Peebles Hydro Hotel — Hotel in Great Britain

In general terms I have enjoyed my stay. The room was clean upon check-in, the food was good and the staff was friendly, but there were items on the menu that weren't available, certain hotel facilities closed without notice ("Not The Cocktail" Bar), or my room could not be cleaned daily. All of these problems point to a glaring understaffing that is becoming increasingly difficult to disguise.

Hotels based their workforce on attracting staff from other countries and as we all know, with Brexit that has come to an end. The staff that a hotel is capable of retaining must assume more workload for the same number of guests, so it is not possible to cover the same amount of services or the quality standard of yesteryear.

Customers must be aware that these shortcomings are the new normal in the post-Brexit era, so my criticism is not aimed at this hotel in particular, but at a general collapse in the sector. It is enough to look at negative opinions in other hotels and, in general terms, they all point to a service that cannot be satisfied due to an excessive workload of the staff.

In any case, my criticism would go not against Peebles Hydro, but against each of the clients who, in their blessed ignorance or deceived by false promises of a paradisiacal United Kingdom outside the Schengen Treaty, voted in favor of Brexit and thus bringing the situation that is presented to us now. Most of these voters were elderly, longing for a colonial and patriotic past with a non-European UK. Due to life circumstances, they are also the largest flow of clients in the hotel sector; the same ones who now complain that there are no clean towels in their room or that their favorite beer is not available. There are no towels in your room because the hotel cannot hire a Spanish Maria to clean the rooms and there is no beer because Dimitri, the Polish carrier who brings them, does not have a UK work visa either. Enjoy what you voted for.

The alternative is to hire young people who neither want to clean rooms nor can serve alcohol because in many cases they are minors.

In any case, the criticism that I do make of the hotel are two: First, charging the same price for my stay as before Brexit, despite the fact that I am now being affected by a lack of services. Although I understand that I am going to have to make sure that from now on, whatever hotel I go to, there will be a shortage of personnel with the problems that this entails, it would be fair for the hotels to reduce their prices to compensate. And two, adding a charge for tips automatically (although it is possible to claim the elimination of that payment at check out, it is still uncomfortable to see unexpected surcharges), which tarnishes the image of the hotel. A tip is paid when you are happy with the service or who provides it to you. Charging you in advance is more of an excuse to scratch more money from the guest than a gesture of appreciation for the quality of service that it is supposed to be.

In short, the hotel sector is going to have to reinvent itself and the government is going to have to facilitate access to workers from other countries in non-specialized professions. Otherwise, we will witness a progressive deterioration of the sector and of the perception that customers have of it, until someone with an innovative idea creates a start-up and takes in dissatisfied customers (AirBnB?). When that day comes, it will be too late for the hotel concept as we know it today to shine...

Loads and loads of potential with great facilities and some really pleasant staff, alot of younger folks learning the trade but that's totally fine they are well trained. However still cannot shake the feeling it's work in progress and doesn't reach the heights of its former glory days that are echoed in its refurbishment and historic documentation around the wall.

With prices for food and drink on the pricer side (noted that's par for the course most hotels given current situation) the food needs to be better. I say this particularly for this Hydro as in 2020 they had a standout gastronomy menu going towards fine dining in style and this was something that set the Hotel apart and was in fitting with excellent refurb of the dining hall and lounge areas. However this has sadly been replaced by a common denominator hotel menu of steak and grill food, pies and generic fish and potatoes dishes which if excellently executed could be fine even but they were just so so, the chips were of quality I'd expect from a mass chain pub

Rooms are lightly decorated with a retro contemporary style with some nice touches like original Anglepoise lamps but again the rooms lack that finishing touch which is really needs in such vast hotel with big rooms that is trying to be higher end that a typical chian hotel. Example the dark wood furniture is clear the same for before the refurbishment of rooms.

Parking is still inadequate given hotel has many rooms a spa, gin distillery and pool meaning guests and think they can have day trippers staying so sometimes find yourself searching for a space. cars squeezed in everywhere at the front detracting from the view.

The one lift is very small and accessed via old service corridor or after climbing the big set of stairs to reception desk, meaning getting luggage to and from rooms in such a big hotel is quite the slog. Ironically there is a old luggage elevator that doesn't appear to be in use for guests. Having that with a bellhop would actually be excellent and in keeping with hotels style and history.

Loads of space and comfy seating in lounges make for nice time sitting about with a small bar serving the area being quite fun.

A charming concession style sweet shop and gift store also add the that by gone era nostalgia trip but nice and shiny as they are without the more solid polish in fundamental areas they can feel bit gimmicky.

The pool and wet facilities area is a really strong selling point and staff there were also very welcoming and very helpful attitude.

All in all it could be a really gem of Peebles but with the pandemic, rising costs etc etc can't help but feel it got some of the wind knocked out of its sails on its way back from it's rundown past.

They clearly aiming to get a lot more families in and still try to cater to all which is commercially sensible but it might be at sacrifice of bit of higher end touch I feel the place...

It was actually difficult to rate this place as it is a grand old building that needs some TLC, quite noticeably in places but you can also see that the current owners are in the long process of giving it some TLC.

So it's not like the short comings are being ignored, they are being addressed.

The staff were all really nice and helpful.

Dinner was really good food, breakfast not so much, it was OK. There worst thing about breakfast was the burnt black tar they called coffee... there was nothing fresh about it. And the cooked elements of the breakfast, let's just say the veggie sausages were the highlight and that is coming from a meat lover.

And yet the previous night's dinner was superb. My other half had what he described as perfect duck and my steak was just how I liked it. The only thing that detracted from the dinner was the restaurant room itself... it felt a little like a school dinner hall with the wooden floors, wooden chairs and wide open space which I think used to be the ballroom. It wasn't quite indusive to a quiet, intimate meal.

The layout was not the best if you were using the spa facilities... you had to go down to the pool on one staircase, but to get to the spa you had to come back up walk through the main reception past everyone at the bar to go down a different flight of stairs... not something I would want to do in a robe even if it was a big fluffy one.

I saw one guest bare-footed and wet hair in her robe being stopped in the middle of everything by someone she knew and was talking. Maybe she felt comfortable chatting like this in front of what must have been ne a rly 100 people in and out of that public area... I know I wouldn't.

So we ended up taking our spa treatment without the pool as there was no way either of us were going to walk through a busy hotel in a state of undress. The spa itself was very nice but didn't have a proper reception area. That was a bit weird too. It was more of a back office with a computer than a reception area. Although they did have a nice relaxation room for before and after.

The room for the most part were very nice, although we had to plug the kettle in on the bedside table as there seemed to be a lack of plugs.

The bottom line was they had some really nice, luxurious touches... right next to things that were really basic things that should have been noticed by any staff member that happened to be walking by. I get the feeling they are trying really hard but not quite hitting the mark for their target market.

Would I go back? Maybe yes if there was a...