We are confused with the nasty, awful things others have said abut this hotel, so decided to follow up as we will be back there this Autumn...we fell in love with the hotel and the town, too, in the mid 90s. The Spence family who run the place are hilariously funny, and those with nasty comments might not get the dry, Scots humour, but Mr. Spence especially is as accommodating as anyone can be. His entire staff makes every effort to make us feel at home, which us why we have returned time and time again. His pricing is fair for what one gets (super breakfasts) and his ability to make a decision and stick with it (no "let me go call the boss" or "ask the supervisor" here) is great. While he can't always say yes he does always go out of his way to please his guests including accepting parcels for delivery prior to our last stay and even putting them in our room ready for our arrival. He is also great with area history, has advice on where to see and what to do and has so inspired us that we plan to shop for a house and move to Lockerbie on our next trip!

That said, the King's Arms IS an old coaching inn and while up-to-date with modern TV, high-speed internet etc. it is still an historic building meaning that yes, some floors do creak and some rooms are laid out a bit less conveniently than one would find in a modern Hilton or chain hotel...but this is NOT a chain hotel and not a cookie-cutter property! It's unique and many famous historic figures passed through in their time, so one can fairly sense the history and live past here. It might not be for everybody, but having stayed repeatedly (last time for 4 days) we can say that it's the "home" we choose in Scotland and can hardly wait to return!

My partner booked us away for 1 night at this hotel.

We arrived and pressed a bell in "reception". A woman arrived to greet us. She was not terribly friendly. We had booked a triple room through Booking.com. When the woman spoke to us, she asked if we were a party of 3. We said no and she said she would put us in a double room then. She said that this would mean the double room price was £80 instead of £85 (wow!).

She showed us to our room. It was okay - clean enough but a view of a brick roof. The en suite door also opened right onto the side of the bed so that visits to the toilet took a bit of doing!

When we had arrived, we were told that the hotel restaurant was quite busy so to book quickly if we wanted a meal. We said we would drop our stuff into our room first. We did this and descended the stairs, no more than 5 minutes later and said that we would like to book a table for that evening. Suffice it to say that this seemed to cause endless problems with seating arrangments or something but we were told "uch just come at 6.30".

Anyway, we took a walk down the street and went into the Crown Hotel for a few drinks. A lovely modern bar and nice food and £2 cheaper for a round than the Kings Arms.

We then came back and had our dinner. Despite there being all sorts of dining rooms in this hotel, everyone was squeezed into tables which were incredibly uncomfortable. The food, as far as I was concerned, was tasteless (starter) and from frozen food )main meal). Though, my fiance said his steak was nice.

The chap, whom I take to be the owner, was in the bar and I can only describe him as an ignoramus. We ended up going up to the room and watching the tv.

The breakfast in the morning was excellent and was served by the same man again who was marginally more civil.

When we then checked out, the chap charged us the £85. When we advised him that the lady had said the night before that the cost would be £80 as we were put in a double and not a triple, he said that he had to charge what had been quoted. Fair enough but, as my fiance asked him, why then did we have to be moved from the triple room?!

All in all, with the exception of a couple of the bar staff, the service was not friendly or welcoming and the owner has absolutely no people skills whatsoever. The room itself was fine, though needed more plastic milks for the size of the mugs.

We enjoyed our timne away but that was mainly due to our own selves than any service provided by this hotel.

Arrived at the hotel and checked in. When told about the breakfast times, I laughed and said it would be about 8.50 that we would appear as we were guests at a wedding that evening. The person checking us in then responded "Huh, like the rest of your gang this morning" - not a good start!

Was also told to make sure we were quiet on our return later as other guests would want to be sleeping - its ok to be told this, but could have been said in a friendly manner

The rooms are "tired" with very basic fittings and definately in need of refurnbishing. Our room also smelled of stale cigarette smoke - despite the hotel being non smoking for some years.

Went and had lunch in the bar - food ok, service - a little unfriendly.

Check out time is 10.30 am and we checked out about 10.00am to be told that they had turned some guests away that were booking into our room that evening because we had not checked out - despite check in being at 12.30

Overall it was a poor stay and would recommend that they refurbish the hotel and partake of some customer service training courses and look seriously at the room charges!

We stayed for two nights at a cost of £80pn. We were part of a group of people attending a wedding locally When we asked what time the bar was open until at night were told at least 11pm. We were eating at a different hotel that night with the bride to be but returned to the Kings Arms at 10.15pm only to be told that we would not be served as we had not eaten there. So we took our custom elsewhere!! The next day one of our party asked could we have breakfast late on Friday as we would be at the wedding the night before. The answer was a straight No. This despite their hotel literature stating that if guests wished to have a later breakfast they would be very happy to discuus !!! Another of our party was then told when checking out that the people booked into the room after her had arrived but had been turned away as the room was not ready.This despite the fact thta there was still a full 30 mins left before final check out time.