The Waverley Castle Hotel

Professional staff, courteous & friendly, from the front of house staff, the girls in the bar to the waiting staff in the restaurant - all first class. The food was very good (3 course evening meal £20) and the full Scottish breakfast - perfect. As far as I'm aware -The hotel is undergoing some renovations and my room was a bit tired, the carpet, fixtures and fittings all showing signs of age - this didn't spoil my stay as the room was spacious, warm with a comfy bed and hot shower. I would stay here again.

Nothing.

It’s location& quiet surroundings. Has a lift and spacious rooms

A grand old building with large rooms in beautiful setting

We arrived and checked in with ease. The location was good and the staff were friendly and helpful.

We checked in and the first thing we noticed was the smell. The whole hotel, stairways, hallways, lifts and room smelled like dirty water and musty. The room wasn't the cleanest but it was ok. The soap dispenser didn't work properly but we figured out how to get soap. We then left for the evening for our event. When we came back late at night our room was full of loads of little flies. They were all over the window the wall round the light and all over one of the beds. We tried to wipe them off the bed and they kept coming back. They were in the bags and clothes We had. We called the night manager on the number found at reception and he came to inspect. He asked if we had opened the window. We explained we hadn't touched the window and he managed to put his hand behind the frame without opening it showing a hole and entry point we didn't know was there. He was going to just spray the flies and leave us. After explaining I was asthmatic and my friend had chest issues and we couldn't spray the room and stay in it, nor did we want to stay in the room with all the flies he informed us they were fully booked and would have to see if they could move us. Thankfully they found another room but it was a double instead of a twin. Me and my friend are nuerodivergent so sharing a bed was very difficult for us and we hardly slept. We went for breakfast in the morning but it was not great, some of the food was cold and didn't taste nice. Upon checkout we tried to speak to the staff on the desk about our issues and he seemed disinterested in the issues we had. We just left but we're extremely disappointed with the whole experience. I would not recommend. I have uploaded pictures and due to the light you will have to zoom in to see the amount of flies.

Dear Sir/Madam, I am writing to raise a complaint regarding our experience during our recent stay. We broke down outside Jedburgh, around 300 miles from home, and, due to the considerable delays and problems we experienced with the RAC, we had no choice but to find somewhere to stay at very short notice. Thankfully, your hotel had availability, so I booked through Booking.com as this was cheaper than booking directly with the hotel. We eventually arrived at around 7pm, having spent six hours at the roadside and having had nothing to eat all day. On arrival, I asked whether it would be possible to get something to eat, only to be told that this wasn't possible because all the dinner reservations had already been taken. I find this particularly disappointing because there was nothing on the Booking.com listing to indicate that dinner had to be booked in advance. Had this information been made clear at the time of booking, I would have called the hotel and made a reservation. Instead, after an already extremely long and stressful day, we arrived at the hotel reasonably expecting that we would be able to have a meal, only to find that this wasn't possible. I fully appreciate that the restaurant may have been busy and that reservations are necessary. However, it is unreasonable to expect guests to know that dinner must be booked in advance when this is not clearly communicated during the booking process. I strongly suggest that this information is made much more prominent on Booking.com and in any other booking information provided to guests. This would allow customers to make the necessary arrangements before arriving and would prevent other guests from being placed in the same disappointing situation.

The food was of decent quality.

The beds are due for renewal. Left the property with backpain after 2 nights.

Spacious. Both room and communal areas.

Hot water not very hot. Shower only warm.

Lovely setting. Rooms functional and clean .staff and hotel warm and inviting.

As we were self drive travellers a bit of a wait for breakfast

Location

Bath length

Goede lokatie

Our stay was kind of last minute decision as we had to change our travel plans and this was only accommodation on our way available. It is a hotel where mainly elderly people travel for their vacation with some travel agency, so it has a certain old school vibe to it. The hotel had obviously seen some better days, but the beds were comfortable, there was a shower with hot water and it was very quiet around. We had a nice evening walk down to the river.

Hotel generally need some refurbishment, but rooms offer the basic comfort. You can have dinner or breakfast, but we found it quite expensive, so we did not have any.

The dining room and breakfast were good, the staff friendly and the grounds beautiful.

The room was clean but was decorated like a nineteenth century hospital - no pictures on the wall or colour of any sort. Single beds when we'd requested a double. It felt corporate.

We had a family room, which was massive and had plenty of room for us all. The beds were so comfy and the shower was great. The staff were super friendly and very helpful. Lovely location as well.

Our room was right above the kitchen and the staff were blaring the music at 6am.

Choice of food on menu, special meals had to be ordered at Breakfast time difficult if you did not arrive until afternoon also choice of menu at dinner, all seems to be geared for the coach tours now

The breakfast was poor and overall poor effort made around the hotel

Most things

Nicely presented hotel in a good location

Location lovely, nice ball room, nice dining room

Just a bit dated and smells damp

Die Lage war für unseren Zwischenstopp gut. Das Personal war freundlich.

Die Sauberkeit: bei unserer Ankunft lagen Chipskrümel auf dem Teppichboden im Zimmer. Der Zustand des Zimmers und des Badezimmers: veraltete, zugige Fenster, Salpeter an der Badezimmerwand. Das Frühstück: matschiger Toast, Orangensaft aus dem Spender war stark mit Wasser verdünnt und verzuckert. Die Fotos im Internet versprechen deutlich mehr.

Room was comfortable

No dinner when we arrived a 19.40 after 250 mile drive and not much effort to accommodate us. Breakfast was not early enough for people upon business.

L’amabilité L’espace La situation

It's a really nice hotel. I think it's in the process of a re-vamp. Everything you need is on site.

It is an old building, so the floor boards are squeaky.

The location and the grounds

Old

I stayed here for one night while doing the NC500 on my motorcycle. Plenty of free parking available, nice and flat for the bike and shielded from the road by trees. Check in and check out were very fast and easy. Excellent value for money. The place looks to be run by "Alpha Holidays", a coach holiday company and caters for large groups of coach holiday makers. For an extra £20, I got a full three course evening meal. For that you get a choice of 5 starters, 3 mains and 5 deserts, plus tea or coffee. Excellent value ! The food was tasty and hot. What really stood out was the speed that it comes out of the kitchen, minutes from ordering to it being in front of you. The service looks like it is run with military precision. All the staff were friendly and cheerful. The building is old, but when you read up about the history of the place it is fascinating. There was a folder in reception that told you all about the building and what it had been used for. Yes, it looks a bit tired in places, but wouldn't you if you had been around since the 1800's ? Plus, each night there is entertainment laid on in the ballroom. Definitely recommend and well worth a visit.

Nothing

Basic hotel & good value. Location was very good.

N/S

Nice

Nil

Simple accommodation and decent for the price. Staff were great. Parking for the bikes was safe. Easy to access. Check in and out was good. As it should be for a hotel.

Rooms were somewhat dated but this didn’t spoil our stay.

A beautiful setting ,quiet, off the road. Clean and comfortable room.

A walk in shower would have been preferably for my disabled wife who cannot “climb” into a bath Breakfast would have been good if one ( or in our case two) could have been served quicker - a 50 minutes wait. Unfortunately priority seemed to have been given to coach tour guests - presumably to feed them and get them on their way. The same thing happened the following day - Monday breakfast when I actually stood up to attract attention - I was blattently ignored whilst the coach people around us were coming in after us and being served. I had mentioned this to management on the Sunday but, of course, the money is coming from coach tour numbers and not the private citizen. I believe the manager was there when I mentioned this problem and as he was part of the team serving o the Monday my complaint obviously bore no fruition as he blatantly ignore us also. This is obviously a hotel to ignore in the future.

Friendly staff quite

N/A

Good

Good

Room 218 was excellent 👌 After we were transferred to it. However, the room prior was 314 which was not fit for hiring out. Wallpaper falling of the wall black mould coming through the wall under the window, outside the window ledge was absolutely disgusting with loads of bird dropping and the small toilet you could not seriously call it a toilet, very small with no window and a fan on the ceiling that sounded like a helicopter taking off. Entertainment? If your 70 + you will love it below 70 maybe not. Entertainer was so poor on Saturday night he was meant to finish at 11pm but 10.20pm he walked off probably due to no audience participation. On a plus not hotel is spending money on it and you can see improvements, Bar staff are excellent and a credit to the hotel..However smell of dampness at reception is noticeable Breakfast is OK but can do with more staff as timing from 8am to 9am just doesn't work logically Staff try there best but take the flack from guests needlessly. And mealtimes at night Menu doesn't give you much choice But for £20.00 for 3 course + Tea/Coffee maybe this is how the price is achievable.

This review may read negative but loads of improvements are noticeable. However, there is loads more that is needed. Paying Customers just be aware that Alfa Tour Customers certainly get priority, possibly due to the timing of excursions. I have visited a couple of Times and will come back BUT hope to see continued improvement.

Breakfast was excellent, a very good selection

They are in the process of refurbishing. Some of the public areas were in need of a little smartening up.

Some of the staff were great,but others didn't seem to care.

Room was tiny,I am quite tall and couldn't use toilet correctly as the bathroom was so small

We have stayed here many times, the staff are always courteous and helpful. Initially, we were allocated rooms which were, small, tired, with oppressive views. But recently, we have stayed in lovely rooms, lots of space, and sumptuous furnishings. (Rooms 306 and 218).

Breakfast, could be improved by cooking the sausages on both sides, not keeping the bacon warm prior to serving, and making sure the eggs are cooked (including the yolks).

Staff brilliant couldn't do enough

At the age of 71, I didn't like climbing four flights of stairs to room 313. It's my fault, really I should have told them.

Friendly staff Good breakfast

Limited menu for dinner

The staff were very polite and professional.

Lots of things. The room was not great. The toilet was positioned in front of the shower and there was not enough room to actually sit on it without your knees touching the shower cubicle. Also, there was a sliding door between the main room and the bathroom but the door had come off its rail and I had to stop it falling into my wife as she tried to move it. I managed to successfully fit it back in place and now it works. The shower head would not stay up in an ideal position, so I had to keep moving it back into position. The breakfast was not too bad, but the table we were told to sit at was not cleaned and items were missing from it like serviettes, sugar etc. There were other issues too.

sempre perfetto colazione buonissima e servizi e camere perfetti siamo stati anche 10 anni fa una garanzia

nulla

Decent room for price. Nice brekkie selection

Sone dated decor.

Rooms have been redecorated and re carpeted.

Breakfast was not brilliant.

Nice staff great location nice rooms

Room service would be great

The staff were great and happy to help.

Unfortunately the hotel was being refurbished.

Clean good WiFi and shower

The beds were small 2 single beds in a large room were U could fit 2 doubles the bed wasn't very wide

Location.

Ongoing works that where understandably. Old buildings need work but we were asked to move our car 4 times. Were offered free breakfast but Fire Alarm meant we had to leave the building and time delay forced us to leave early. This is an old building and factor in that there are ongoing works.

Super friendly staff.

It would have been great to know I had booked a tour bus hotel! Bit or a surprise when I got down to dinner. And it would have been nice to know there was building work underway. The builder on the scaffolding outside my room got a surprise when I opened my curtains!

Convenient location. Very helpful and knowledgeable check in staff

Nothing

Nice place , carpets and doors really need update it's 2026

It was clean the bed was comfortable and special liked the black out curtains.

The shower was small I am 6ft 2in tall woman and I could not bend down to wash my legs off or feet.

Didn't like a single thing at this awful hotel. It is so bad and the rooms need upgrading, full of old coach people. Did not even feel like eating their bfast. Floorboards creeper, the single beds were so small. The lifts were all battered. Couldn't wait to get out of that hotel. It wasn't even cheap. Dont stay here. Sorry for this review. No water in the room no phone. Room was Mike's away whilst I had walking problem. I was so miserable there for two nights.

Nothing nice about this hitel what so ever. Should be 2 stars.

Staff were incredibly friendly and helpful. Location is ideal for a countryside escape. Short walk to Melrose, walking distance to the train station. Breakfast was delicious. Games room was enjoyable and good fun. Communal toilet doors have antibacterial handles which is unique. Bar sells local Tempest Brewery. Would recommend trying this.

Early check out time. Meal times incredibly restricted for private guests with breakfast served between 0800-0900. Dinner times only option was 1800 or 1830 with booking for dinner to be made at reception the day of. £20 for 3 course limited menu which changes daily. Aimed more at tour groups rather than private guests. Scaffolding directly outside window with no notice of building works and lack of privacy from the construction work. Bathroom is small with anyone over 5'8 would struggle to sit on the loo without being crammed in between the bowl and the shower. Bathroom had a sliding door. Room was very warm but window could not open fully as on a door chain. A fan was provided by the hotel, but wasn't able to cool the room adequately. Old hotel, needing a cosmetic upgrade as wall paper peeling in parts and our room had paint over wallpaper which was showing signs of coming away from the walls.

Breakfast and bed.

Unfortunately caught with 2 coaches of pensioners overloading the restaurant, making the private stay noiser than I had imagined. Whilst I noted stains from leaky roof I could see refurb was in hand. The bar was overloaded making any hope of a quiet drink difficult but this was due to havy influx of a package tour guests all eating/drinking at same time, causing obvious pressure to staff who were not expecting so many, But staff were pleasant to me. I had expected to vacate room at 10.00 which worked to my advantage, but received a knock at 9.35 from cleaners requiring me to leave earlier.

Good choice for breakfast, but short time, only one hour.

Location

Rooms hot, no air conditioning but it’s Britain in unusually hot weather. A fan was provided for my partner’s room and it didn’t bother me.

Good choice of breakfast but of average quality. Location is good - less than a mile to walk into Melrose. The staff are very friendly and helpful.

I failed to find out before booking that this is a hotel mainly for coach parties. So mealtimes were very crowded. The hotel is in a poor state - carpets wearing out , interior decoration tired and exterior fabric deteriorating. The staff handle all this with aplomb but they deserve better.

The room was good.

Unfortunately I was there with 2 bus loads of tourists, which put an obvious strain on the staff. We had dinner there which took way to long and was missing several items. Needless to say we didn't have breakfast there.

Large hotel. Great location.

Seems very tired. The parked up zimmers sitting just inside the front door gives the first impression of a care home. Badly needs modernised.

Der Check In war sehr sehr freundlich und zu vorkommend.

Die Lage ist sehr grenzwertig zur eigentlichen Innenstadt. Man läuft schon etwas weiter, eine komplette Hauptstr.entlang zurück starke An Steigung. Das Personal überhaupt nicht Gäste orientiert,und sehr arrogant. Wir sind am nächsten Tag zum Frühstück. Es gibt nur eine Stunde von 08-09am . Um 08:35 Uhr sagte man uns, dass es kein warmes Frühstück mehr gibt, es wäre alle. Daraufhin, wurde uns ein Frühstück aus Resten zusammen gesucht. Die Zimmer und das ganze Hotel sehr in die Jahre gekommen. Unser Zimmer hatte einen Ausblick in den Innenhof, mit Gerüsten.Das Zimmer war extrem klein, und das Badezimmer ein langer Schlauch total Renovierungsbedürftig. Unter der Decke Schimmel. Super kleines Waschbecken. Die Tapete löste sich in der Ecke im Zimmer ab. Der ganze Innenbereich vom Hotel sehr alt und alles nicht mehr zeitgemäß. Der Preis und die Gastfreundlichkeit sehr unterirdisch. Wir fahren öfter nach Schottland, aber dieses Hotel werden wir nicht mehr buchen. Eigentlich müsste man sein Geld zurück bekommen

Excellent Value for money.

Initial check-in

Very nice Bedroom, comfortable bed and large bathroom, also a great location

Nothing

Staff very friendly and helpful They make a very good breakfast sausage sandwich to go with.

N/a

Reception were lovely - room was nice and clean. Bathroom felt brand new! Felt very safe as a solo female.

Wish there were some more continental breakfast options like croissants but still a very good selection.

Freindly staff - Fire alarm was activated at 0100 and a full and thorough evacuation was carried out. Fire brigade in attendance and all was good.

eveything was ok

Not much really

Very Very run down does not look like it been touched since built a lot years ago , defo not worth the rates they charging

Food was good and so was service. Room was large and comfortable

Very nice Hotel

☆ Be very careful stepping out of shower. ☆ Apply supplied bath mat with grippers. Very slippy floor covering

Room was a good size and bed was comfy everything we needed was there ie:iron, fridge with water and a nice bathroom with bath and shower.

The weather was lovely, sunny and very warm so we expected a cool room but for some reason the radiator was very hot so I asked reception to run it off and they couldn't so they gave us a piece of wood to hold the window open and supplied a fan🥵🥵

Staff were amazing, very helpful, knowledgeable of local area and very happy

Friendly staff Good location Clean Great value for money

A bit tired but saying that, was great value for money. Met my expectations

Exelent breakfast, quiet location. good size room.

The hotel is nicely set, surrounded by beautiful old trees, not far from the river Tweed. Beds were comfy, shower good, very nice large breakfast room, very friendly staff at breakfast, thank you for the kind service!

Toilet seat was too small for basin, rooms were ground floor facing car park, decor was simple, pictures of local landscape wee a nice touch, though. Very short slot for breaklfast.

Hotel is volledig gericht op grote groepen senioren. 1 overnachting gedaan op onze doorreis. Was oke.

Lovely hotel, had an enjoyable stay. The staff were amazing, and Rita was great at reception. Many thanks to you all. The supper was very good, reasonably priced, too. Breakfast was generous and well prepared. Perfect location, had a peaceful sleep. Rooms outstanding, clean, and beds were comfortable.

Everything was perfect 👌

Good breakfast with plenty of choice and the staff were pleasant

Extremely tired decoratively. Our room had torn wallpaper and there was a hole in the wall where the TV was mounted. Additionally, the servicing of the room left much to be desired. It was not vacuumed and the top bed linen was simply smoothed into place without the other sheets being straightened and tightened. The bed itself, supposedly a double, was mo larger than a queen. The entire interior of the property needs redecorated, a very, very large undertaking considering the size of the property.

Handy location.

Tired and in need of some serious tlc.

Location spot on nice stroll into Melrose. Staff very friendly and helpful rooms clean and offered good facilities. Breakfast good. Melrose itself was gorgeous we hit Melrose rugby 7 weekend which was brilliant

For us nothing we were happy with it all. We had own car so pleased ourselves during day.

Rooms recently decorated,clean and a lovely shower. Bed very comfortable.One of the best kettles we’ve had in an hotel room. The bar prices were reasonable and staff pleasant. The hotel seems to be undergoing improvements and decor and furniture in public rooms were very nice.Grounds and location were lovely. Access to the river walk into Melrose was easy and Tweed bank station about half a mile walk away. While you could pick up a bus outside into Melrose if you didn’t want to walk or drive.

Unfortunately some areas of the hotel looked very tired and worn. There is a small lift which would not be adequate if the hotel was full. The soap/shower gel dispensers were inadequate and water pressure was sometimes low. Our breakfast was disappointing.

Location

The room wasn’t cleaned. Spiders webs and the bathroom wasn’t clean. On top of this the toilet didn’t work. We asked for another room none available for 3 people. A key was given to another room on another floor. My wife was on her period, I’m an amputee so not ideal. We made do by part fixing the toilet. Reception at night tried their best, the morning staff not so helpful.

I was impressed with the variety of breakfast options - very accommodating and yummy! The member of staff who served us at breakfast was very chatty and a good laugh, which left a pleasant impression.

The room was too warm for us even with the window open.

Booked superior room , clean and comfortable, great location to explore border towns , staff excellent , singers on the two nights we were there , we like Robbie carran , he's a real good entertainer , this was our third visit recently, and it won't be the last .

Nice staff , nice food and comfy bed

Staff very friendly

Choice of food for evening meal

Location price food staff

Easy access excellent breakfast very friendly helpful staff

Rooms are a little dated but they are in the middle of a revamp

Decent location, but I can’t say it’s good for a cheap stop over as it’s not even cheap.

Uncomfortable, noisy floorboards in my room and above means I was up with the people above pre 6am, £20 for dinner set menu was an absolute rip off and the worst food, the so called restaurant was like a comedy sketch. The fan in the bathroom didn’t stop running, shower took 10 mins to warm up, felt bad with that being such a waste of clean water but had been away camping so was desperate. I’m away earlier than the breakfast which starts at 8am, they offered a packed lunch I in its place, given the food was so poor I’ve decided to go and spend more money elsewhere. For a stay thats cost £120 I’m sick tbh. Clearly make their money from coach trips.