.Walkability: A hop, skip, and a jump from almost all the main shopping and restaurants in Kirkwall.
August 2023 by Julian Godfrey
No personal welcome on arrival. Room decor was tired but reasonably clean.Would have been ok at £70-80 but way overpriced at £139 which is what I paid.
July 2023 by jonathansB7912VS
Nice place: clean comfortable and with a very pleasant Magyar owner. Good breakfast (good strong tea bags and nice poached egg). My only quibble is the unopenable Georgian window in our room -- it is a lovely building.
June 2023 by Paul Cox
Great breakfast and great staff. Situated in the heart of Kirkwall and with good facilities for the independent traveller.
April 2023 by S9411HRlindaa
Disappointed that I had booked a double room and was given a room only suited to single occupancy. Small bed which I doubt two average people could get into, but apart from that the room was cramped, had no chairs and nowhere to sit down in the room or anywhere else on the premises. We are not disabled but sitting down is a fairly standard requirement. 12 inch tv instead of 30 inch as advertised. Generally dingy room, damaged paintwork and wallpaper. There is a dining room that is only open for breakfast, doors locked otherwise, so unable to sit down. Pics show outside garden benches which did not exist. There had been a bar and a restaurant under the previous owners, which are no longer in existence (the facilities, not the previous owners). The room was unacceptable and we couldn't bear the thought of having to spend a night there or sleep in that bed so we left and had the stress of finding other accommodation at 7pm on an Easter Friday. We did manage to get somewhere much nicer at the same price. I cancelled the booking via booking.com and was informed that I had booked a non-refundable option. In the circumstances, we did not get what we paid for and I believed I was legally entitled to a refund. The co-owner Andrew agreed to give me a refund but that took took 12 days of phoning and emailing. This experience spoiled our visit to Orkney.
October 2022 by Alison Sneddon
really good location, breakfast hadany options and rooms were decent size
October 2022 by Bina Craine
The West End Hotel (or Guest House) has got nice rooms with all amenities - except, unfortunately, a staffed reception. It takes a long time, too, to get someone on the 'emergency' phone; when we finally got through to them, they went out of their way to help us, but it would just be better to have someone there at least during daytime.
September 2022 by binapiraeus
The West End Hotel (or Guest House) offers nice rooms with very comfortable beds, en suite bathrooms and all the other necessaries - except, unfortunately, a staffed reception. You've got to collect your room key from a box and find your way around on your own, which I think isn't quite the right way to run a hotel. The owners, though, once we located them on the phone, were very helpful when my husband had a little health problem, so maybe it can be done this way as well; it would just be nicer to have someone around at least during daytime.
July 2022 by Clare H
Having come off the boat after a weeks sailing I needed a B&B to lay my head before flying out the following day. From the moment of booking this B&B has been so helpful. I requested if I could leave my bag early while I explored for the day, they allowed me to drop it off & even popped in my room when it was ready. The en suite room was clean, tidy & more than catered for my needs. Breakfast was a combination of help yourself & a cooked breakfast ordered the night before. I thoroughly recommend this place it?s a max 5 min walk to bus station & into town. Special mention to Andrew who was really helpful when it came to finding out the airport bus timings, holding my bag & dropping it in my room & generally helpful. Will definately stay again if passing through in the future.
June 2022 by Reginald Sandrey
My room in this very old building had an awkward but quaint slope running towards the door with all furniture at an angle ?.The lady at breakfast was polite, attentive and effective. The owner / manager who was around often during the day was most polite and helpful and had a wealth of local knowledge.The location was great for a wander around the centre and the private car park was a great touch.Excellent value and breakfast.
June 2022 by soldham
Be careful when booking here based upon the reviews. This establishment has downgraded its offering from a full service hotel to a guest house offering B&B only. The guest house is largely unstaffed. Check in is a key box on the wall, check out is a letter box to drop off your keys in. There's no dining room offering evening meals, and no bar. My room was simple but adequate. There are tea and coffee facilities, and you can help yourself to top ups from a central store. Breakfast comprises a limited hot menu, which is cooked to order, alongside a coffee machine, juices, cereals and toast. Service from the front of house breakfast team was good. Location wise, it's a 10 minute easy stroll down the main shopping street to the harbour. Price wise, £95 per night is high for what's on offer. Is it comparable with other similar establishments in Kirkwall? I don't know. But whilst the West End is fine, I've paid less for better places many times.
May 2022 by Robert Cant
Ideal for town & Cathedral lovely breakfast warm rooms lovely big TV on wall plenty of sachets of coffee & milk etc various coffee in machine in morning plenty of fruit cereals jams etc will return
October 2021 by Chammond2209
A basic hotel with a poor first impression. The balcony at the front is in severe disrepair and the reception is shabby. The room was spacious. The staff are terrific, giving it everything they have to make out stay a good one. Breakfast was delicious and plentiful.
October 2021 by tarquinm2021
The PA booked this accommodation for our trip to Kirkwall. A lovely b&b close to the town with easy access to the airport; perfect. The same can?t be said for what happened that day. I?d been booked to arrive from Glasgow while for some reason the PA had decided to book from Edinburgh; initially no big deal as it just meant my bags would be going with the PA through Edinburgh. I?d been assured by the PA before I left for my flight that everything would be fine, however it soon went to pot; the PA ended up getting stranded in Edinburgh as his flight got cancelled. I started to panic as what am I supposed to do now when the PA has all my stuff, after a rather stressful call to the PA it was decided I would have to venture to the hotel by myself and check in; this is something the PA normally handles. I was shown to my room, which was nice enough but I had no idea what I was supposed to do without my PA and my bags. I positioned the red chair up against the door so I would be safe, as I couldn?t find a lock and then tried to get some sleep. Didn?t know how I was supposed to know when to wake up in the morning as normally the PA does it. My sleep did get disturbed as on several occasions in the night the tv turned on by its self which somewhat made me jump initially, but once I realised it was the soothing voice of Nigel Farage and GB News I was soon off again. Furthermore the hotel isn?t manned after 23.30, which only added to feeling of being unsafe.
