Edinburghhouse Hotel

So, before I start I’ve given it 2 stars overall due to the experience we had however, that being said I think if you’re on a budget holiday, your travelling alone or with your mates and don’t mind just your basic needs being met, then it would in fact meet the 3 stars it’s been given. However, there were some issues I think even being a budget hotel that need to be dealt with asap. First off, the hotel is very dated, the furniture is very old and basic as was the decorating. There was no lift either which makes it very inaccessible if you’re disabled or unable to walk very far, but on reading other reviews I think the reasoning is fair, it’s a Victorian build so they’re not allowed one. The room we had was pretty standard, compared to a lot of the rooms I’ve seen on other people’s reviews I think we got lucky. We were room 11, which is located on the top floor, it is a twin room but I’d rather sleep in one single bed with my partner than deal with some of the double rooms I’ve seen on certain reviews. The bathroom was pretty standard, clean but we were only given half a toilet roll on arrival and one spare. The bedroom as a whole was standard, clean sheets, a TV, kettle, but no hairdryer. Luckily we’d brought our own. The other main issue we had, which really bothered me, was when we were given our key, the woman at the reception desk said it opened the front door, the middle door and our room, which to me (although it wasn’t confirmed by staff) that every single key was the same? Therefore making it quite unsafe as I’m assuming any other hotel guest could just walk into your room. This felt extremely dodgy to me and I was uneasy every time I left the room just incase someone got in and stole our belongings, which wasn’t great as we were Christmas shopping and buying gifts for people. There was no safe either which made it worse. We didn’t have any issues with the heating in our room or the hot water in the shower as I’ve seen others post about. It was quite warm and the shower heated up in seconds, that could just be down to the room we had which looked like it had recently been redecorated. The walls were paper thin, you could hear people yelling/screaming on a night and through the day, however there’s not much they can do about that due to the way the properties built, so if that doesn’t bother you, it’s not really a big issue, however if these sort of things really bother you, I wouldn’t book this hotel. The location was actually fairly decent, the taxis to the main areas in Edinburgh where pretty cheap however during high traffic hours they did get pricey. You could walk from the centre to the hotel which would take around 30 minutes but we visited in December and it was extremely rainy so we just got the bus, which is located right outside of the hotel or a taxi. I can’t fully comment on the staff, as they’re only in the hotel for certain hours which I guess is quite unsafe as we weren’t given any instructions on what to do if we had any issues before 3 or after 10 when everyone had left. When we got to reception the woman was quite polite, it was a very brief interaction she did seem very nice. However, upon arrival there was another guest complaining at the reception and she did seem to be responsive but she then brushed it off and laughed instead of taking the complaint seriously even when the guest threatened to take it further. Other than that, we had no other interactions with staff, looking through the reviews it seems the manager who replies to them is very defensive which I imagine is due to the low ratings they’ve been receiving however it does seem a bit unprofessional to comment in such a manor when you’re the owner of a hotel as I think most of the complaints are genuine. All in all, if you’re staying for a day or two this would be fine or if you’re on a budget and just require the basics, however I wouldn’t recommend any longer than 2 days or a weeks stay if you’re on vacation and have a lot of expensive items, there are other, better budget friendly hotels in the centre of Edinburgh.

The room didn't match the photos we saw on the website. The phone reception was terrible and the WiFi didn't always work. The television wasn't working at all. The door of the room didn't lock (everybody had the same key, since the key to our room was the same as for the front door!!!!!). It was noticeable that the towels we had on the bathroom were ripped apart (in order for them to have more). There was a hole in the ground of the bedroom and you can hear everything that it's going on on that house. We weren't given the choice to choose which type of room we'd like (it was noticeable that the basement rooms (where we stayed) were much worse then the upstairs ones).