The Tontine Hotel

The Tontine is my go-to hotel whenever I visit Peebles in Scotland. The service is professional, helpful, accommodating, and friendly. I have stayed at the Tontine on many previous occasions and have loved the experience each visit. I would highly recommend it.

For some reason I forgot to review this from last month on our golfing Scotland road trip. I’d like to put things into some context in that we had just spent 2 nights at a 5 star resort (well it wasn’t all 5 stars btw) so we did arrive at Tontine knowing it wasn’t going to be fair to compare this with Archerfield golf resort, that said I think I’m comfortable reviewing the Tontine on its own merit. Generally this was an OK stay albeit I don’t think I would have liked to have stayed much beyond the one night. Let’s talk about the staff first, which I felt were very good indeed. The lady on the desk (apologies I didn’t get her name) was extremely cheerful and polite and gave us a lovely warm welcome. The staff in the restaurant both dinner and breakfast were also excellent and no issue whatsoever. Whilst the hotel itself appeared clean it is in need of a refurbishment and a little dark and dingy in places. The room was fairly small and worse still a 40+ stair climb from ground zero to reach it! Add to the fact that I’d just parked in the rear hotel CP and scaled a very steep hill to reach reception I was more in need of oxygen than my evening meal. The room was also pretty warm atop the hotel and whilst opening a sliding sash window afforded some comfort unfortunately this then allowed the noises from the rowdy pub across the st to enter. The TV is ridiculously small, for 2024 and even with my glasses on struggled to watch the golf without being 2 ft from the screen. Shower curtain needs replacing in a dated bathroom, again in need of a refresh. The landing fire doors with door closures (I completely understand fire regulations as a builder myself) did cause some noise with people coming back to their rooms later on in the evening. The location is indeed very central so full marks here and the food offering was indeed very good. I’ve read some reviews which seem Tontine as expensive but in my mind it does what it says on the tin and for a total of £157.00 including dinner, bed and breakfast I’d say the price point is relatively accurate. This is indeed a very old building and with having experience in refurbishing many heritage bldgs understand the restrictions and issues associated. However I’d say this place does need to spend some money refreshing the place, which can be done whilst maintaining its character, especially the fabulous dining room. Please take this review as constructive feedback as I wish the Tontine well for the future. I’ve even submitted a picture of my full Scottish breakfast, which IMO knocked spots off the 5 star Archerfield buffet version, they could learn a lot from the Tontine on the breakfast & staff front.

We stayed at the Tontine on 31 May 2024. It has a charming feel about it, with helpful and courteous staff. Our bedroom and bathroom were very clean and comfortable, with the fittings you would expect in a small hotel. Dinner was a highlight - a very good menu with wines to match. Breakfast was a classic meal. Parking is at the back of the building - the car park was full at the end of the day so perhaps it was good we arrived early afternoon. A 2 minute walk to the river. A comfortable hotel.

+ Easy booking. Simple checkin. Allocated as requested room on accessible floor with lift down to it. Large clean, spacious room with basic facilities. Large lounge area in hotel. Central location in town main street. -Room had no view. Bathroom dated with few broken tiles on floor and wall. Shower over bath so not ideal for person with mobility issue. Bar area very small and food/drink prices above average. Breakfast ok limited choice but when poached eggs n full breakfast arrived they were stone cold. When relaxing in lounge area staff always hovering and asking if we ok, wanted anything else. Didnt feel hotel etc was value for money.

Needing a place that is dog friendly for lunch we found this hotel. The brasserie and the bar both accept dogs. The staff were great and the food was lovely. I had a lovely breaded haddock followed by a banana crème brûlée. We would happily eat here again.

A nice hotel situated in a prime spot in Peebles, right on the main Street with all that has on offer, from thee rear of the hotel leads you right onto the river with a host of pleasant walks. I found the service and the facilities very good the food was quite up there also. All in all well worth a visit. Chance to go back shortly.

Great experience from arrival to departure. Had drinks then dinner with a friend. Great tasty food. Bed very comfortable. Shower easy to set up although would prefer tap to be wiser to be more easily controlled. Breakfast choice huge - from porridge to kippers.

A very disappointing experience. To start we were given a room which we later found out was due to be refurbished. The net curtain was smoke stained, ripped and frayed, and the bathroom wouldn’t have looked out of place in a 70s youth hostel, and don’t get me started on the over powering musty smell. So I complained and said to the receptionist we either wanted another room if one was available or we wanted our money back and would leave. I was told in no uncertain terms that I wouldn’t get my money back and the only other rooms were significantly more expensive and I would have to pay the difference. This wasn’t acceptable so she went to find the manager (who was in the bar about 10ft away) I waited and waited whilst I could hear them discussing my complaint until eventually I walked into the bar to discuss my complaint directly with the manager myself. The manager to be fair was helpful and professional. She explained room 5 hadn’t been refurbished and immediately offered to show me another room which was allegedly more superior and offered this for the same price. The problem was I had had to make a fuss about a sub standard room when others might not have felt able to do so and it left a bad taste, this was a poor attempt to keep my money even if we didn’t stay or make me pay more if we did which didn’t sit well with us. As it didn’t finding out at the hotel there wasn’t enough room to park our car in the hotel car park (doesn’t mention this on the website) and we had to go and find road parking or not being told by the receptionist an hour earlier as we were on our way that the entrance to the car park was closed due to road works. The garden room was just a place for guests to smoke and the food was low level pub grub and not as advertised, we weren’t allowed to come to breakfast when we wanted we had to give a set time and it’s hard to get a boiled egg and scrambled egg wrong. It all felt really tired and amateur despite being recently renovated in some areas which is a shame as this is a stunning building (albeit the grim 70s motel like block at the back). The refurb is cheap and poorly executed and it lets this magnificent building and the staff down, all of whom were lovely bar the poorly trained receptionist. The colours/ furniture in the lounge area and colours/ fabrics for the refurbed room, (brown on brown with more brown) were poor both in quality and taste. The window in the allegedly newly furnished room was broke n and the safety catch which is a legal requirement I believe was broke man too, the decorators hadn’t got round to painting the back of the bathroom door or the inside of the wardrobe, and going to sleep with car alarms going off, the river view rooms also overlook the car park, and being woken up by petrol fumes topped it all off. I rarely leave poor reviews, and the only reason I have is because of the attempt to charge me more or keep my money for a room and a hotel which was not as advertised. If the manager w