Wow, how to make the customer feel unwelcome. I love St. Andrews and this hotel has one of the best sites in the town (with the exception of the Old Course Hotel), but they really need to brush up on their customer service.

The bar staff are more concerned with counting the contents of the till rather than serve the customers.

"Sorry sir" appears to be the catch phrase as they smile and tell you the kitchen closed 5 minutes ago or they are not allowed serve you a drink in the run up to closing time - even a problem for residents which I have never encountered anywhere before.

The owner is no better and seems to advocate this ethos. It seems to me that they can be relatively successful without trying to please the customer and hence appear to take delight in telling you what you can't have. As said - Forget the customer!!!

If you subscribe to the American way of customer service then stay in the US don't come here.

I've just returned from a wonderful trip to St. Andrews and was so happy with my hotel choice. The Russell is a 5-minute walk from The Old Course and overlooks St. Andrews Bay. Each morning we awoke to a spectacular view of the Bay and the Links. The rooms were charming and the beds were very comfortable. The hotel has an excellent restaurant and bar and serves a delicious hot breakfast every morning. But it was the friendly staff and personal service that made our stay at this hotel so special. Gordon went out of his way to see that we enjoyed our holiday. I recommend it highly.

Our family of 8 stayed for a week in Feb. '07 while visiting my son at
the "Uni". I must say, ALL the staff are excellent. The rooms were very nice. Housekeeping was excellent. The food and bar -excellent. This was for us the trip of a lifetime made all the more memorable by the very caring staff at The Russell.

Julie, Donna, Sandra, Helen, I apologize for not writing this sooner, but ALL of you folks ( including those not mentioned here) are brilliant! We will fondly remember you guys!

--The "C" Family from Delaware, USA

4 couples stayed at Russell Hotel - we had requested Sea View rooms - they were great. Just a few hundred yards from # 1 tee (Old Course). Rooms, bar, food, & staff were all fantastic!! I saw one earlier "bad" review of the Russell Hotel but our experience was just the opposite - will always return to this B & B. They even offered "early" breakfast for us golfers when we had early t-times.
Just great!