Mum slams Crieff Hydro Hotel in Perth for £50 winter wonderland 'rip off'

Danica Archibald has vowed never to return to the Crieff Hydro Hotel near Perth, Scotland, after her whole family was left disappointed by their Christmas event. The 23-year-old visited the venue with her mum, sister, and one-year-old daughter Florence on November 30 after booking onto the festive train experience. The event was described online as an interactive train ride through a glittering winter wonderland, complete with an interactive lighting and audio experience, fairy light tunnels, Christmas trees and music and customers could take home a keepsake bell.

But Danica, who'd made the two-hour round-trip from her home in Fife, Scotland, was shocked to discover the train journey's 'interactive' element was a two-minute video of winter animals projected onto a screen. The mum-of-one claims the venue's winter wonderland consisted of four stalls and an ice rink, while the garden light path featured a snowflake projector and some fairy lights. Danica, a stay-at-home mum, said the whole event lasted less than 45 minutes and said the family saw more lights and experienced more enjoyment on their car journey back home. The mum has described it as a 'money-making' event - and has vowed never to return to the venue.

Crieff Hydro Hotel said that overall feedback had been overwhelming positive but they were aware of a small number of visitors who felt disappointed by the train experience, and vowed to learn from that feedback.

Danica said: ”It was described as a sort of winter wonderland experience and we decided to go with the festive train. The pictures on the website looked amazing. The venue is very well-known in this area. It's known for amazing experiences. We expected a good experience so didn't mind paying this price. It said there would be reindeer on the property. We didn't expect to meet Santa as you had to book that separately but thought we might see a figure of Santa when you're on the train.

“We arrived a bit early and walked up to what they described as a winter wonderland to be met with four food stalls on a tennis court and an ice rink that you'd have to pay separately to use. All the food was more than £11. We had fresh donuts and they were raw - they weren't cooked at all. They were happy to replace them and they were even more raw the second time they made them. We just had to throw them in the bin.”

Disappointed by the venue's winter wonderland, the family had higher hopes for the interactive train ride, for which they had spent £50 on tickets. However they were to be sorely disappointed by that too.

Danica said: “We thought the train would make up for the bad experience at the stalls. It was described as an interactive experience, where you get to take a bell home with you and get a hot chocolate. We get on the train and you went into a tent where they played a video for two minutes and 30 seconds. It was a projection onto the wall. It was like a YouTube video - it was a slideshow of polar bears and reindeer. Then the train went out of the tent onto the light path. At this point we were really annoyed that we'd spent £50 to watch a video on a wall. The light path was just the general garden that was there all year round with just some fairy lights around it and a snowflake projector.

“There was no fake snow, reindeer, Santa or anything like that. We thought the interactive experience would be like animatronics at least. An interactive experience isn't a video projected onto a screen. We didn't expect to meet Santa, we just expected more than a projector screen on a wall.”

Danica described the Christmas event as a big let down, designed to rip off paying customers.

She said: My one-year-old was bored. We were told we could take home a memento Christmas bell and were told that it's the bell on the front of the train. We were beyond done. We got in the car and went home. We were only there for around 45 minutes - the train ride was six minutes.

“We were highly disappointed. You expect a lot more from the venue. It being described as a winter wonderland is a joke to me - there were four stalls. It's a rip off. We saw more lights and had more happy experiences on the drive home than we did when we were there.

The event has garnered similar complaints online, with 37 per cent of users giving the interactive train ride one star on Scottish booking site Itison. One user said: “I am unsure why this is sold as an experience as it's 12 minutes in total and cannot believe what the price is for what you get!” Another added: “Train ride was atrocious. It lasted no more than 10 minutes and the show that they advertise, is actually a short 2-3 minute video which is blurry.” A third said: “Very underwhelming and completely overpriced.”

A spokesperson for Crieff Hydro Hotel said: “Having welcomed more than a thousand guests to our Winter Wonderland since its launch, the overall feedback from our Santa's grotto, ice skating and festive train experience has been extremely positive. We are aware of a small number of visitors who felt disappointed by the train experience, and we aim to learn from that feedback for future events.”