Smiths at Gretna Green Hotel

We stayed here for 2 nights for our vow renewal. Rooms are beautiful, staff and service impeccable. Very romantic ambience and everything went amazingly. Restaurant was superb with a good range of dishes. If you book the stay, dine and celebrate package, you get a bottle of bubbly and £25 each towards an evening meal. Highly recommended for your special day. Our Minister, Graeme Murray and photographer Bill Black went above and beyond for our very special ceremony Thank you all so much. Mark and Dawn Owen

We got married on the 28/12/24 in the penthouse suite at The Smith’s hotel. After reading some poor reviews I was nervous but wow! What a beautiful experience we had. The Penthouse suite was beautiful and so spacious. It smelt fabulous. The gifts left for us was a lovely touch. Amber our wedding planner was great. Amber rang me on the day of arrival to go through the plans for our stay and wedding. Which put my mind at rest. The day of the wedding went smoothly. Breakfast was lush with all tastes catered for. Housekeeping arrived early to prepare the room. Amber arrived with the anvil half an hour before the wedding to set up the balcony for the wedding and sort the music I wanted to walk in to. Keith Teasdale conducted our religious ceremony. We opted for this as it was cheaper than a registrar. But he was great so friendly and shared the history of Gretna. I’m so glad we opted for this ceremony it made it so special for us. The meal afterwards was lovely. The staff couldn’t do enough for us and Amber kept checking in with us to make sure everything was going smooth. What a fabulous day filled with special memories. Thank you to Amber and all the staff.

It is difficult to review as, according to Dean, each element of the Gretna Green package is independent of each other yet we are unable to review each area independently; hence 3 stars. Let us begin with the Handfasting ceremony; utterly fantastic!. Professional yet emotive, personal and evocative, couldn't have asked for more. Would definitely recommend. Then the restaurant at Smiths Hotel; at no time did anyone check how the food was. This usually indicates two things; they don't care OR they have a well earned confidence in what they do. I can assure that it is the latter. Outstanding service, fresh ingredients cooked to perfection and served by friendly and very knowledgeable staff. Every course was perfect, cocktails sublime. Again, wouldn't hesitate to recommend. The hotel reception staff went above and beyond and were empathetic to our concerns, absolutely faultless, trying their very best to rectify issues; could not be faulted. And now, unfortunately, the downside that I invite the combined CEO to address, as suggested by Dean. The room we had was not only inadequate but also a death trap. Advertised as a romantic couples experience; yet the room has one comfortable chair, one hot chocolate, one biscuit etc. Guaranteed to cause couples friction. And then we have the death trap in the form of an iron that pours water out the flex port, bare wires at the plug and a socket that cannot be switched off so remains constantly live (imagery available and already submitted to substantiate). Whilst a new iron was immediately offered it rather defeats the purpose when the guest has been fried by electric shock. There are screws sitting, at head hight, proud of the walls waiting to catch the unwary in the dark and cause the most horrific injuries. I invite the CEO John Holliday and the sitting members of the Mackie-Houston family to explain and justify why guests are exposed to such highly dangerous risks as, when asked, Dean could only offer the weak excuse that each area was independent so the hotel must be held accountable. Or are John Holliday and the Mackie-Houston family too high up to care about the risk to life/serious injury of their guests? Over to you.....