Fairmont St Andrews

We stayed the night at the Fairmont St Andrews to celebrate a 21st. Lovely place & feels luxurious as you walk in. Afternoon tea was fabulous - thanks to Joseph & meghana for looking after us so well …be prepared to take cakes home!!! However don’t order room service - we had to send our pizzas back uneaten. Reception handled this well the next morning & removed it from our bill. All in though it was a lovely stay and we will go back.

I have been a member of the gym and spa at the Fairmont for five years and have always enjoyed using the facilities. Unfortunately, after visiting for the first time since the recent gym refurbishment, I feel the upgrade is actually a significant downgrade. The new layout appears poorly thought out from a practical training perspective. Basic exercises are now difficult to perform. For example, I attempted to do a seated cable row using a bench, but the bench continually slid across the floor, making the exercise impossible to perform safely and effectively. It feels as though a large amount of money has been spent on replacing equipment for the sake of having newer, more modern-looking machines, when the previous equipment was perfectly adequate. A few additional machines may have enhanced the gym, but a complete overhaul seems unnecessary given the result. What is particularly frustrating is that while substantial investment has been made in new equipment, long-standing issues remain unresolved. Shower gel and shampoo are frequently unavailable in the changing rooms, and the temperature is often so warm that you begin sweating again immediately after showering. The refurbishment gives the impression that the gym was designed by people with limited understanding of how a functional training space should be laid out and used. The only aspects that continue to stand out positively are the excellent staff and the spa facilities. Unless improvements are made, I believe the gym risks losing a number of long-term members. At £115 per month, members should expect a gym that is both well-equipped and thoughtfully designed, and unfortunately the current setup falls short of that standard.

We enjoyed a lovely 3-night stay at the Fairmont St. Andrews in mid-May. Colleen at the front desk was very personable and gave us a quick run down of the resort amenities upon check in. We ran into her multiple times throughout our stay and can't say enough about her exceptional customer service skills in making sure all of our needs were attended to. Although we didn't golf on this trip, we did take advantage of the shuttle into town each day we were there. Kevin in the concierge was great at scheduling the shuttle for us and providing recommendations for things to do in town. The breakfast each day was amazing and the best that we experienced during our 2 weeks in Scotland. We also enjoyed a nice lunch one day at the St. Andrew's Bay Clubhouse & Grill. The view of the sea and the surrounding golf course was fabulous. Like other reviewers, we have to agree that the food and service at La Cucina was only average and not what we have come to expect after stays at Carton House in Ireland and the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess in Arizona. Our room was clean and spacious, the bed was extremely comfortable, and the large soaking tub was a nice luxury. Overall, we enjoyed our stay very much and would choose the Fairmont St. Andrews again.

I am a Fairmont loyalist. Whenever I am planning a vacation I like to see if a Fairmont is in the area, and if there is, there’s a 99% chance I’m staying at that Fairmont. For this trip to St. Andrews it seemed like a no-brainer to stay at the Fairmont St. Andrews. I’ve stayed at six Fairmonts in North America, this was my first stay at a Fairmont “across the pond.” The good: the room was clean as usual (except for a stain on the bedskirt which looked like blood, pic included. We notified the front desk, but nothing came of it), the staff was very friendly and helpful. The bad: the food situation. We went to the Italian restaurant our first night for a light bite. We ordered a pizza. The pizza took 45 minutes to arrive at our table. We were told the sports bar next door had a private event and that’s what the hold up was. Not sure how one relates to the other, maybe it’s the same kitchen? The server at our table admitted it was her first night. When we asked her for the check, she brought the check promptly and stood by the table watching me fill out my room number and extra gratuity (we did), her supervisor was also standing tableside. It was a weird feeling being watched. Then we made our way over to the bar area for a nightcap. This was weird for us because they had a bar but no stools to sit at the bar. They wanted you to sit in the lounge area instead. We ordered a couple of drinks which took 20 minutes to arrive and when we got the check we signed for it. The server didn’t understand my question, luckily I saved by a Scottish server who did understand my question. When the server came to pick up the check, she opened the check up in front of us as if to see if we left any extra gratuity (we did), another weird feeling as a customer. The next night, we went back to the bar - same server. I asked for a Moscow Mule. After 20 minutes the drinks finally came. There was hardly anyone in the bar, so I’m not sure why it took 20 minutes. When I tasted my drink, it clearly wasn’t a Moscow Mule. The server simply didn’t understand. We tried the sport bar, Zephyr’s. Finally, a bar with stools (or so we thought). The friendly bartender asked if we wanted a cocktail and continued to read off a list of cocktails. I instinctively asked if he knew how to make any other cocktails. He said no. We left. The hotel is not in the town, it’s about a 5-10 minute car ride, you do feel isolated because you can’t walk anywhere. Of all the Fairmonts we have stayed at we would rank the Fairmont St. Andrews last. We anticipate coming back to Saint Andrews for more golf but it’s very unlikely we will stay at this hotel again. My suggestion for management would be if you’re going to train staff to take orders or drink orders, they should fully understand the job at hand. The staff we encountered weren’t trained properly, nor did they have the best understanding of the language/culture.

What a disappointment our recent stay at Fairmont St Andrews was. We’ve been guests at the hotel at least twice a year for many years and can’t believe how down hill it’s gone. On arrival, we noticed that the hotel was extremely quiet. We were in fact the only guests in the the lobby and bar area. This set alarms ringing straight away. The stay for 2 nights including breakfast cost over £850. Unfortunately, several aspects of our experience fell far below the standard we expected from a hotel of its reputation. One of the main reasons for our dissatisfaction was the lack of available dining facilities during our stay. The Clubhouse restaurant would not accept lunch bookings due to a private function, which was never mentioned at the time of booking our stay. In addition, the main sports bar was also closed all day on the Saturday due to another supposed private function, despite us not witnessing any event taking place. This meant that we couldn’t watch the Scottish Cup Final or enjoy the pool tables/golf simulator. This significantly limited the facilities available to guests and was extremely frustrating. We were also disappointed with the breakfast experience. The service had changed from buffet-style to ordering hot meals, which was not ideal. My husband specifically ordered a breakfast without beans, yet it arrived with beans included. The plate was then taken away and returned with the beans simply scraped off rather than a fresh breakfast being prepared, which was unacceptable. It then had to be replaced again. By the time it arrived, I had already finished my breakfast and my husband had been put off his. Another issue was with a pina colada cocktail I ordered. It arrived in a short glass containing a very large ice cube, leaving hardly any actual drink in the glass. This was charged at £16! This was very poor value and not presented to an acceptable standard. After complaining, I requested this to be removed from our bill, and although it was eventually taken off, it should not have required a complaint in the first place. The bar manager stated that because it wasn’t on their menu, they were actually doing us a favour by making it at all. The lunch was terrible. 2 bowls of “vegetable” soup which had absolutely no taste to it, 2 fish & chips (1 slice of fish with 7 chunky chips) no peas etc, 2 drinks each and 1 dessert was £176! Not worth a quarter of that price. The bar manager was extremely rude and no help at all. Overall, we were very disappointed with the facilities, service, and overall experience during our stay. We chose Fairmont St Andrews expecting a high-quality experience, but unfortunately this was not reflected in our visit. We will not be back to what was once our favourite place.