Alexander House Hotel

"11 nights of being treated like a member of a huge family. From arrival into a luxurious fully accessible room, to our last evening. Nothing has been too much trouble. My dietary requirements were catered for. We even sampled room service.. "

"Writing a review today just to warn other people if they are left in the same situation as myself when using this hotel through booking.com. There is a partner offer occasionally available on booking.com to stay at this hotel, which is a discounted rate for last minute rooms. DO NOT do this using this hotel. A mistake of my own, I booked for that night instead of the Friday night. I noticed my error and called booking.com immediately, they informed me not to worry, and to contact the hotel who can honor it their side and change the booking to Friday. Confirming, just a reschedule, keeping the business and not cancelling. I got through to reservations and was informed that is not something they can do and to inform Expedia who I booked with. I'm still unsure where Expedia's involvement lies here, however I said I would try and call them and get it resolved. I called Expedia who clearly had no idea about this booking and wouldn't recognise any confirmation number given even though I was informed the hotel needed a form to accept from Expedia for the reschedule. I called back booking.com to see if they could help me further, and they informed me the only person who has the authority to help me here is the Manager of the hotel and to call back. I rang back the hotel and asked to speak to the Manager for help, at this point I was getting a little bit upset as I had been on the phone for over 2 and a half hours trying to sort this between all of the parties involved with nobody taking responsibility for the booking. When I asked to speak to the Manager, I was told with a disappointing attitude 'The manager is just going to tell you the same as me'. Not a way to be spoken to by a member of staff at a 5 star hotel, leaving me wondering what is the point of a Manager then? I went back to booking.com, back to Expedia, and still no help. So I decided to call back the hotel again and hopefully get through to someone more helpful in reservations. Thankfully, I was put through to the reservations manager Renee. Renee was extremely helpful, she even tried Expedia/ Booking.com herself, and booked me in the Friday. She followed up with an email stating I wouldn't be charged and I was expected Friday (at last!) someone helpful. I was travelling from Australia to England and getting to the hotel way before check in. I can honestly say if I didn't have the previous experience of dealing with the reservations team and didn't encounter problems, it would have been perfect. Incredible stay, the spa ladies were so accommodating, letting us go to the spa while we waited, the room was gorgeous, the grounds great. The night porter who helped us and made us coffee in the morning for our early flight to Edinburgh. We were under the assumption everything had been sorted financially, due to already paying ($350+), but were charged again for the room using the deposit card, subsequently paying for 2 nights and no refund. I have emailed the reservations manager, twice, asking for help and whether it's going to be sorted and refunded but no response over a week later. Super disappointing, as I genuinely thought the issue had been resolved. I’m writing this review as a warning to other guests: the reservations department is the main downside of this hotel, which is a real shame given how stunning the property is. Please keep this in mind when booking. The hotel easily deserves a 5-star rating, but the way this situation was handled detracted significantly from the experience. I know the mistake was initially mine, but the lack of support, understanding, and responsiveness was particularly upsetting, especially for a trip I had been so looking forward to."

"I would sum up my experience at the hotel as being a 'curates egg' (good in parts). The good parts were the spa and the staff, who were very welcoming and attentive. What let this otherwise nice hotel down were the prices. I know when I booked what I was paying for the room (which was ok, although for the price I was expecting a bit more style), but the cost of the food and drinks was ridiculous. Again, I know that hotel food, etc is costly (don't really know why given that I imagine they source a lot of their products from the the same suppliers as other pub, restaurants, etc, in the area), but even so, the amount this hotel charges for 'anything' is off the scale. For example, a room service order of a bottle of beer, a glass of house wine, chips and some bread came to around £40. For bread read three 'small' slices and dollop of butter on a plate for £6, and a small (and I mean small) pot of chips for about the same price. Why? The dinner was equally expensive, with the crowning glory being the parfait starter, which for £12 got you two quarter slices of soggy toast smeared with a very runny substance that tasted of nothing but fresh air. £12!!!!! My advice is enjoy the spa, appreciate the staff but take a picnic and a packed lunch."