Ukrainians' 'litany of completely unacceptable issues' over Aviemore conditions
Refugees from war-torn Ukrainian have complained about the living conditions they are having to put up with since being re-located to Aviemore.
They have been staying at the Strathspey Hotel at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort – in some cases for more than four months – and are unhappy with their accommodation.
A delegation attended at the latest Aviemore Community Council to highlight the hardships they are facing and to ask for support from the wider community.
There are currently between 65 and 70 adult Ukrainians who have made their temporary home on the upper floors of the hotel along with 15 and 20 of their children.
Their list of concerns presented to the watchdog included:
• Vermin in the hotel including claims 'the building is infested with mice'. They produced a video clip of the rodents in the dining area.
• Incessant fire alarms going off due to a recurring fault – leaving them terrified of what might happen if there actually was a blaze.
• Lifts being out of order with some saying 'they are living on the seventh floor with their children'.
• Slow or no internet – 'it is so slow as to be virtually inoperable' meaning that they can not keep in touch easily with loved ones back home including those in the immediate danger zones.
• 'Cold food of very poor quality'. The group said: 'the children seem to be offered chicken nuggets and chips daily, without any fruit or vegetables. One man reported that his five-year-old daughter has lost 2kg'.
• Leaking roof – a video showed rain water pouring through the roof into a dining area.
Community councillors said they were appalled to hear of the conditions facing their guests from the Ukraine.
All of them had to deal with what chairman Peter Long could only describe as "a litany of completely unacceptable issues which shocked and appalled all of those present".
He described it as "a hell of a list" of difficulties.
One of the group Lada Seredina stressed: "We really do not want to appear ungrateful. We are so thankful to be accepted here and we feel very much part of the community."
Their spokesman Abood Rejee, who produced evidence of the problems to the shock of the local watchdog members, said: "We have raised the issues with hotel staff but to no avail."
Local Highland councillor Bill Lobban said: "You are part of our community. We are happy to see you stay with us, and it's our responsibility to help everyone here."
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Mr Long echoed that: "Aviemore prides itself on being open and welcoming to all. To have a group of refugees from war living in such conditions brings shame on the whole community.
"I hope to visit the building to see for myself over the next few days."
He was quickly in touch with the hotel management to urge that immediate action was taken to address the issues.
Mr Long added: "This whole exercise is of course being publicly funded, and I am sure that none of us finds this situation acceptable."
It was pointed out by some of the delegation that friends who were being accommodated at the Coylumbridge Hotel were better treated "with better food and better rooms".
Another issue that was raised is children's education.
Mr Rejee stated: "We have no schooling because of the lack of transport. We cannot walk seven miles to Alvie. We were told they did not have space on the bus and in Aviemore there is no space for the children.
"The lack of schooling is a worry."
Macdonald Aviemore Resort managing director Iain Miller swiftly responded and assured the watchdog that he was very concerned to have received the list.
He said: "Categorically the building is not infested with mice, all our premises have a contract in place with a pest control company, in our case Rentokil.
"The contract consists of both proactive measures in place, regular inspections and reactive elements. This is a rural location and it not that unusual to see mouse activity especially at this time of year as it gets colder.
"Rentokil are dealing with this."
Mr Miller updated the Strathy yesterday: "The lift is running following an engineer's visit and we, or our supplier more accurately, believe that the issue causing increased false fire alarms has also been resolved.
"A specialist on the installed system was on site earlier this week.
"The Wi-Fi issue was not limited to the Strathspey Hotel and was intermittently occurring over the whole site – I work off an internal Wi-Fi network and also had issues.
"Engineers attempted to resolve remotely and are now on-site today to resolve.
"Comments regarding food have been investigated and some changes made. We have had further discussions and a meeting with the guests and would say that the dissatisfaction expressed is not from all.
"However that said, staying in a hotel long term does bring challenges not normally encountered by guests."
The fire alarm in the building is a complete new installation and was installed not that long before the hotel reopened for the summer.
Mr Miller said hotels often experience false alarms but this would be made aware to those staying in the hotel for so long.
He said that no-one is staying on the seventh floor: "The highest floor we have guests on is three rooms on the fourth floor. We will offer a move to a lower floor."
Mr Miller said that entertainment had been laid on for the Ukrainian children too.
He said: "They are our guests and have access to everything that our other guests do this includes the swimming pool, entertainment programmes that we have running through the holidays, etc.
"A week today is the start of our Santa Breaks, the families are being invited to that and it includes three days entertainment and a pantomime."
He added that the hotel endeavoured to tailor its menus to the group.
Mr Miller said: "We have learned over the course of their time with us what generally works and what does not, furthermore we employed two as part time cooks so that there would be dishes that would remind them of home."