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Having to travel to Aberdeen on the Friday we decided to cut our trip in half by staying overnight around Edinburgh, our hotel of choice was full so we decided to give the Houstoun Hotel a try.This is a very pleasant hotel, great atmoshpere and the food at both dinner and breakfast was very good, the room we had was clean and well kept and was in an annex to the main hotel. We used the spa on the afternoon of our arrival and it was clean however the pool was a little cold for a spa pool but not too bad.The down side to our visit was some people from a wedding party, after dinner we decided to have a drink in the hotel bar, the bar had a number of men stood around it and I asked politely if I could get past them to get served to which I was told to **** ***, not wanting to cause any situation I moved from the bar and reported this incident to the hotel recieption, it was as if I was speaking polish, all I got was blank faces from the people behind the hotel reception desk, not wanting anymore hassle we returned to our room for the evening.The hotel is cannot be blamed for the clientel they attract but should have done something about it.Doubt if we will return

on arrival we were greeted by a nice receptionist, who checked us in quickly and explained where everything in the hotel was, the room was lovely and spacious with a big four poster bed,and very quite, it was just what we needed for our 3 night stay, as we didn't know the area we asked the receptionist about things in the area to do, she was very informed and told us about local restaurants, shopping centres and the like,as people have said the grounds are good, and nice to have a walk around, the breakfast is very good, with lots of selections, you wont go hungry, after reading a few bad reviews about the food on here, we were a little apprehensive about eating there, but we had dinner in the jeremy wares restaurant, and all i can say is wow, i had the steak and it was great, the misses had the chicken and she is a really fussy eater but she loved it, our little boy had the mac and cheese and he ate it all, now the best bit for me was the dessert as im a dessert kind of guy,now i have had some nice things in my mouth, but i ordered the drambuie trifle,and it was out of this world, it was the best thing i have ever eaten,if i lived closer i would be there every week for it, the serving staff were very good, even giving me lots of time with the wine list, i know im fussy, lol, about three quarters through the meal jeremy wares came around to our table and asked if we were enjoying the meal and had a chat and he did that with every table in the restaurant, now for someone with his condition that cant be very easy and i doff my hat to him for doing it, now i read that people are saying that it is to expensive, i think if you eat steak pay steak prices, just dont expect to eat steak and pay spam prices,we had a little problem one night when our little boy somehow change the code on the safe in the room so we couldn't get in it as he forgot the numbers he pushed, i reported it to the staff who got on it right away and sent someone down to open it up again, now for somethings that arn't so good with the hotel, bar prices, expensive, but so are every hotels, kids activities, there is only the pool nothing else, we stated in a puma hotel at the end of 2012 for 4 nights and that had 2 big kids rooms, one for young kids with a soft play area and one for older kids with a few table tennis tables fusball table 3 or 4 playstations pool tables and a few other things, that was great for the kids, but this hotel doesn't have anything,i hope they take note, and on another thing, its just a pet hate of mine,PHONES AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE, i wish every hotel would ban then, would we go back? yes, we enjoyed our stay, it was nice and relaxing before the schools went back.

On arrival at 2pm we were greeted by a Very nice receptionist, who quickly checked us in...the room was lovely, just what we were looking for, for a relaxing 2 nights away. We had decided before we went that due to the write up on the website about the chef and restaurant, that we eat there on the first night...... We had a few drinks at the hotel bar, and was served by a very nice guy called Jamie.... Who indeed was very clued up on whisky !!! Always a good sign from a good barman.. Our food order was taken at the bar, and we were told that we would be called when our starters were ready, and indeed we were. !!!!!!! On arrival of the starters... One was the wrong starter!!! Not a good start we thought, then the wine that we ordered came, and opened.... The waitress poured the wine, then discovered that she had poured it into the water glass, she then turned picked the glass up and walked away with it.... We thought, that she was taking it to pour it into a wine glass in the kitchen..... Only to find that the wine never did return !!!!!! So very disappointed that we paid for a full bottle of wine, but didn't get to drink the full bottle !!!! The starters weren't anything special, and for the price.... Disappointing really.... The main courses then came... And well, at that point we started to wish that we had went out for dinner !!!!! The prices are far too high and the quality of food not that great........... But on the plus side... The breakfast at the hotel was AMAZING !! ... A great selection of fruit juice, cereal, fruit and pastries, the cooked breakfast was cooked to order, but a must have, truly one of the highlights of the hotel.The hotel and its grounds are amazing, as are the leisure facilities, so please don't let my moans regarding the food put you off going...We did highlight our issues to the hotel staff at the time, and they did apologise, would we go back.... Yes we would, and we would certainly be having breakfast there, but sadly, probably wouldn't eat there for dinner..

On arrival our room was not ready despite arriving after the check in time of 2pm. We were not offered a drink or anything while we waited. 45 minutes later the room was ready. Bathroom - very tired looking, a rogue hair on floor, but functional. Sheets on one of the beds had marks on it - so I put my own bedding on (had to fetch cos of daughters exema). BBC channels on TV didn't work (no biggie) wi fi was impossible to fathom (despite being put through to BT openzone customer support by reception). The most positive things were the breakfast choice and friendliness of the staff. As we stayed the night the clocks changed it messed up the key card system but the staff dealt with it efficiently. Obviously make most of their cash through weddings (we saw 3 the weekend we were there!) in my opinion if I had paid cash for the weekend break I would have complained bout the things I mentioned, I think at ¿¿254 the room was overpriced.

Having read many of the reviews on TripAdvisor I was approaching a girlie weekend at Houston House with great trepidation. The bedroom was lovely - huge, with a huge bathroom, clean and cosy - in the annexe along the path to the spa. During our weekend there were 2 weddings but we didn't get disturbed at all from these (apart from the piper warming up!). The service in the restaurant and the spas was excellent - friendly and efficient. Food in the restaurant was OK - nicely presented. Spa was very good - friendly and clean and we were made to feel special. Lovely hotel - will return!