Rusacks St Andrews — Hotel in Great Britain

The Rusacks, St Andrews 26th-28th Dec 2021

Arrival: Nice friendly welcome at reception. A cup of warm mulled wine to heat up after the journey. Then assistance with taking bags to the room and shown how TV / AC work etc.

Breakfast: Served in The Bridge. Food was EXCELLENT. Good choice of breakfast options to order from the menu. Full Scottish cooked breakfast each morning were magnificent, especially sat with a view of the 1st/18th holes. The tea 🫖 was first class also. Sadly, on enquiring, the staff weren’t able to confirm which brand of tea was being used (would loved to have known so could enjoy it at home also!).

Lunch: Never had lunch at the hotel, was out and about.

Evening Meal: Ate one evening in The Bridge as sadly the EIGHTEEN was closed during our stay. As disappointed we were not to be able to dine in Eighteen the food and experience we received in The Bridge was first class. Our Waiter was a young man from Portugal and service was excellent. Oh and the Cinnamon Poached Pear for dessert was WOW👌🏼

Facilities/Entertainment: Loved the snooker room for relaxing after our meal and enjoying a few cocktails. Dog friendly; nice selection of treats for our dog in arrival along with some rules for him to follow in a nice letter and a comfy bed was provided for him to sleep in meaning we didn’t need to take our own one. The text service via reception was a great facility, we were able to text reception (whilst we were at the beach) to chase-up delivery of the dog bed to our room and to confirm that reception had a towel available to wipe down the dog following our return to the hotel after a day at the beach. The text facility was also used to cancel a drinks/table reservation on our second evening when my wife was suffering a bad migraine and reception not only took care of the cancellation of our table reservation but also offered to assist with any pain killers - nice touch by REMI the Nightshift Assistant Mgr.

Staff: Everyone of them were very professional in their attitude and service. Everyone went out their way to make you feel welcome and make your stay a great experience. Special thanks to PAULA for assisting some issues with a dinner reservation prior to our arrival via fast and friendly Email communication.

Room: Booked into a Deluxe Double with Balcony and Sea view room overlooking the 1st & 18th holes, the room had a balcony which even during the middle of winter we used on the odd occasion to enjoy some fresh air in the morning and our dog enjoyed going out ‘to patrol’ and nosey and passers-by. The room was of a generous size, the bed was large and comfortable c/w good quality pillows.

COVID: Hand sanitiser bottles positioned throughout the hotel and staff were reminding guests whenever they weren’t wearing a mask.

WOULD I RETURN: 100% I would. Infact we’ve already booked up to return for a couple of nights the week before...

TL;DR: did not meet expectations. We stayed at Rusacks for three nights in early September. I had high hopes for the hotel based on prior reviews but unfortunately our stay fell short. Starting with the positives, the concierge and front desk staff were all very lovely and warm. I also really enjoyed the location of the hotel (close to the beach and town) and the decor was very cozy. The first day when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to be placed in a room on the third floor in the new part of the building. This actually turned out to be what has to be the worst room in the hotel because it is right under the bar and we could hear people stomping around past midnight upstairs and dragging furniture. I called down to the front desk and they said they would speak with the bar staff but it didn’t really get any better. The next morning we were able to move rooms but the only other option available was on the ground floor and was smaller than our previous room. Luckily it was quieter but around 730a each morning we could hear the sound of a lift or something next door (like groaning pipes or an old lift) that was really loud. You could also hear every person on the street and we had to keep the sheer blinds closed most of the time so people couldn’t look in (so we didn’t really get to admire the view much). The free breakfast was a nice touch in theory but really varied in quality day to day. One morning my boyfriend got pancakes that were stone cold. On the second day, we tried having lunch at the Bridge restaurant for something easy. It was not busy in the restaurant but when we got to the front of the line we were turned away, with the host claiming it was ‘reservation only’. We asked the front desk if that was really how it worked since we hadn’t been previously advised about this policy and the front desk staff said no and found the restaurant manager to get us a table. While we appreciated the gesture, being turned away left a bad taste in our mouth and the table we were sat at eventually was wobbly and the chairs were all broken. It just feels like the hotel is really leaning into the name and reputation and doesn’t really care much for the actual details of its customers’ stays. For example, I had reached out a week before our stay to enquire about any suggestions to surprise my boyfriend for his birthday during our stay and never got a reply. I am not sure I would recommend Rusacks to people going to St. Andrews. There must be other hotels where you actually get your...

Rusacks is in the middle of it all in St Andrews, convenient to everything. Stayed here as part of a golf group of 16. The restaurants in the hotel are great. 18 Restaurant is a must do, excellent food, service and atmosphere. Best view around of holes 18, 1 and St Andrews Bay. One Under Bar is a great lunch stop, lively with plenty of TVs showing sports. The breakfast included with the room was outstanding as was the service. The room was somewhat small, the bed was comfortable, but some issues that justify the three star rating. First, rooms 16 - 20 and 24 - 30 face the street. I had room 17. As you can see from the picture there is a 20 foot distance from the windows to the road. The vehicle noise is excessive. Some members of my group were in rooms 16 - 21, and four people moved to other rooms. I was unable to move due to lack of availability, so had four nights of restless, limited sleep. A friend had room 21 which faces a service dock, due to the constant activity there he moved rooms. I can’t believe for the room rate we paid the hotel assigned us basement level street facing rooms. Second, the day after we checked in, there was no hot water in this room block. I only experienced this one day, others in my group had the issue on other days or had intermittent hot water. I did report this issue to the front desk, as did others in the group, and we received no follow up. Third, when our group of 16 checked in, there was one person working the front desk and one bellman to help with bags. She worked quickly to check us in but it still took 35 minutes to get the group assigned to rooms. The hotel knew the group size and time of arrival so the lack of staffing was puzzling. Fourth, and this is shown by the pictures, there was mold in the bathroom. And yes, that is a spider to the right of the mold. Despite these issues, I would give Rusacks another chance and stay here again. The location can’t be beat and those in the group who had interior or Old Course facing rooms had a much better stay. I would advise other travelers to refuse a room assignment in 16 - 21 or 24 -30 and have made this same recommendation to Celtic Golf. Finally, I responded to the hotel’s survey and received a typical corporate speak response. It isn’t cheap to stay at Rusacks, and I expected better than limited sleep, a cold shower, mold and spiders. At a minimum the hotel should install better noise insulating windows in these rooms next...