The Good

On arrival at The Rutland we were greeted by a small but open reception area, carefully decorated in the typical style of many boutique hotels, with a merge of modern function and baroque decoration in the form of a coffee table and sofa accompanied by two large black and silver ‘Posh and Becks’ style thrones which dominated the space. The check in was friendly and without incident, with the Receptionist gladly showing us to our Junior Suite via the glass lift and well decorated and clearly lit hallways, followed by a mini tour of the room and a brief explanation of the main features. Our complimentary cookies were waiting for us in a neat parcel on the bed and Smooth FM played from the flat screen television, giving an instantly relaxed and homely feel to the room.

...an aura of elegance...The bed itself was the focal point with a lighting scheme that skirted the entire bed and headboard, illuminating the entire bed contour and giving it an aura of elegance. This lighting scheme also meant that you did not have to use harsh bedside lights for reading the complimentary Ian Rankin ‘Rebus’ novel, provided by the hotel for you to enjoy throughout your stay.

Before slipping in to the complimentary bath robes, a bath would be in order and our bathroom afforded a stand-alone rainfall shower, with a nice large head allowing you to soak in the full spray of the shower, or as an alternative, a bath tub just big enough for two to enjoy a sumptuous Jacuzzi with the in-built spa system. A range of toiletries and a fully stocked min bar meant it was a welcome evening when we settled in to the Jacuzzi with sumptuous bubbles, both in the bath and in our glasses of wine.

The television had built in digital freeview, meaning we could still enjoy the same great shows we watch at home, although being Scotland the scheduling was different, keeping us on our toes!

We slept under the watchful gaze of Edinburgh Castle, visible from the bed itself, and a great experience when it is lit up at night....just uninterrupted peace and quiet in the room...
And so, that is how most of our days went whilst at the Rutland, and we never felt ignored with attentive staff always willing to help and always a friendly smile wishing us good day whenever we were coming in or out of the hotel to visit any of the convenient nearby attractions.

One thing to note is that the hotel does have a club, bar and restaurant in the same building, however to our surprise, we never heard a single thing from any of them –really! There was no vibration, no screams, no music, and just uninterrupted peace and quiet in the room, meaning you could happily run the TV through the speakers in the room to stay in tune with your TV show or listen to relaxing music through the speakers in the bathroom – bathing in luxury.

The Bad

We ordered a Junior Suite and feel this to have been a rather embellished title for the room we received. The room itself had an ample amount of floor space, however around a quarter of this was unusable, owing to the vaulted ceiling in the room, causing a large sloped area that you could only just about sit in, but definitely not stand in.

The view of Edinburgh Castle was there, however could only be seen through a small, ‘half blocked by a wall’ window – the only one in the bedroom. It also couldn’t be opened, meaning our pet hate – air conditioning as the only source of air!

The room does lack some basic features, such as a DVD or CD player as none was included. There was however an i-pod docking system, although we had no use for this owing to not having i-pods! The in room speaker system had several glitches – the control panel at the entrance to the bathroom didn’t work, and you had to either use the one by the bed, or a large control box located in the very top of the wardrobe.

The main issue we found was owed to housekeeping. The room had the major things clean, but the shower head was scaled up; the wine glasses were watermarked; the drinking glass in the bathroom contained white scum; similar to the effect of toothpaste scum running off a toothbrush; the toilet needed a good clean as the upper part of the bowl had started to go mouldy and the outside of the toilet bowl was streaky; and for some unknown reason, the duvet cover was inside out! Thankfully, the glasses were cleaned and the shower head de-scaled the following day after they were reported to reception.

On our various walks through the hotel, we did notice that at least one of the housekeeping cupboards and the loft access door were left unlocked for at least 2 days, with anyone able to access these – a hazard in itself. It was reported to reception, however the following day they remained unlocked.

An issue on checkout meant that the PDQ machine debited money from our account but didn’t pass it the hotel. The issue was not dealt with in a very great way, leaving us feeling very unhappy and as though we were the ‘little’ people who had no idea – mainly caused by the attitude of those dealing with the situation. A few weeks and a cheque payment later the issue drew to a close.

Overall, the experience at the Rutland left us feeling like we had spent the holiday in an upmarket Bed and Breakfast, and not the luxurious pad we had envisaged. The hotel needs to address several issues in order to become a contender in the market, with many hotels actually able to offer much more at a similar price. For instance, better training is needed in dealing with issues that arise - a wry smile and an apologetic tone only bode so well and get you so far. The housekeeping also needs addressing, as whilst the big items were cared for, the little details and cleaning omissions tarnished what would otherwise have been a glossy overview. The lack of any DVD player or on demand movie facilities is not too much of an issue with the Odeon only being around the corner, but this staple of modern hotels is missing, along with a range of channels. Okay so Freeview is provided, but the ‘some Sky channels’ they state in their welcome book turned out to be Sky Sports 1, 2 and 3.

The Eating

The design of the restaurant is intriguing, with a small oval ‘balcony’ with large glass baubles dangling down in to it, running through the floor into the bar below.

The food was well presented and flavoursome, however we were beginning to come across a recurring theme with regards to the presentation of the hotel and the refinement of this. The glass baubles which effectively created a centrepiece to the restaurant were inadequately cleaned, meaning a layer of dust had accumulated on the tops of these. The glasses and cutlery had also not been polished, suffering watermarks and spotting.

These issues however did not detract from the food itself. Now, don’t get me wrong, the food was very nice; however a lot of it was pre-prepared. The pate came from a large sliced block, making the eating feel slightly cheapened due to this.

The options available were very good and made it difficult to choose just what to have, but even more difficult was the wine – with bottles ranging from around £10 up to £400 and attentive staff always ready to top you up with more when your glass falls below two mouthfuls left.
For vegetarian diners, I would recommend alternative eateries, as you only have one real choice for starter and another for main, leaving little for you to try should you go there more than once, however there are a lot of options on the menu and I am sure the restaurant staff would have no issue creating something for you as a vegetarian option from any of the other meals available.

One downfall at the end of the meal was the serving of coffee prior to the arrival of dessert and prior to the ending of our wine, making the dining experience suddenly feel very disjointed and seeming as though they were trying to get rid of us. One interesting thing noted at the time of us eating at the hotel was a very small but amusing error – we had dessert options, but were advised to look at the ‘desert’ wines – which only served to taint what did at times feels like a high-class dining experience.

Go for the food, stay for the wine, leave when things start to go downhill.

The Scores

Location/Area:		10.0   (1)
Distance/Travel to Attractions:		10.0   (1)
Cleanliness of Room:		8.0   (1)
Comfort of Room and Bed:		9.0   (1)
Standard of Bathroom:		9.0   (1)
Public Areas:		10.0   (1)
Maintenance of Hotel:		9.0   (1)
Friendliness of Staff:		9.0   (1)
Standard of Food:		10.0   (1)
Quality of Facilities:		7.0   (1)
Value for Money:		8.0   (1)