I just came back from the Scotland Secret Ireland Tour with tour guide, Adrian O’Neill and Scottish Paranormal’s (SP) Ryan O’Neill.   It was wonderful! We started in beautiful Stirling where we reconnected with, and met new, tour participants. We also were able to reconnect with SP co-founder Greg Stewart and SP admin extraordinaire, Lisa Sproat. Ryan and Greg provided us with an in-depth digital companion that detailed everything on the itinerary, as well as provided the history and local stories. Lisa curated thoughtful goodie bags for us and made us delicious tablet.    Ryan’s expertise and contagious enthusiasm during our investigations at the Stirling Cemetery, Stirling Jail, Torwood Castle, Bannockburn House, Ruthven Barracks, the Edinburgh Vaults, and the incomparable Balgonie Castle, made the trip exciting. He was kind enough to collect audio recordings of our investigations (mini and full) at nearly all of our many locations along the way!  We were treated to Greg’s amazing storytelling during an unforgettable ghost walk around St Andrew’s. Ryan and Greg also arranged for us to visit SP headquarters, which included a walk along the West Wemyss shores, whereupon we saw playful baby seals.   Having been to the Highlands on previous tours, I expected our hotels to be limited as to amenities due to the age of the buildings and their remote locations. Quality control seemed to be lacking at a couple of those hotels for some of us (rude staff and cleanliness). Carrying luggage up a couple flights however, was all but forgotten once we started investigating in our respective rooms. We were fortunate to stay in some “active” places, including the Britannia Hotel. My friend and I were able to communicate with spirit during our entire stay there.    I had the pleasure of getting to know our guide, Adrian. He was informative and shared his historic expertise with great humor. Adrian was attentive and made sure he was several steps ahead by providing refreshments, checking on upcoming venue times, and locating restaurants for us.   This was my third overseas tour and each one of them had to deal with unexpected changes due to timing, logistics, or venue availability. Adrian and Ryan took those challenges on and gave us an unforgettable experience. Scotland is a beautiful country and the Scottish people were exceptionally kind and accommodating. I am so grateful to Mai and the team for providing us a fantastic slice of beautiful Scotland!

I was excited to support Ryan O’Neill my friend and his work so I signed up again with Secret Ireland Tours. I had an issue on my last booked trip to Ireland where I paid as a single traveler but somehow had very small beds to sleep in every single night on the tour. Anyway I figured with this big mistake that Mai would do the right thing and give me a better deal on this trip to Scotland. No such luck. This trip was more expensive than expected and airfare was alot more. There were really no emails prior to this trip which began Oct 1st leading up to it. Very disorganized and no real updates to prepare us for this trip. Too many websites to maintain etc. The tour itself was decent, the first 2 hotels were lovely but then they sadly went down hill rapidly. I am very allergic to black mold and recently had arm surgery so no lifts in these last few hotels really cost my arm a lot of pain. People were friendly enough to help me. The sites we saw were beautiful, however when I asked our Tour Guide Adrian if he could please get us undated with a little history prior to exiting the bus that would’ve been helpful but when I asked him he said “ I am NOT the Tour Guide, that is the Ambassadors responsibility “. This was quite a shock to me. Why was he there then? He did have a major drinking problem that was quickly noticed by most of the guests. He always disappeared once we offloaded the bus to see the sites. He would show back up smelling like alcohol and was really no assistance to anyone. He was there to support the owner of Secret Ireland Tours Mai, I certainly hope he gets the help he needs for his family and business. The last few sites were lovely , however the last few hotels were below standard I felt. I had a severe allergic reaction to Lovh Lochness Hotel as it had a lot of black mold everywhere and the conditions of this hotel again were very low. There were stains on the sheets and carpet. To me this hotel should be closed by Scotland Health Department. I had a friend on the tour and it was her Birthday. I secretly told Ryan the Ambassador and he went out and purchased a cake and card for her. I was so excited. But then somehow the bus got switched while we were out looking at a historical site and the cake and card were left in the other bus as well as a few personal items by other guests, these were never retrieved even after advising Adrian of this mistake. He could care less to be honest which broke my heart for my dear friend The sites were lovely to see, I wish we had an actual Tour Guide to have told us history and general info. The weather was great , and Ryan , Lisa and Greg with Haunted Scotland made sure to make us all feel very welcomed always. I personally will never use Secret Ireland Tours as when I did send my concerns to Mai it quickly became about her and her health concerns. I do hope she gets better but I did pay quite a bit for this tour and was left with no Tour Guide , no history and no lovely insights about Scotland. If you plan to go to Scotland which I highly recommend book with a local Scottish tour. Then you can know where you are going with a proper professional tour guide.

I had an amazing time on the Haunted Scotland tour! From the very beginning, being picked up and escorted in a beautiful luxury motor coach, our hosts Ryan and Greg along with our tour manager Adrian made sure our trip was exceptional. Ryan and Greg introduced me to the world of paranormal investigations as they shared their extensive knowledge of the history of haunting in Scotland and the technology that is used to communicate and contact those who lived and died there. The investigations took us to places after hours that few tourists get to experience. I really felt like they made us part of the investigations and even gave us hands on experiences with their equipment. Our tour manager Adrian did an incredible job working behind the scenes to secure all the logistics that go into a tour like this. Our tickets to all the areas we went were ready for us and all the communication for our hotels and dining were arranged. The amount of work required was not lost on me. His insights and stories of Scotland and his homeland of Ireland added to the many highlights of my trip. Even when issues arose, as they inevitably do on any trip, Ryan, Greg and Adrian worked tirelessly and went above and beyond to make sure we were heard and accommodated. Even going as far as paying out of their own pockets to make sure our trip was exceptional. I have so many incredible memories from this trip and wouldn’t hesitate to book again in the future.

First and foremost this review is based on evidentially fact, eye witness accounts and personal firsthand experience. The first two hotels were nice. I had an issue with my room and I had to change rooms because there was a leak in the ceiling in the bathroom. The next three hotels were absolutely abhorrent conditions! One hotel did not have an elevator, and we had a carry all of our luggage up three flights of stairs. The room was very tiny. The bed slanted to the left and was very uncomfortable. People’s showers did not work. You could not fill the bathtub properly to take a bath because there were filters on the faucet. I messaged Mai, I told her FYI these are the problems that are occurring in the hotel and in the future, you should not book this hotel again. Her response was Kristina, “You’re not in America anymore.” Are you kidding me right now with that response? I paid $3450 for a single room for this tour. Then I paid over $2000 for airfare tickets, so this trip was not cheap. The next hotel had holes in the wall, stains on the carpet and the shower did not drain. The holes in the wall were a perfect height for a camera. I was able to stuff a towel in the hole because I felt like somebody was watching me. Multiple people had complaints about their rooms and had to have their rooms changed. The condition at this hotel was absolutely deplorable. The third and final Hotel was just as bad. We had to park the bus three blocks away from the hotel. We had to roll our luggage up a hill, cross a busy intersection and then down the hill to get to the hotel. I waited to see if the rooms were acceptable and they were not. They had black mold in the bathroom and there were no toiletries. I did not check into this hotel. I had to go and purchase another hotel room that I paid out of my own pocket. I requested a refund from Mai and she has yet to responded to me about my request. My question is, how do you run a business like this? She had a whole year to plan this trip. But yet this trip was disorganized. Mai relied on recommendations from other hotels and she did not do any other further research on these hotels. She didn’t read the reviews online, which would have shown that these hotels had 2 star reviews. We were promised in the contract that we signed, that the accommodations would be 3 stars and above and they were not. Let’s talk about our tour guide, Adrian O’Neill. He did not perform his duties as a tour guide. He was the worst tour guide ever. This man is a drunk. He drank a breakfast. He drank at lunch. He drank at dinner time. His hands shook violently. When we departed off the bus, he would say “I’ll be at the pub if you need me.” Then at the farewell dinner, he stood up and made a speech. During this speech, I questioned “why didn’t Mai read the reviews of the hotels that we stayed at?” Adrian proceeded to tell me to shut up and that he was not going to tolerate that outburst. Are you kidding me! Is this how you treat someone. It was completely unprofessional, unprovoked and unacceptable behavior. This man is mentally unstable. If you look at his Facebook post on May 31, 2026, it states”Since the death of my father last year. I've been angry, torn and I had a mental health breakdown. I went on a tour recently and took myself offline unless it regarded the tour. After two weeks | felt better. Social media has a lot to play along with throwing us against each other. It's our governments responsibility to look after us and they aren't doing a good job. What I'm trying to say without being political. Get off social media. It'll do you the world of good. Especially mentally. The world has gone mad” I would be very concerned for the safety of other participants of this tour because he might snap and do something unimaginable. Mai has not responded to any of my request for a refund. She actually talked shit about me behind my back to another tour group member. Mai gives you excuses after excuses after excuses and she blames everybody else for the failures of this trip. She took zero responsibility or accountability. Ryan, Greg and Lisa are the ones that held this trip together. Ryan and Greg put together a companion tour guide. Lisa made goodie bags and homemade Scottish tablet. Greg did a ghost walk at Saint Andrews that was incredible. Mai did not want to do the vaults in Edinburgh, but Ryan and Greg paid out of their own pocket to get us exclusive access for an hour and 15 minutes for just our group to investigate because this was supposed to be a ghost tour trip. Ryan went and purchased a birthday cake for my birthday and had everybody sign the card. Adrian, because he was possibly drunk or just being spiteful left the cake and the card on the bus. This tour was poorly planned, with us driving to the same location on two different days and our hotel was an hour away. The transportation was horrible. It was an electric bus, so it had to be charge or we had to switch buses. The bus was huge so it could not access tiny roads. Ryan had to pay out of pocket for taxis and arranged shuttle service to Torwood. Then to top it all off we had a group chat, that had all of our conversations and photo’s from the trip, but Adrian deleted it! Don’t worry I have screenshots of all the negative comments. Mai was part of the group chat and still said nothing about the negative comments! Then for kicks and giggles Adrian sent a Facebook message to everyone begging for positive reviews! I will not simmer down! I will stand up and speak the truth and question your actions! The truth is this trip was very expensive! It did not live up to what was promise! We did very little ghost hunting! No tour guide to give you information about the sites you were seeing! Below zero in expectation! Ryan, Lisa and Greg you are awesome and I will continue to support you! I would not support Secret Ireland Tours ever again! And there were multiple people on the tour that said they would never book with you again! This is not how you run a business!

I hate to say it but this entire trip from beginning to end was a mess first we were told we would all be flying into Glasgow then the plans changed to Edinburgh because that changed some people had to pay $1000 more to fly into Glasgow. Wealso had to get an Uber so the bus could pick us up at the Hampton Inn. This was an unnecessary expense caused by change in the plans. The bus situation was chaotic. We had two bus drivers and numerous buses because the buses were electric. I’m not sure if everyone was able to retrieve their last items during the switchovers, but the whole process was confusing and disorganized. Adrian didn’t even make an effort to ensure that we all knew one another’s names. It felt like the group was divided and nobody knew who anybody else was. The first hotels were very nice, but the last ones were not. Thankfully our rooms weren’t quite as bad as some of the others. We had blood splattered all over the curtains, floors that hadn’t been swept or vacuumed and dirt in the bed. There was hair on the bed. The rooms were tiny, and the beds were small. The accommodations were completely unacceptable. When we went to the stone circles. The walk was difficult. Where was Adrian? If there had been a pub nearby, he probably would’ve been there but he didn’t even accompany us. Ryan knew it would be getting dark and that it would be dangerous to walk back to the bus so he called a taxi company to shuttle us back. He paid for this out of his own pocket. That was not his job, but he stepped up when he saw a problem, Ryan, Lisa and Greg bent over backwards to make sure everyone had a good time. They genuinely cared about our experience and what they could to help us. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for Adrian. We paid for a ghost hunting tour, but we hardly did any ghost hunting. Instead it felt more like a sightseeing and shopping tour. We even had an entire free day which nobody wanted. We wanted to go ghost hunting. That’s what we all paid for this was not a cheap trip. We spent a lot of money and we were all extremely disappointed. Ryan was disappointed too. Adrian simply did not do a good job. Adrian started out one morning by having a couple of mimosas at breakfast. We all witnessed it. He frequently made comments such as if you need me I’ll be in the pub. Is this really the kind of tour guide you want? I certainly wouldn’t. We were also supposed to have transportation back to the airport but that never happened instead we had to pay $55 for a taxi ride. Getting to the last hotel was another frustrating experience. We were dropped off quite a distance from the hotel and had to drag our luggage up the long hill. It was ridiculous and completely unnecessary. I understand that some things may be outside of your control, but this trip had far too many problems. The lack of organization, poor accommodations, transportation issues, and overall lack of attention to the guests made this a truly disappointing experience. Most of us will not book another trip with you. I have heard numerous people say that. Being friends is one thing, but this is a business that you own, and you are responsible for the experience you provide. Unfortunately you failed this. Adrian wants all of us to leave a good review. Nope that’s not gonna happen. We are not going to lie about our experience. We paid a lot of money for this trip and deserve far better than what we received. We booked a haunted Scotland tour because we wanted to experience Scotland’s haunted history, explore castles, and participate in ghost hunts. Instead, we dealt with disorganization, disappointing accommodations, transportation problems, and a tour guide who did not meet our expectations. This trip fell far short of what was promised, and we cannot honestly recommend it to others.