Best Gullane Hotels

We have just had a wonderful stay at this gorgeous hotel for Christmas. Our stay here felt like a home from home, very quiet and relaxing, very clean and attention to detail is excellent. It is a very comfortable hotel with cosy areas to relax in. The room was spacious, we booked a premium double and the bathroom was also large with Victorian style fittings and a lovely roll top bath. Everything ran smoothly and all the staff including the manager Ian were so polite and friendly, nothing was too much trouble. I can’t not mention the food which was absolutely exquisite and everything we had imagined it to be. We felt like welcome visitors rather than hotel guests. Thank you to all the staff who worked so hard over Christmas, it was truly appreciated! I’m sure we will return.

Chose to stay 2 nights to explore an area we were not familiar with and found this to be a very comfortable stay. All in relation to the cost paid, for an out of season stay we found this a good base to explore surrounding beaches, Gullane and North Berwick etc. I’m not into golf at all but if you are the whole area is just one golf course after another. The lodge itself is in the golf course/members club. The room facing the sea etc was very large and cosy. Shower room was piping hot. The bed was very large and extremely comfortable. Decor was fine, oak furniture etc. Solid and functional. I like a bath when out exploring so bit disappointing only showers but I knew this in advance and shower was good. Decor in restaurant / bar area nice and lovely Christmas lights and baubles hung on the windows gave a nice feeling. We ate two evening meals which were fine. Slightly on the expensive side for what they were. Breakfast included but could have been better. Fine if you are into full Scottish breakfasts which most golfers probably are but no choice of nice breads or pastries etc. Very handy for numerous beaches which I enjoyed with all the various rock formations and handy to visit wonderous woods light show in nearby Gosford house grounds that just happened to be on while we were there. Access to the lodge is a bit hidden and tricky on dark winter roads though.

We’ve visited several times over the years, but this weekend probably marks our last. James in concierge was superb, as was the overall reception team. However, the restaurant “refurb” is not good, the US style booths are out of place, and appear to have reduced capacity; they’ve certainly affected the ambiance. The dining experience was so noisy on Saturday night it was more akin to an inner city chain restaurant. Despite this obvious push for numbers Hotel guests struggled to get a reservation for dinner. We were given a booking after 9pm. I meandered to reception at 5.30pm thinking I’d have no problem for 7.45pm …oh well, rookies error! Anyway, the menu has morphed into a rather odd (&limited) selection of Italian plates, utterly incongruous to the overt Scottish fabric of the place. The rooms remain spacious & pleasant, but we struggled to understand the choice of wallpaper which has quite a claustrophobic effect!! Clearly it’s each to their own as others seem to appreciate it. The Marine is a beautiful hotel and (thankfully) the public areas remain a jewel in the crown, but bar & restaurant service was frustratingly poor. Seemed to be a combination of inexperienced staff & limited leadership. My impression is this hotel will eventually lose its loyal clientele & become a “one visit” tourist spot, which is a shame because it has all the attributes of being a trusted hotel in that part of Scotland.

I feel rotten giving this hotel a bad review as the people working there were lovely. However, we had a big shock when we arrived as the photos on the website bear no resemblance to the hotel. We had booked online a 'standard double with super king bed' and had later called the hotel and requested a shower rather than a bath and the lady who answered said she would make sure we had a 'walk in shower'. Exhausted after a very long journey we climbed the steep stairs (no lift) and were a bit shocked to see the room. The size was what we would think would pass for a single sized room. The bed was no more than a small king sized on a double headboard. There was a relatively modern open hanging wardrobe with shelving to the side; a desk and two slightly grubby looking upholstered chairs. A very small tv was on the wall opposite the bed and to get to the other side of the bed was a bit of a squeeze along the wall with the windows overlooking the 'view' which was the dirty conservatory windows as seen in other travellers photos. The carpet was worn with a large section where it joined another part completely threadbare. The bathroom with 'walk in shower' was extremely small. On opening the door there was a sink immediately to the left and the toilet next to it with a towel ring in between. Immediately opposite the loo was the shower which could better be described as a 'step up' rather than a 'walk in' shower as the shower was in a deep cubicle which in turn was mounted above the skirting boards, which is fine if you are tall but not so much at 5ft 3 !! The shower needed re-grouting as it was pretty old and the enamel chipped; the sink had several cracks in it; there was nowhere to hang or dry towels and there were holes where the loo roll holder once would have been. Worst of all there was a shower curtain rather than a glass door/panel. Our initial reaction was to check out to find something else, however, we did not know the area and had an event to attend early the next day so exhaustion won the day. The bed was clean, as was the linen and pillows so we stayed. We ate in the restaurant that night and the food was pleasant enough and the service attentive and friendly. Limited menu but all cooked nicely and presented well. We slept but the room was very hot (day and night) while the rest of the hotel felt pleasantly cool. Breakfast was OK ..I'm not a breakfast person so the limited choice was not a problem for me but the tea was stewed in a thermos type tea urn and not good so I stuck to juice. After an early start and a full day we returned late and as we were to be out at another event all the next day until late at night I persuaded my partner that packing up and trying to find somewhere else was just not worth it. We were stunned to hear that another guest at the event we attended had booked into the same hotel a year or so ago and had the same encounter..even think they had the same room as us as they described it perfectly! To put it k