The Ayre Hotel

3.0 star property

Photo gallery for The Ayre Hotel

Exterior
Front of property
Game room
Soundproofing, free WiFi, bed sheets, wheelchair access
Bar (on property)

Reviews

8.6 out of 10
Excellent

Popular amenities

  • Parking available
  • Bar
  • Room service
  • Pet-friendly

Explore the area

Map
Ayre Road, Kirkwall, Scotland, KW15 1QX
  • St. Magnus Cathedral
    ‪6 min walk‬
  • Orkney Museum
    ‪6 min walk‬
  • Earl's Palace
    ‪9 min walk‬
  • Kirkwall (KOI)
    ‪6 min drive‬

Room options

Apartment, 2 Bedrooms

  • Sleeps 4
  • 1 Double Bed and 2 Twin Beds

Standard Double Room, 1 Double Bed

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

Panoramic Double Room, 1 Double Bed, Sea View

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

Panoramic Double or Twin Room, Sea View

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

Budget Double Room

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

One Bedroom Apartment

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

Standard Double or Twin Room

  • Sleeps 2
  • 1 Double Bed

Family Room

  • Sleeps 4
  • 1 Double Bed and 1 Twin Bed

Similar properties

About the area

Kirkwall

With a stay at The Ayre Hotel in Kirkwall, you'll be a 1-minute walk from Orkney Wireless Museum and 6 minutes by foot from St. Magnus Cathedral. .This hotel is 0.3 mi (0.5 km) from Orkney Museum and 0.5 mi (0.7 km) from Bishop's Palace.

What's nearby

  • St. Magnus Cathedral - 6 min walk - 0.5 km
  • Orkney Museum - 6 min walk - 0.6 km
  • Earl's Palace - 9 min walk - 0.8 km
  • Bishop's Palace - 9 min walk - 0.8 km
  • Highland Park Distillery - 2 min drive - 2.5 km

Getting around

  • Kirkwall (KOI) - 6 min drive

Restaurants

  • ‪The Storehouse - ‬5 min walk
  • ‪Trenabies - ‬4 min walk
  • ‪Sunbean Coffee House - ‬8 min walk
  • ‪Skipper's Bar - ‬3 min walk
  • ‪Empire Chinese Restaurant - ‬8 min walk

About this property

The Ayre Hotel

Hotel in Kirkwall with a restaurant and a bar
The Ayre Hotel offers 51 accommodations with coffee/tea makers. This Kirkwall hotel provides complimentary wireless Internet access. Bathrooms include bathtubs or showers. Housekeeping is provided daily.
Make yourself at home in one of the 51 guestrooms. Complimentary wireless internet access is available to keep you connected. Bathrooms with bathtubs or showers are provided. Conveniences include phones and coffee/tea makers, and housekeeping is provided daily.
Make use of convenient amenities, which include complimentary wireless internet access and a television in a common area.
Enjoy a meal at the restaurant, or stay in and take advantage of the hotel's room service. Wrap up your day with a drink at the bar/lounge. Buffet breakfasts are available daily from 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM for a fee.
Featured amenities include luggage storage, laundry facilities, and an elevator. Free self parking is available onsite.
Buffet breakfasts are available for a surcharge and are served each morning between 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM.
The Ayre Hotel has a restaurant on site.
Room service is available.

Languages

English

Property amenities

Internet

  • Available in all rooms: Free WiFi
  • Available in some public areas: Free WiFi

Parking and transport

  • Free self parking on site

Food and drink

  • Daily buffet breakfast available 6:30 AM to 9:30 AM for a fee: GBP 15 for adults and GBP 15 for children
  • A bar/lounge
  • A restaurant
  • Coffee and tea in common areas

Things to do

  • TV in common areas

Family friendly

  • Laundry facilities
  • Soundproofed rooms

Conveniences

  • Laundry facilities
  • Limited-hour front desk
  • Luggage storage

Guest services

  • Housekeeping (daily)

Accessibility

  • If you have requests for specific accessibility needs, please contact the property using the information on the reservation confirmation received after booking.
  • Lift
  • Wheelchair accessibility
  • Wheelchair accessible (may have limitations)

Room amenities

Bedroom

  • Bedsheets provided

Bathroom

  • Bathtub or shower
  • Private bathroom
  • Towels provided

Entertainment

  • TV

Food and drink

  • Coffee/tea maker
  • Electric kettle
  • Room service

More

  • Heating
  • Phone
  • Soundproofed rooms

Policies

Check-in

Check-in start time: 2:00 PM; Check-in end time: midnight
Contactless check-in available
Minimum check-in age: 18

Check-out

Check-out before 10:00 AM
Contactless check-out available

Special check-in instructions

The front desk is open daily from 7:00 AM - 10:00 PM
Front desk staffed during limited hours
This property doesn't offer after-hours check-in

Access methods

Front desk (limited hours)

Pets

Pets allowed for an extra charge of GBP 25.00 per pet, per stay
Service animals are welcome, and are exempt from fees
Welcoming dogs only

Children and extra beds

Children are welcome

Payment types

Important information

Optional extras

  • Fee for buffet breakfast: approximately GBP 15 for adults and GBP 15 for children
  • Pet fee: GBP 25.00 per pet, per stay
  • Service animals are exempt from fees

The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.

You need to know

Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy
Government-issued photo identification and a credit card, debit card, or cash deposit may be required at check-in for incidental charges
Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in and may incur additional charges; special requests cannot be guaranteed
This property accepts credit cards; cash is not accepted
Cashless transactions are available

We should mention

Only registered guests are allowed in the guestrooms

National rating

This establishment has received its official star rating from VisitScotland, the National Tourist Board for Scotland.

Property is also known as

Ayre Hotel Kirkwall
Ayre Kirkwall
Ayre Hotel
The Ayre Hotel Hotel
The Ayre Hotel Kirkwall
The Ayre Hotel Hotel Kirkwall

The Ayre Hotel Reviews

Reviews

8.6

Excellent

Rating 10 - Excellent. 84 out of 165 reviews
Rating 8 - Good. 55 out of 165 reviews
Rating 6 - Okay. 17 out of 165 reviews
Rating 4 - Poor. 7 out of 165 reviews
Rating 2 - Terrible. 2 out of 165 reviews

9.2/10

Cleanliness

9.0/10

Staff & service

8.0/10

Amenities

8.6/10

Property conditions & facilities

8.6/10

Eco-friendliness

Reviews

10/10 Excellent

Isabella

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

A perfect gateway to explore Orkneys

It was an amazing experience! Room super clean, staff delightful and super kind, excellent food, innovatove cocktails... Simply splendid I would highly recommend it!
Stayed 3 nights in Apr 2025

8/10 Good

Laura, Renfrew

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Good: Location Quiet location Bed Bar man on Saturday night was friend Aporeciated the bath Bad: Not enough milks Was not offered to add on breakfast and i really wanted a breakfast as i was playing in a tournament. On the wall outside hotel it only mentioned lunch and dinner. Because the receptionist didnt mention it i assumed they just didnt do breakfasts. When checking out i could smell breakfast items so this was disappointing as id have preferred that to porridge in my room
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2025

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great experience

One-night stay before heading to northern isles. Great experience. Staff were friendly. Ample parking. Room was comfortable and clean. Breakfast was nice. Returned for dinner on way south.
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2025

10/10 Excellent

John

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent, friendly staff. Comfortable, relaxing hotel with good restaurant and bar all at reasonable prices. Front of building facing the harbour could do with a coat of paint but that doesn’t take anything away from the comfortable interior. Would happily stay again.
Stayed 4 nights in Apr 2025

10/10 Excellent

Brian

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Perfect stay

Great welcome, lovely clean room overlooking the harbour, beautiful food at dinner and breakfast and helpful and friendly staff
Stayed 1 night in Apr 2025

10/10 Excellent

Richard

Travelled with family
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
Excellent Hotel well positioned in Kirkwall.
Stayed 2 nights in Apr 2025

10/10 Excellent

Richard

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2025

8/10 Good

James

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Short Visit!

The Hotel was in a perfect position for touring the Island and we enjoyed our short visit. It was clean and breakfast on both mornings was very good. We ate in the restaurant on 1 night and the food was very nice….especially the Seafood Salad! We were disappointed in the bar service…..the member of staff refused to serve us in the lounge and insisted that we go to the public bar. Mt husband has mobility issues so this wasn’t ideal especially as she then told us we could take our drinks back into the lounge after ordering. Surely she could have taken our order and brought it to us instead of having to trail through the restaurant. Lessons in Customer Service required for this staff members however all other staff were very.pleasant as was our stay!
Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2025

6/10 Okay

Verified traveller

Liked: Cleanliness, property conditions & facilities
Disliked: Staff & service
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2025

8/10 Good

Garry

Stayed 2 nights in Mar 2025

8/10 Good

Kevin

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Mar 2025

10/10 Excellent

Verified traveller

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Jennifer Anne

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Well worth a stay

We had a wonderful stay at The Ayre Hotel, the staff were very friendly and helpful, the food was excellent with a comprehensive menu, something to suit all tastes. Breakfast was free and there was a really good choice of cereals, pastries and all the usual Bacon Eggs etc. The building was nice and room very comfortable. We were overlooking the harbour and it was nice to see all the ferries coming and going. I would highly recommend a stay here, we will be back :D
Stayed 5 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Roderick

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Feb 2025

10/10 Excellent

Mary, Silsbee

Travelled with group
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, amenities, property conditions & facilities
The staff were very friendly, and the amenities were wonderful! Will definitely recommend to friends, and would definitely stay here again!
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Iain

Liked: Property conditions & facilities
Stayed 1 night in Jan 2025

8/10 Good

Iain

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Great place to stay

Good location super clean helpful staff
Stayed 3 nights in Nov 2024

10/10 Excellent

jonathan

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort

Nice hotel

Excellent hotel on the waterfront. Excellent restaurant. really nice staff. The waterfront (sea view) rooms are a bit noisy due to the road however not all night.
Stayed 3 nights in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Mark

Business traveller
Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 2 nights in Dec 2024

10/10 Excellent

Morven

Stayed 3 nights in Aug 2024

8/10 Good

Laura

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service, property conditions & facilities, room comfort
Stayed 1 night in Nov 2024

8/10 Good

Ailsa

Liked: Cleanliness, staff & service

An excellent base for daily island 'hopping'

This was an excellent base for daily island 'hopping' which was the purpose of my trip. It was quite a bit more expensive than their hotel accomodation, but I needed the flexibility of being able to self cater early breakfasts and (sometimes) late dinners. The catering facilities were relatively basic - and I wouldn't have wanted to have planned to prepare full meals from scratch - but for my purposes (fried egg and beans on a bagel on repeat!), perfectly adequate. I would certainly have benefitted from having an oven glove, a tea towel and a drying rack for dishes however! The location and parking were both excellent, and the building itself very peaceful - although I think the bedroom would benefit from a blackout blind being fitted as I overlooked a floodlit 'industrial' area and my room was never in full darkness. Probably worth taking an eye mask in addition to ear plugs! I think it was a little on the pricy side for what it was - but overall I am pleased to have made the decision to opt to stay here.
Stayed 7 nights in Oct 2024

10/10 Excellent

Colin

Stayed 2 nights in Oct 2024

6/10 Okay

Christopher

Beautiful lobby area and lounge. Paid 133 dollars for our room. Clean but very small, tiny is more accurate— no room for two travel cases to open. Staff usually hard to find both in the restaurant and hotel. One room key for two people was most inconvenient as key controlled the room lights. Walls are paper thin, but the food was excellent!! Young lad bussing the tables was awesome, as was Jason the bartender. Check out time is ridiculously early and zero amenities — no continental breakfast for the entire price. Yikes! I felt stressed and pressured, not relaxed. We also stayed at The Kirkwall Hotel the night before. Although much older, it was a better value for 80 pounds as it came with breakfast and a spacious room.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2024

6/10 Okay

Bob

Travelled with partner
Liked: Amenities
Great location. Could walk to many attractions. Convenient parking. Bed was very uncomfortable. Bad mattresss. Could feel springs. Asked for comforter to put over it. Clerk said they'd bring one ..... never came.
Stayed 1 night in Oct 2024