Mar Hall Golf & Spa Resort — Hotel in Great Britain

I recently spent 2 nights at Mar Hall, and it was a mixed bag, to say the least. It certainly wasn’t a 5* experience.

First off, let's talk about the positives. It is situated in a lovely location with stunning views. Just look at the attached photos. It’s the kind of place where you should just be able to sit back and soak in the beauty of the surroundings. The spa was excellent. There is plenty of parking and it has a generally quiet atmosphere which would (usually) make it a nice escape from the usual hustle and bustle.

However, onto the bits that made my stay stressful. My first room had a security flaw – I noticed the window on the ground level couldn’t be locked. Not the best feeling as a solo female traveller. I called reception and Tony from maintenance was sent over quickly. He sorted it out, and reassured me that it could now be locked. I was happy for the rest of the afternoon, and made my way over to the hall for some fine dining. The food was delicious, and the service was excellent. Absolutely no bad things to say about the dining experience.

After dinner, I made my way back to the room and after a couple of hours it was time for bed. But the roof in my room sprang a small leak! Now picture me calling up reception and then packing up all my stuff into a big bin bag and moving rooms (which felt miles away) in the dead of night. Jim, who was the night staff, was a super friendly guy, who helpfully carried my bin bag full of clothes across the hotel.

However, the new room was like a sauna. Tony from maintenance told me the next day that it backed on to the sauna which explains the heat. It was unbearably hot. The window had also been left slightly open with the light on when I arrived, inviting a city of little flies in. I spent an hour fly-squishing well into the early hours of the night. I just wanted to sleep at that point. The window didn’t lock in place (same issue as the other room) so cooling the room over night was pretty much out of the equation, as I prioritised my safety over my levels of heat. I didn’t have the heart to call reception again. I got maybe 2-3 hours sleep. To top it off, once I did fall asleep, the room was located right next to a door that slammed. I was stirring from about 6:30am onwards with people loudly talking as they passed my high-traffic room and then slammed the door behind them.

After a horrendously sleepless night, I asked to move rooms again. I had to drive for 7.5 hours the next day so I needed a good night sleep. The staff were understanding, but I had to wait for hours and hours. Alan, the head concierge, was a star throughout all of this – very attentive, understanding, and helpful and offered to refund the first night.

The third room I was allocated was nice, but smelt damp. Alan had left me a few fudges and a note in the room to apologise for the trouble. Later on, I had an issue with the service. I asked for bottled water and enquired about room service delivering a dessert to the room. I spoke to a lady at around 9:15pm. Someone else dropped off the water, and they took my dessert order. She rushed me because the kitchen was closing. By 11pm, there was no sign of my order. I realised it wasn’t coming. No call, no knock, no note, nothing. I had asked for a confirmation call from the lady covering the concierge desk, which I never received. When checking out, it seems that I wasn’t charged. But it was extremely frustrating to say the least.

Alan, the concierge, had kindly offered to take the first night off my bill due to all the hassle. However, this didn’t happen. I was charged the full amount – this was something I only noticed on my statement after getting home, prompting me to write this review as I was frustrated by the constant failings.

My experience was far from a five-star experience. It felt like everything that could go wrong, went wrong. I’m not sure if this is a common experience, or if mine was unique. There is potential here for a great stay, but I certainly didn’t feel like I had stayed in a...

As it was our first wedding anniversary my wife and i decided to stay at a 5* star hotel for the night so choose Mar Hall. Looking through the pictures and the contents of the website made the place sound and look real special with the views and how luxurious the bedrooms looked. On arrival at the hotel we were greeted by friendly staff who couldn't do more to help, having collected our keys we headed for our room as i just wanted to dump my bags and head down for a pint as we had got caught in the traffic coming through from edinburgh. After walking for what seemed like quarter of a mile to our room through a few corridors and doors which still had breakfast trays laying around and wine glasses sitting around on the window ledges we eventually reached our room. First thing i noticed on entering the room was there were no views out of the two windows, one window was frosted over in white and the other window looked on to a brick wall with a tree growing over the top of it and the paint on the windows was peeling and the glass on the frosted window which was cracked. The room was beautifully decorated and had all the usual mod cons, tv, dresser, wardrobe, tea tray, iron etc... The bathroom was spacious and was to a good clean standard but was very cold, probably due to there being no heating on. Having looked over the room we decided to head down to the bar for a drink and have a look at the evening menu, when we eventually found the bar and while ordering our drinks i was left disappointed by the fact the was no lager or beer on tap in fact there was pretty much nothing on tap :( all you had to choose from was the bottles in the fridge which mostly consisted of wine or bottled cider or there large range of whiskeys sitting on the optics. Needless to say by this point in the day i just wanted something wet so choose to have a bottle of cider as did my wife, we sat beside the window which had a stunning view out over the Clyde, as myself and my wife aren't really cider drinkers and having looked at the menu and found everything in it real expensive we decided to find a local bar so headed out. Arriving back at the hotel after having a lovely meal and a few drinks at the local bar which cost less than paying for one meal at the hotel we decided to head up to the room for a coffee, well that's when i found our first problem as all we could find to fill the kettle was 2 bottles of water in the fridge of which only one we could really use to fill the kettle as the other was sparking water which meant only one of us could have a cuppa unless we wanted to fill the kettle from the bathroom tap which we both didn't really want to do. After finishing my coffee and having watched some television we decided to take a walk around the grounds so headed out back along the quarter mile worth of corridors only to find the breakfast trays still laying around and the glasses still on the window ledges. One of the windows in the first corridor nearest to our room was slightly open so we decided to have a look through as you couldn't see anything through them when closed due to the white frosting only to find our self's looking on to a builders yard which is obviously the reason the windows are frosted. The views while walking around the grounds where that stunning that you just couldn't help taking pictures, we even found a lovely spot with a table and chairs to sit and take in the scenery for a while. As it was getting dark we decided to head up to our room, that's when i first used the bathroom. Not that there was anything wrong with the bathroom, the toilet and everything worked like it should have but it was later on while sleeping that the second problem occurred. Drip Drip Drip all night long every five seconds, the sound of the toilet filling back up :( . Apart from the drip we had a comfortable sleep until being woke in the morning to heavy machinery driving up and down the side road running along side our room. breakfast was...

My wife and I recently stayed at Mar Hall for one night to celebrate her birthday. I just want to inform you of our disappointment for the entirety of the stay. These issues extend from our room quality, to the hotel facilities and even breakfast.

The whole stay was a massive let down. Firstly, there was no pre warning when booking of the hotels ongoing a refurbishment or mentioned and upon arrival at check in. This was extremely misleading. We were only aware from visual inspections at arrival that parts of the building were closed off at certain parts and were run down in other areas. The hotel requires a lot of maintenance and is very tired looking. We understand that this is slow process but renovations but me made aware to guests before booking.

First impressions were not great at all. We were given room 54 which took a long time to reach as it was on the other side of the hotel, we were there to relax and felt like we never got a chance, with all the walking around. The lift was also broken shortly after arrival. We stood waiting for ages until a porter came to notify us. This added time when moving around and trying to navigate a way back to reception.

That evening, we decided to sit outside for a drink, and it took 30 minutes just for someone to notice us and take our order.

The bathtub in our room had a lot of maintenance issues, the bathtub handles on the taps were loose and one even came completely off, and a large screw was completely exposed. If anyone slips then it could be fatal accident as it was sharp and pointed upwards. We have video footage of this. The toilet did not flush properly, which required multiple attempts and the fan extractor was also not working. We were left with a very wet and difficult to use bathroom. I did ask Victoria at reception for another room but we were being quoted £150 to change rooms. I refused to pay extra as the whole experience infuriated me.

The spa heated loungers were also not working and only 2 out of the bunch had any heat to use and sit comfortably whilst waiting to use the hot tub.

Most infuriatingly at 6am we were awoken loudly by staff member sliding an invoice through the hotel room door and whilst walking away banging the hallway doors. This invoice was incorrect had room 55 details, which totalled over £100 in expenses of facials, spa use and a bottle of taittinger. This is completely unacceptable as it breaches GDPR as it had the person's details on there. I dread to think where our own personal details may have ended up.

The next morning, we got up for breakfast, and for a five star hotel, i expected breakfast made to order, not a make shift buffet with no vegetarian options. We asked a member of staff if they could make some potato scones and veggie sausages, and it took 45 minutes for them to come out, at this point our other food we plated up was already freezing and the hot drinks no longer hot. For a five star hotel and the money we paid, the whole experience was a shambles. There was no labelling of items and cross contamination of utensils was rife. The buffet needed better management and quicker replenishment for cleaning and refills.

Upon checkout, I informed two members of staff about the loose screws in the bathtub. We were just offered another stay at a "preferred rate" but it wasn't enough. I also presented them with the incorrect invoice and mentioned there was another rooms personal details on there. The morning staff were very slow to react and did not bother to apologise or stress that we had not been charged. We had to clarify that matter before leaving. They simply took the invoice away. This is incredibly unprofessional. For a hotel that prides itself on its 5 star status, history, and famous guests, it was extremely disappointing for such a...