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Watson Lodge Guest House: Traveller Reviews

15 / 16 Bridge Street, Galashiels TD1 1SW, Scotland
Hotel amenities
Watson Lodge Guest House
Ranked #11 of 12 Galashiels B&B and Inns
2.5 of 5 stars 4 Reviews
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4 reviews from our community

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Aberdeen
2 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
2 helpful votes 2 helpful votes
“Don't be fooled by the flower boxes - Hides the true state of this place”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 16 January 2012
2
people found this review helpful

My husband and I booked the Watson Lodge going by the internet picture only - I thought it looked nice with all the flower boxes outside. What a disappointment. I wish we had looked at some reviews as I usually do when booking accommodation.

On street parking only - opposite a Police station. The unwelcoming man who opened the door asked us to register and pay up front before telling us how to get to our room. Should have realised then that the place would not be up to much. The hallway and stairs were dated with old swirly carpets. There was a gambling machine in an already cramped hallway.

Our room was old fashioned and cluttered but the bed was clean with crisp white sheets and was comfortable. The shower room was awful - mouldy and dirty. It certainly needed updating.

The breakfast was "OK" - room for improvement. The waitress too was OK.

We stayed in September for one night only. We had stayed in a few other places in Scotland that week. This place was the most expensive but offered the worst accommodation, service and food. We definitely would not go back or recommend it. The only saving factor was the clean comfortable bed.

Room Tip: Don't be fooled by the look of the outside of a place.
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  • Stayed September 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Location
    • 3 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 1 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 2 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Diane S about Watson Lodge Guest House
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
watsonlodge, Owner at Watson Lodge Guest House, responded to this review
5 April 2012
Firstly may I say how sorry I am that your stay with us was not as you expected.

May I also say that all our rooms are being upgraded as from January 2012.

We do indeed have a fantastic floral display outside the property in the summer months and this is one of the many positive things that our visitors comment on.

To address your comments, we do have free on-street parking outside the guest house and we also have use of a private car park approximately 50 yards at the top of the street of which we advise all our guests.

I am sorry if your greeting was unwelcoming, we do strive to make all our guests feel welcome and will take on board your comments.

We do ask for payment in advance as do most other establishments. The reason for this is that we are a small family run business and we do all the work ourselves which means when guests check out in the morning we may be extremely busy serving other breakfasts etc and so payment on arrival seems the obvious solution.

I am rather surprised at the mention of 'swirly carpets' - our hall and room carpets have no swirls whatsoever! However I aplogise if they were not to your taste.

I accept you may have felt your room needed updating and if you found the shower facilities unacceptable I am horrified. However, I would say that cleanliness is a top priority for us and I have looked into your comments regarding this and will act accordingly.

We have five Guest Books in our Reception area with glowing reports of Watson Lodge and have many repeat customers who will go nowhere else. Most of the comments in these books address the fact that the rooms and bathrooms are spotless, the breakfast is wonderful and the staff friendly and helpful.

Again I apologise that your stay was unsatisfactory and I appreciate your taking time to let us know your views. I have looked into all your complaints and hopefully have addressed each one and improved our service.
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Dunoon
2 reviews
Reviews in 2 cities Reviews in 2 cities
1 helpful vote 1 helpful vote
“Disappointed”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 28 December 2011
1
person found this review helpful

We’ve stayed in Watson Lodge for 1 night and I must say we were really disappointed. After we finally found a parking place, we checked in. It was not a particular warm welcome. The sort of manager invited us in his office and asked me to fill in a registration form without offering us a seat. After we’ve done that and paid our bill he handed over the keys and we had to find our own way to the room. By booking we agreed a room at the ground floor but we ended up in a room at the top floor. The so called manger could not explain why we ended up at the top floor. The room was spacious but far from clean. Also the ensuite was far from clean. Especially the shower was really dirty and full of moult. The beds were hard as a brick, and I know that this is personal, some like a hard bed others don’t. The position of the TV was too high so it was not comfortable watching it. Breakfast was poor,realy poor. Our expectations were probably too high for a 3 star accommodation. A note in the bathroom told us that the towels were changed once in the 3-4 days. For a 3 star accommodation is that not acceptable.
One night was more than enough for us and we don’t recommend this guest house to our friends.

  • Stayed October 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 2 of 5 stars Value
    • 1 of 5 stars Location
    • 1 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 3 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 1 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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“we would not go back”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 19 July 2011

On Arrival we did not recieve a very warm welcome by the manager who complained about us cycling past his car, we had to pay upfront before even going to our room, which we were just given the keys for and told to go up to and not shown the way. Upon entering the room it was much smaller than I had expected as it was supposed to be a family room. It was in need of complete refurbishment and did not look the way I had seen it on their website. The garden area around the back also did not look as displayed on their web site. It was also supposed to be strictly non smoking but unfortunately one of our group witnessed the one and only kitchen staff come out of the kitchen blowing cigarette smoke from her mouth!!!

  • Stayed July 2011, travelled with friends
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 2 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 2 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Ask Louis01033 about Watson Lodge Guest House
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Wuppertal, Germany
Top Contributor
158 reviews 158 reviews
Reviews in 70 cities Reviews in 70 cities
30 helpful votes 30 helpful votes
“Guesthouse mitten in der Stadt”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 2 June 2011
Google Translation

  • Stayed May 2011, travelled as a couple
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
Was this review helpful? Yes
Ask owl274 about Watson Lodge Guest House
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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