If I could give zero stars to this hotel I would. There is nothing good about this place. How it has been running for so long is a complete mystery to me. Everywhere is filthy.
I’m not sure what was the worst part of my stay, waking up to see a rat sitting on the broken drawers eating my free biscuit or sharing the mouldy shower with a friendly cockroach.
The staff are the rudest people I have ever met.
I feel I have walked straight into a hotel from the 1950s with the terrible décor and the complete lack of facilities. The beds are hard, the rooms are cold and dirty, and the bathroom is disgusting.
The food was inedible. If I’d had a dish of dried rabbit food for breakfast and dinner it would have been far superior to the food that was given to me…
Piper Chesterfield stared at the review and sighed. She had been a professional mystery guest for over ten years now, visiting hotels around the world and writing honest reviews for The Tree of Life magazine she worked for. Although she had seen some of the most beautiful places on earth she was getting weary of travelling and her patience for bad hotels was clearly wearing thin.
She’d been to a lot of wonderful hotels recently, so her luck was bound to run out at some point. Silver Blossom Hall in Edinburgh was one of the worst hotels she had stayed at for a long time, which was a pity because she loved the city. It always helped to vent her feelings like this, to pour all of the hotel’s failings onto the page. She never submitted her first draft though. That wouldn’t be fair. She would come back to the review in a few days, and once she’d had a chance to calm down she knew she would take a lot of her comments out and tone down the rest of it.
She looked up at the cornflower blue sky as it turned a candyfloss pink in the setting sun, a plane taking off from the airport silhouetted against the evening sky as it headed off to some far-flung exotic location. She didn’t feel jealous. She had seen it all. She didn’t want to travel any more; she didn’t want to spend her days living out of a suitcase. She was tired and she just wanted to stand still for a little while. She had one more hotel this year, where she was going to spend Christmas and New Year, and then she was going to rent a flat somewhere in London and take six months off from the world. She couldn’t wait.
Piper closed the laptop down and picked up the brochure for her next assignment. Stardust Lake Hotel was a winter resort on Juniper Island, the most northern island of the Scottish Isles. The beautifully presented brochure had wonderful pictures of gorgeous log cabins strewn with fairy lights, glass igloos for watching the Northern Lights, and it even promised an ice palace. It looked beautiful and idyllic.
Not having a home to call her own, Piper had spent Christmas in some weird and wonderful places over the years, but nothing could beat the cosy festiveness of Christmas in Britain. If there was a checklist for a perfect Christmas, it seemed Stardust Lake Hotel had it all.
She flicked through the pages of the brochure. Nestled into the hills of Juniper Island, Piper could practically feel the heat from the log fires and the gorgeous scents of the real Christmas trees, mulled wine and pine cones. The thing that made her smile most of all was the tiny town called Christmas, a collection of log cabins and stone cottages that had reinvented themselves as a permanent Christmas market.
She had been to Juniper Island once before in a different life. As a child, visiting with her best friend’s family, the place had seemed barren and cold, but it had made a wonderful adventure playground for her and Gabe as they had hiked, played and traversed the whole island. That Christmas had been one of the few times in her childhood that she had been truly happy. Those days were long gone and she wouldn’t let her feelings for the place affect her review for good or bad. It looked completely different now; it seemed the whole of Juniper Island had received a makeover and she couldn’t wait to see it.
Right on cue, Piper’s flight number was called to the gate for boarding.
Piper slipped the laptop into her carry-on bag along with the brochure and walked through the terminal. It was Saturday, the last weekend before Christmas, and the airport was filled with stressed-out families and loved-up couples who were all travelling somewhere for the holidays. Even the lone travellers were probably going back home to their families. She didn’t have anyone to go back to.
She finally reached the gate, seemingly at the furthest distance from the main airport, and handed her ticket to the bored member of staff on the desk. She was directed through a door and down some steps towards the plane. She knew Juniper Island was quite small and wouldn’t be able to accommodate the bigger jets that were flying out from Edinburgh airport that day.
She reached the bottom of the stairs and looked across the tarmac, her heart filled with joy at the red plane decorated with silvery stars. Scrawled across the side of the plane in cursive silvery writing were the words Juniper Island Airlines. It seemed the tiny island had certainly gone up in the world.
Standing at the bottom was an elderly man in a long green coat with gold buttons. He was wearing a black top hat decorated with holly leaves and berries. He smiled at her, his blue eyes creasing in the corners as she approached. She needed to get a photo of this.
‘Good evening, Miss Chesterfield, I’m Stephen, I’m going to be your flight attendant today.’
‘Hello, would you mind if I took a few photos before we leave?’
‘Of course, go ahead.’
Piper grabbed her camera from her bag, fired off a few shots of the plane, glowing under the setting sun, and took a few of Stephen too as he waited patiently for her to finish. She quickly shoved the camera back in her bag and he held out his hand to take it for her. She was charmed already. After the staff at Silver Blossom Hall had told her that she would have to carry her suitcase up seven flights of stairs by herself as the lift was broken, things were certainly looking up.
Stephen followed her up the stairs and she walked into what was obviously the first-class cabin of the plane, where large leather recliner-type seats were dotted around the edges and a well-stocked white marble-look bar stood in the middle. Rich warm red carpet lined the floor, and the plastic interiors of the normal jets had been replaced by painted cream walls and walnut wood panelling. It was stunning and plush and completely out of her league.
‘Take a seat anywhere you want,’ Stephen said as he walked into the cabin behind her.
‘Oh, I’m not in first class,’ Piper said.
‘There is no first class, Miss Chesterfield. This is the only cabin in the plane. All of our guests travel in style to Juniper Island.’
She sat down in one of the comfy chairs and smiled to herself – she had no doubt she was going to enjoy her stay at Stardust Lake Hotel if this was the kind of treatment she was going to get.
She watched as Stephen fastened the door behind him and she looked around the empty plane.
‘Am I the only passenger?’
‘You are. I’m not sure if you are aware but Stardust Lake Hotel doesn’t open for business until Thursday. I know that you were scheduled to come then but rang last night to see if you could come early. The manager didn’t want to turn you away so they made arrangements for you to be accommodated today.’
‘Oh I didn’t realise. I hope they haven’t gone to any trouble.’
‘Nothing is too much trouble for the guests of Stardust Lake Hotel,’ Stephen said.
Piper smiled; they clearly had him well trained.
Stephen removed his long green coat and hat and hung them up, revealing a rich red velvet waistcoat and a burgundy cravat. He reminded Piper of a kindly old uncle, although she certainly hadn’t had one of those growing up.
‘Would you like a glass of mulled wine or a mug of hot chocolate?’ Stephen asked.
‘Oh, a mulled wine would be lovely,’ Piper said. It was just over a week until Christmas, but she might as well get into the festive spirit now.
Stephen moved over to the bar and the rich fruity smells of the warm mulled wine reached her nose as he poured her a glass and a moment later passed it to her.
The plane taxied onto the runway and Stephen asked her to put her seatbelt on. As the plane took off Piper looked down at the bright lights of Edinburgh as the city fell away to fields and hills, and then mountains and lakes. Pretty soon only the silvery glow of the ocean lay beneath her. She grabbed her camera again and took a few more photos of the dazzling view of the ocean from the window.
Piper undid her seatbelt, slipped off her shoes and curled up in her chair. She leaned her head against the window as she sipped her hot wine, a warm fuzzy glow spreading through her as they flew through the darkening skies.
Stephen left her in peace, obviously sensing she wanted some time alone. She was nervous about going back and didn’t know why. She had been there only once as a child, but she still had so many memories of her time there and she couldn’t stop thinking about them as she flew closer.
‘It’s cold on Juniper Island; it was snowing when I left. You might want to dress a little warmer for our arrival,’ Stephen said, after they had been flying for over an hour. ‘We’ll be arriving shortly.’
Having stayed at several bitterly cold locations over the years, Piper had a suitcase of gear fit for all occasions, weathers and terrains.
She pulled a pair of warm snow boots out of her bag, slipped them on, laced them up and then packed away her heels. She grabbed her hat, scarf and gloves ready for her arrival too.
‘So tell me a bit more about Juniper Island. I went there once as a child but it seems to have changed a lot since then.’
Stephen paused in his job behind the bar. ‘You went there as a child?’
Piper nodded. ‘I came with my best friend and his family. It was Christmas time then too.’
‘I thought I recognised you. I’ve lived on Juniper Island all my life, we must have met when you came.’
‘You recognise me? It must have been over twenty years ago.’
‘You have a very distinctive look.’
Piper didn’t know what to do with that comment. Freak was one of the names she had been called over the years. She had tried to tell herself her eyes were a light brown, but in reality they were gold, making her look a bit like a cat.
‘Gabe always said you were the most beautiful girl in the world, even back when you were kids,’ Stephen said.
The mention of Gabe’s name was like a punch in the gut. She had tried to tell herself she hadn’t thought about Gabe at all for the past twelve years, but that would be a lie. She had thought of him often. For Stephen to remember she had come with Gabe and his family was even more surprising than the idea he remembered her at all.
But it wasn’t just Gabe she had missed, it was his family too: his lovely older sister Neve and his mum and dad who had been much more of a family to her than her own parents had been.
Stephen walked round the bar towards her, offering her a warm mince pie covered in a sprinkling of icing sugar and a tiny sprig of holly. ‘Are you still in touch with the Whitaker family?’
She took a big bite, stalling for time. ‘I haven’t seen or spoken to any of them for twelve years. Not since I left the little village in the Lake District where we all grew up.’
Stephen watched her carefully, then looked at his watch. ‘We’ll be coming into land very soon. Can I ask you to fasten your seatbelt?’
Stephen moved away and Piper quickly fastened her seatbelt again. She looked out the window and saw only the silvery waves and snow-capped shores. Any of the wonder of Juniper Island was denied to her from her current seat.
The pilot landed with barely a bump and before Piper had undone her seatbelt, Stephen was there by her side ready to help her into her coat and picking up her bag.
Stephen opened the door and a cold wind burst into the plane bringing with it sparkly snowflakes.
She smiled and stepped outside.
Piper got into the back of a big Range Rover as Stephen loaded her bags into the boot. He came round to make sure she was settled and offered her a thick warm fur-type blanket to put over her legs for the journey. The car was cold, so it was a lovely cosy touch to be able to snuggle under the blanket while the car warmed up.
Stephen got into the driving seat, showing he was clearly more than just the flight attendant.
‘It’s not far, Miss Chesterfield, and I’m sure the fire will already be burning in your lodge when we get there. We’ve had a power cut on some parts of the resort so they might have moved you to a different lodge. We’ll see when we get to the reception.’
Stephen drove the car away from the tiny runway and onto what clearly was supposed to be the main road. Snow had been cleared from the surface and old Victorian-style lamps sent golden puddles of light over the silvery snow either side of the road.
Fir trees shadowed the roadside, their limbs heavy with fresh fallen snow. As they rounded the corner, Piper gasped when she saw the trees suddenly all lit up with twinkling, golden lights. The red and green garlands twisted around each of the lamp posts were also lit up with tiny fairy lights, and coupled with the snow it looked magical.
‘It’s beautiful,’ Piper whispered.
‘I know. Mr… The new owner of the hotel has done a wonderful job.’
Piper frowned slightly at the stumble in the conversation. Who was the owner? Had she seen it in the brochure?
Distracted by the beauty of the place, she reached for her camera but decided against it. The blur of the trees as they sped past wouldn’t make a great photo; she’d walk back down here one night to take some pictures by herself. She would have a better chance of framing the perfect shot if she wasn’t in the car.
The driveway to the hotel twisted down into a valley and for a moment a flash of green lit up the sky beyond the trees before the road dipped down too far for Piper to see it. Piper peered through the trees trying to take it all in. The Christmas trees were still lighting the way, but behind them she saw something move, some kind of animal, a few of them, though she couldn’t make out what they were.
The road curved down to the right and the trees fell away to reveal thirty or forty large wooden lodges. Most of them were in complete darkness, but the ones further back up on the hillside were lit up, welcoming them into the resort.
As the drive curled round again, she saw the old hotel, where she had stayed as a child. Happy memories filled her of her time spent here, playing with Gabe, his sister Neve and sometimes even Luke, Gabe’s grumpy half-brother. The Golden Oak hotel had been a ramshackle old building, with crumbling stone brickwork and a roof that had been half broken and falling quickly into disrepair. Piper and Gabe had shared a room and because it had been so cold and draughty, she’d climbed into his bed and they had cuddled each other to keep warm. At the ages of seven and eight it had been completely innocent, but it was there that she’d had her first kiss. Not a proper one, not like Gabe had kissed her when they were older. He’d just given her a quick kiss on the lips and promised her he would love her forever.
It hadn’t worked out quite like that, though.
The Golden Oak was almost nothing like she remembered. The name was the main thing to change: Stardust Lake Hotel was written in beautiful fairy lights above the door. The building had obviously been extensively repaired and restored to its former glory. The large stone brickwork seemed to gleam in the light from the lamps, the steps had been rebuilt, and the car stopped on a proper paved driveway instead of a mud patch in front of the hotel. It was an impressive building made even more so by the huge gorgeous Christmas trees bedecked in large gold ribbons, lights and red glass baubles standing sentinel on either side of the door. Lights were strewn artistically around each window. Twinkling garlands and red ribbons were wrapped around the bannister that led up the stairs to the main front doors, and candles in brass lanterns stood on either side of the steps. It looked spectacular.
‘The new owner wanted to keep the legacy of the old hotel while adding all the new lodges and improvements. This building now serves as the reception area and a large conservatory has been put on the back for the dining room. All the offices are in here but all the accommodation is in the lodges around the resort,’ Stephen said as Piper pressed her face against the window to look at it.
Stephen chuckled at her reaction and then got out. He went round to the boot to retrieve the bags and then opened the door to help her out.
He offered his arm to escort her up the steps and she took it, though it was very clear that the steps had been cleared of all ice and snow.
The cold wind swirled around them, tiny snowflakes dancing in the air.
Piper stopped as she noticed movement at the corner of the hotel. She glanced over and was surprised to see a small herd of Shetland ponies staring at her, the freezing wind blowing their manes like something from a shampoo commercial. They were so tiny they were comical, but their cold black eyes were almost sinister.
‘Oh they’re so cute. I didn’t realise they would have Shetland ponies here, bit silly really, given their name. Of course they come from here.’
‘They roam wild over the island, Miss Chesterfield. They might look cute, but these ones are quite savage.’
Piper giggled. ‘Savage. They’re tiny ponies.’
Stephen shook his head. ‘Normally the ponies are very docile, but this gang are quite wild. Leo is their ringleader – he is the gold one at the front. I think he thinks the island is his and he has been known to terrorise the villagers and most of the staff here.’
‘Does he bite?’
‘Not yet, just don’t give him the chance.’
With a sinister whinny, Leo gave her an evil glare, tossed his head and turned round and walked away. The other ponies parted to let him through then followed him into the darkness.
Piper stifled a giggle. It was hard to take the prospect of tiny savage ponies seriously.
As Stephen opened the reception door, warmth reached out and seemed to pull them in. Stephen placed her bags by the sofa and went to talk to the receptionist. Piper blinked the snow out of her eyes and looked around.
A log fire was burning away in a giant stone fireplace, warming any visitors who might come in, even though Piper was the only guest. It was reminiscent of a wooden ski lodge inside, with the wooden panelling, leather sofas and bright colourful rugs. The huge Christmas tree twinkled with white fairy lights and red and green tartan bows.
Stephen returned a moment later with a young pretty blonde and a boy with brown curly hair. Both of them looked to be about seventeen years old.
‘This is Iris and Jake. Iris works on reception and Jake is our porter. The owner of the hotel wishes to welcome you to the resort himself so, if you’d like to take a seat, he won’t be a few minutes. And if there is anything you want to eat or drink you can let these guys know and they will get it for you. Would you like a hot chocolate or tea or coffee while you are waiting?’ Stephen asked.
‘A hot chocolate would be lovely.’
Stephen nodded at Jake and he quickly disappeared through a door.
‘I hope your stay at Stardust Lake Hotel will be a very happy one,’ Stephen said.
Piper smiled, excited to see everything and how it had changed. ‘Thank you, I hope so too.’
Stephen smiled kindly at her, touched his hat and then stepped back outside into the cold and dark.
It was getting late now and she was looking forward to climbing into a nice clean bed and going to sleep so she could see the full glory of the resort in the daylight. She hoped the owner wouldn’t be too long.
Jake returned a minute later and handed her a tall glass of hot chocolate with cream on the top then went back behind the reception desk with Iris. They started talking quietly, but as there wasn’t any other noise in the reception, Piper couldn’t help but overhear what they were talking about.
‘Everyone is so worried about Thursday with all the journalists who are coming,’ Iris said.
‘And we still don’t know which of them is the dreaded Mr Black?’ Jake asked.
Iris shook her head. ‘I suppose we are lucky enough that we know he’s coming; normally the hotels he visits never know he’s been until the review appears. You should see some of his reviews, so scathing. Hotels have closed after his visit.’
That was interesting, another mystery guest was coming to the hotel, one who wasn’t as secretive as her and had clearly let slip where he was going next and Stardust Lake Hotel had been forewarned. But this man’s reviews seemed to hold a lot of weight. She couldn’t imagine any of her reviews holding so much significance in the travel industry that hotels would close because of her. There had been nothing positive about her stay at Silver Blossom Hall, and The Tree of Life magazine she worked for had a large readership, but she still couldn’t imagine so many people taking her review that much to heart that it would cause the hotel to close.
‘But he writes good reviews too, I’ve seen them,’ Jake said.
‘Yes he does, but his opinion is so powerful he can literally make or break a hotel with his reviews. We have to make sure that he leaves here with a good impression, we have to make sure all the journalists leave here having had the time of their lives. We get one chance at this.’
‘They will, everyone here will make sure of that. As long as the power comes back on before they all arrive.’
A flicker of green caught Piper’s attention outside and she stood up. The island was well known for its great views of the Northern Lights, but with the cloudy skies she had witnessed on the drive over, she doubted she would get to see the wonder of it on her first night. With all her worldly travels over the years, she still hadn’t been lucky enough to catch this phenomenon. Hopefully she would see something of it during her stay.
Another flash of green on the horizon lit up the night sky and as Jake and Iris were still talking, she grabbed her camera, shoved it in her pocket and slipped outside to take a look.
The cold night air whipped around her, the snow still falling steadily, landing on her face as her feet sunk into the powdery blanket.
Several large log cabins stood either side of a path that seemed to lead down the hill towards the green light. The cabins were in darkness, as were the lamps either side of the path. A casualty of the power cut no doubt. But although there were no lights, the white glow of the snow on the ground provided enough light for Piper to see where she was going. She looked back into the cosy reception where Jake and Iris had failed to notice she had gone. She pulled her hat tighter on her head and set off down the path to investigate the green glow that was coming through the trees.
She pulled her camera out as she rounded the corner, wanting to capture some of the lodges almost silhouetted against the snow. But as she raised the camera to her face, she stopped. Dancing in the snow, her hands raised in the air as she tried to catch the snowflakes, was a little girl of about four years old, dressed only in a wispy blue Elsa dress. Her arms were bare, she had no shoes or socks on and she didn’t seem to care. Her black hair cascaded behind her as she twirled and spun around, giggling as the snowflakes landed on her skin. There was something so magical about the girl, so innocent and carefree. Piper fired off a couple of shots of her before realising the girl was completely alone.
Piper ran forwards, pulling off her coat, and the girl spotted her, stopping her dancing to watch Piper with amusement.
‘You’ll get cold,’ the little girl warned.
‘I think you’re more at risk than I am,’ Piper said, wrapping the coat around the little girl and zipping her up, trapping her arms inside. She shoved the camera into one of the pockets and fastened it so it wouldn’t fall out. The coat came down to the girl’s ankles.
The little girl laughed; she struggled for a moment or two and then fed her arms through the armholes, though she laughed again when her hands didn’t reach the end. Piper pulled her red gloves off her hands.
‘Here put your feet in these, your little toes will snap off if you don’t wear shoes in the snow.’
The girl obviously thought the idea of wearing gloves on her feet was hilarious, but she obliged Piper and offered each foot up for Piper to pull on the gloves.
Piper stood up for a moment to look at her efforts. The little girl looked down at herself too. She burst out laughing again.
‘I look like a penguin.’
She did too – with Piper’s black winter jacket and her red gloves on her feet she looked exactly like a penguin. Piper couldn’t help but laugh too. She pulled her hat off and put that on the little girl as well.
She offered out her. . .
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