Fairmont St Andrews

“Excellent Again”

Another excellent stay at the Fairmont St. Andrews. We received an excellent welcome and check-in from Edward, who made us feel as though we were checking in for a month in the Kingdom of Fife Suite (the staff who were observing him at the time will do well to learn from his approach). The room… more

Another excellent stay at the Fairmont St. Andrews. We received an excellent welcome and check-in from Edward, who made us feel as though we were checking in for a month in the Kingdom of Fife Suite (the staff who were observing him at the time will do well to learn from his approach). The room was again spacious, clean and well-decorated. We also always enjoy the spacious bathrooms and large rainfall showers in the rooms. The hotel is very relaxing, with low lighting and a calm and peaceful aura filling the hotel in the evenings. There is no rowdy golfers, busy bars or needless music as one might expect. We also made use of the pool – large and clean, with plenty of comfortable deckchairs and seating. Soft clean towels were also regularly being replaced so there was always a fresh warm towel available. The food was again excellent – the fillet stroganoff sandwich is exceptional. The a la carte menu for breakfast is also a nice new touch. The buffet again had plenty of hot food and the meat, eggs and haggis were of excellent quality. We were also greeted and looked after by Naomi each morning, she was excellent and went out of her way to ensure that we had a comfortable dining experience. Her service made the difference and pushed the experience into the 5-star category. Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our three nights and hope to return in the new year.

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“Enjoyable stay but room for improvement”

We visit the Fairmont annually at Christmas time, mainly to see Santa, who was fabulous as always. We enjoyed our stay but areas that could be improved are: Breakfast The service isn’t great. I recall it was the same last year too. Coffee took way too long to arrive (after we had eaten breakfast)… more

We visit the Fairmont annually at Christmas time, mainly to see Santa, who was fabulous as always. We enjoyed our stay but areas that could be improved are: Breakfast The service isn’t great. I recall it was the same last year too. Coffee took way too long to arrive (after we had eaten breakfast) and that was after chasing it up a few times. Eggs Benedict arrived cold. The buffet looked good and my husband enjoyed it. Overall, it seems a bit chaotic and needs to be slicker. Entertainment There was a pianist playing in the evening which was a nice touch, however, we felt more could be made of the space outside of Santa’s grotto. It would be great to have this as an overspill of Kittocks Den (which feels small for the size of the hotel), and have some entertainment there. A family disco or something similar would be great for all the kids that are visiting over the festive period. Kids The entertainment room with soft play etc could be better with more facilities for kids.

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“Return guests, but losing it’s sparkle”

We visited the Fairmont for a 1 night stay as a family, to meet Santa and have a festive overnight stay. Santa’s grotto was wonderful as always and it’s a tradition to meet this Santa that we have done since my now 4 year old was 1, and Santa is as magical as ever. The hotel itself is beautiful a… more

We visited the Fairmont for a 1 night stay as a family, to meet Santa and have a festive overnight stay. Santa’s grotto was wonderful as always and it’s a tradition to meet this Santa that we have done since my now 4 year old was 1, and Santa is as magical as ever. The hotel itself is beautiful and the festive decorations are lovely, however I really felt it was lacking in festive atmosphere. The hotel states it caters for families but in reality there isn’t really much for children to do once they’ve met Santa in their 10 minute slot. There was the festive film club, however unlike previous years there was no popcorn/tuck shop that sold snacks, and this was quite disappointing. I really feel the hotel is missing a trick by not having any child friendly festive activities or even a small children’s club throughout the month of December even. The grounds are lovely, but there isn’t much to do when it’s so cold outside!! We had a really lovely evening meal at La Cucina during out stay at the Fairmont, however I do feel there are a few issues that need to be addressed. - £5 for a bottle of apple juice for a child’s drink is obscene, and there really was no other alternative. There was so squash/diluting juice, or even a carton of kids juice. Given the hotel promotes being family friendly, I do really feel the choice of children’s juices available should be addressed. - Children’s cutlery; again in a family friendly hotel it would have been nice for children to be issued with appropriately sized cutlery for them to eat their meals with instead of them struggling with a standard sized fork. - The white wine wasn’t overly chilled, and at £50 per bottle I would expect it to be the correct temperature. - The meal itself was lovely, very good portion sizes and beautiful quality. However despite being advertised on the menu as children eat free, we did have to ask for the children’s meals to be taken off the bill. - The atmosphere within the restaurant was lacking. It’s supposed to be family friendly and given it is Christmas time, I feel there could have been more effort put into decorations inside the restaurant and on the tables. Our room was nice, but there were a few issues. Two tiles were pretty loose in the bathroom, there was no conditioner in the shower and nor was there any milk in the fridge for the coffee/tea station. 2 bottles of complimentary water left for a family of 4 isn’t really enough, and again given it was a festive Santa break I though they might have put more effort into making the room more festive for kids with chocolates or decorations of some sort. The room was also far too hot, and the thermostat wouldn’t go below 17 degrees. We are returning guests, but I feel that the Fairmont is losing its special touch and really just feels a ‘normal hotel’ in some areas. The room, food and drink is too expensive for it just to feel ‘normal’. It was a nice stay but there is so much more that could be and should be offered to cater for children & make it a bit more festive.

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