Old Course Hotel St Andrews - Saint Andrews, United Kingdom     

Booked a weekend away at the last minute. The room, atmosphere and setting were fantastic. The spa was excellent but you do have to pay to use the pool! Dinner at the Road Hole Grill was excellent but with the exception of the Sommelier the service was not as one would expect for the price. Breakfast at Sands was no better than a little chef! (Mass produced eggs and cold sausage and bacon) After checking out I complained about the service at dinner and the breakfast , the manageress was excellent, expressing the right amount of concern without being condescending, as compensation offered a room upgrade and meal for our next stay. The Hotel is just finding its feet under the new management regimen and promises to be an excellent place to stay with an unrivaled setting, the way in which our complaints were dealt with mean that we will certainly return and also recommend others stay.

Travelling over Scotland over many weeks, we arrived at the Old Course Hotel as one of the only two five-star hotels on our list of places to stay. We booked an Old Course Suite for two nights, at over 600 pounds per night for bed and breakfast. The suite was attractive at first glance but had many problems - no kleenex, one chair only (not two) at the dining table, no dressing area where you could plug in a hairdryer and use a mirror at the same time (!) and worst of all, a duvet/comforter and pillows filled with polyester, not down. Even fairly middling hotels offer "pillow menus" nowadays. We had dinner on the first night at the famous Road Hole Grill - most of the staff were European, with strong accents, so although we are Scottish and Canadian, we actually had a language problem! The service at first was too attentive, when the restaurant was quite empty, then as it got busier, it wasn't attentive at all. We had a lovely table overlooking the golf course, but were very disappointed in the food. The chef is trying too hard and we realized (too late) that they actually specialize in steak dinners for hungry golfers in spite of all the fuss about fine dining. Steak and chips would have been the right choice. One of the two elevators broke down for many hours, which made us nervous about using them, and although we had been given a welcome glass of champagne and hors d'hoeuvre on arrival in our room, we were left with the dirty glasses and plates even after the housekeeping staff had come in to do a "turn down". If the room rate was under 200 pounds, these complaints would be trivial; as it stands at over 600 pounds (well over $1200) per night, everything should be perfect. This hotel is owned by the Kohler corporation, which is certainly not doing a good job of managing it. The fabulous, historic golf course alone is not enough to excuse their performance, but unfortunately people will come here for that reason alone. Unfortunately this has spoiled our trip to Scotland and has given us a "ripped off" feeling which is extremely unpleasant.