Macdonald Houstoun House

Reception staff were fab and we had a nice room.

One of the dining room staff was loud and abrupt as we didn't wait at the 'sign' to be seated (we didn't see it). Not very welcoming. Also the breakfast was poor - no vegan sausages, no beans and we had a mushroom cut in half - for £24 each we expect it to be fabulous. Shower very poor flow and took 20 mins to heat up. Would stay again tho due to location suiting us.

Excellent stay. We were there for one night, DBB, the night before moving parents into a care home. Chloe, the receptionist, was particularly helpful.

Friendly staff, on-site parking and restaurant. Clean room lovely grounds.

The room was hot and the building dated.

We've been before & enjoyed our stay, beautiful old building & grounds aswell as the health suite/swimming pool & good breakfast. Room was spacious & main bed comfortable. Reception & resturaunt staff were friendly

Attention to detail poor, child's sofa bed wasn't made up as requested, grout/bathroom corners need proper cleaning/re-done, room smelt a bit musty. Breakfast staff seemed unorganised, waited ages for our order to be taken & eventual had to glad down a staff member as both ourselves & other guests had been forgotten. Also continental breakfast item had virtually all ran out & no plates, very disappointed how poor it was on this occasion!

The fact it had a pool

I didn’t like that we had to come out the reception building to get to our room and then again out that building to to another building for the swimming pool. Wasn’t impressed with the breakfast either

Access to the pool

Awful smell in the room, kept getting locked out of room

Breakfast was poor as, not a great choice of food, as I do not have a cooked breakfast, toast was cold by the time I was able to eat it, jars of jam were so tightly closed, I was unable to open the jar and by the time I got someone to open it, my toast was cold. My husband could not find margarine and had to ask and very slow at getting some for him.

Poor service, had to wait for a long time to get extras such as margarine, marmalade, milk etc.

Location and pool.The staff at reception were lovely as were the pool staff.

No bar snacks e.g crisps Breakfast was cold and poor selection.Staff at reception were tidying around us and having a chat about their lunch guests when we were eating. The area "wait to be seated at" had a door on the left open where staff stood files and cabinets looked grubby. Not a great first impression.

The spa facilities were decent. Grounda and the hotel itself was lovely and quite.

I mušt say that changing customer 24cpounds for breakfast per person is a rip off. I was pretty disappointed as it ruined my stay

Great staff, good food

The hotel is very tired and needs a lot of love - we were originally put into a room that had not been cleaned and mould growing on windows but the staff were very quick to fix it. Not sure this is a 4 star hotel

My evening meal was very nice, the staff were very helpful and polite, cost of the meal was fair.The location was vey good for me as it was close to my earlier destination and reason for being in the area.

I booked a Featured double room, the rooms all looked quirky but of a very good size, the cost of room was 60% more than a standard room. I decided to treat myself hence the more expensive roomOn going into my roomI was exceptionally disappointed as looked nothing like the pictures for the featured double room shown on the Booking.com's website. There was also no wi-fi signal in the roomI returned to reception and stated I was unhappy with the room as it was not what the pictures shown led me to believe I was expecting. I was offered another room which met my expectations. As he hotel is an old "Country House" there is no lift, I was offered help to get my bags to my room which I declined, the alternative room I moved to was on the third floor, one of the staircases up to it had no handrail which inn my opinion is a safety hazard, the stair treads are uneven due to the nature of the building and it would be all to easy to trip using them especially if carrying your bags. On checking out I raised this concern with the reception staff.

Location was great, central but felt secluded.

Weather wasn't the best but it's scotland.

Beautiful location and building, very welcoming staff at reception and in the restaurant.Room was well equipped, with a sofa and chair, hairdryer etc.Good size bathroom with a bath and showerWill aim to revisit to use the spa next time?

Our room on ground floor definitely smelled of damp when first entered ( but been raining continuously for past 2 weeks)Once heaters on it improved.Bed, a king sized was 2 singles together, but a big dip in middle where joined.Some general wear and tear of paintwork a curtains off rail and a cracked sink, which could do with some attention.Old building which is lovely but requires continuous tlc

The grounds are beautiful , the staff are exceptional absolutely nothing is too much trouble. The room was stunning & the bed & pillows were very comfortable with good quality bedding. I’d highly recommend Staying in this hotel , be it for work or leisure.

We ordered room service & we’re disappointed that it was very ordinary bread but worse ‘plastic’ cheese with a small portion of cold over cooked fries. We felt it was very overpriced at £ 38.00

The building itself and the surrounding grounds are historic and have plenty of character. It's a short drive to Edinburgh and Livingston, and the surrounding area is very nice.

The room was very tired. At first glance it looked quite upmarket, but after settling in I started to notice how desperately it was in need of refurbishment. The paint was flaking off the ancient bath panel, the bathroom was about 20 years old, the tap was dripping and there were parts missing from the shower. The bedroom itself was clean and had all the facilities one would require, however it was freezing cold and the old-fashioned storage heater took a couple of hours to heat the room up (once I'd actually worked out how to turn it on), the window frames were rotten, there was some sort of insect trap in the wardrobe full of silverfish which made me worry about them getting into my luggage and coming home with me. I consoled myself with the anticipation of a decent breakfast, however when I arrived at the restaurant I was told there was a problem with the gas, so only continental breakfast was available, which was the final nail in the coffin.

Just outside of hotel

Staff was not friendly and rooms were so cold. No landline in the room. After 10 no kitchen staff. And unfriendly. Start knocking door around 10, 11 my card was blocked

Rsitif grounds and building is stunning, great parking

Rooms were very tired, furniture worn, shower unusable and heater had tape wrapped around it. Also a real trek to get to my room with very scant directions from receptionist,No info given about leisure facilities.

Stunning location friendly staff lovely food room was so nice will def be back

We liked everything about this property. We loved the Vaulted Bar in the evenings. We loved having breakfast up in the Tower Room, this is a very atmospheric property with loads of character and history. There’s plenty of parking close to the buildings, fabulous gardens, huge rooms. But it is the staff that impressed us the most, some of the best we have encountered. We saw squirrels on the lawn in the morning while we were having breakfast up in the Tower room.

This is a heritage listed property so there is no elevator - this can be easily resolved by simply requesting a ground floor room when making your booking.

Staff are very friendly and accommodating. Rooms are clean, spacious and comfortable. Facilities are great - especially the spa. Very nice grounds and close to town centre and transport links to Edinburgh.