Macdonald Houstoun House

“A Mediocre Hotel Masquerading As A First Rate Experience”

While this hotel was recommended by friends who live nearby, they told us that they had never stayed here. They were as surprised as we were to discover a very mediocre hotel passing itself off as a First Rate hotel (and charging rates one might expect of such a hotel). Lest you think we’re being… more

While this hotel was recommended by friends who live nearby, they told us that they had never stayed here. They were as surprised as we were to discover a very mediocre hotel passing itself off as a First Rate hotel (and charging rates one might expect of such a hotel). Lest you think we’re being overly critical, this was our fifth hotel on our recent trip. Starting in NYC, then London, and other cities as we made our way to Edinburgh, we have fresh comparisons against which to judge the Macdonald Houstoun House Hotel. (We had no issues at any of the other hotels, which were a mixture of large corporate hotels and those owned by small businesses.) A short list of problems: -No internet access in our room; -The bed needed replacing—years ago; -The Safe was locked and couldn’t be unlocked until after the weekend when we checked in. (It was never unlocked); -The room was very cold but the heaters only work when the card-key is in the slot that controls the power. Using another card could work if housekeeping didn’t remove it, so the room was always cold when we returned; -On our only night eating in the hotel the other tables at the bar were covered in plates and glassware (we were told that it had been a busy evening) and our table was dirty. Despite promising several times to clean the table our food arrived before that was done and we had to stop the server from putting our plates down and request that the liquid on the table be cleaned before the our food was served. (The served cleaned the table but didn’t wash her hands after doing so.) We declined to eat at the hotel for the rest of our stay; -The music from the wedding being celebrated on the evening we checked in was very loud and could easily be heard and felt in our room as we tried to go to bed. That there is NO internet in our room may sound like no big deal but when trying to communicate with friends, booking dinner reservations, making train reservations and confirming our next hotel, having no service is a huge issue. (We have one phone with cellular service but it also had no service in our room.) That meant we spent a lot of time running to or sitting in the hotel lobby. For anyone planning on staying at the Houstoun House the rooms have no USB charging ports and while we planned for that possibility all four of the other hotels had USB A, USB C or a mixture of both ports. There is no refrigerator, and the updated bathroom (with which we had no complaints) only has a shower. The wallpaper, the carpets and some of the painted walls throughout the hotel need “freshening” and if those were the only issues, we wouldn’t have commented about them. The Houstoun House looks to have once been a wonderful hotel. It sits on a lovely property, the "bones" of the hotel are great and it could be a wonderful destination. I suspect it will once again be a lovely hotel after someone puts in the millions it will take to bring the property up to modern standards.

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“Disappointing”

Beautiful grounds and initial impression was great; however, found reception staff a bit abrupt- not very welcoming … maybe a bit busy being one on desk? Reception area nice found the room very tired and cold (although they did have a portable heater in the wardrobe) -in need for refurb Bar in ne… more

Beautiful grounds and initial impression was great; however, found reception staff a bit abrupt- not very welcoming … maybe a bit busy being one on desk? Reception area nice found the room very tired and cold (although they did have a portable heater in the wardrobe) -in need for refurb Bar in need of refurb too - worn carpets that were trip hazard and upholstery dirty looking (stained) Food was good from bar Breakfast lovely and staff really nice. Such a shame as was on business trip and would have used this hotel more if was up to standard … I did get a good deal for b&b … maybe just put in an older room?

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