Room was very spacious - deluxe -given location. Nice touches were mug for tea making, nice toiletries & plenty of wardrobe space. Strange musty smell in the wardrobe even though it was immaculate and lighting was quite dingy for doing make up in the room.
Excellent made to order breakfast and the brasserie was also v good although a little pricey.
Staff were v efficient with the right balance between this and friendliness. Quite keen to help you find restaurants etc and will even pull strngs to get you in the 'hot' places.
The spa was very nice but the pool area was dark and not very inviting - it was almost impossible to read poolside due to the poor light. Treatments were excellent and the relaxation room had to be seen to be believed with no pressure to leave! Be aware that there is only one therapist in the week so book ahead.

Spent 3 nights at this hotel this week. Hotel is housed in the former offices of the Scotsman newspaper and accordingly the rooms have names like the editor, publisher. We had 2 rooms and were very pleased with the condition of the rooms, size, staff etc. If someone is looking for a box or rectangular room, this is not for you. The rooms have odd shapes and areas, but its nice to see something different. Beds were excellent. Bathroom was very nice for the UK. Only negative was no air conditioning which is probably fine most of the time. We were their during a warm spell. We were able to open some windows and get a reasonable cross breeze. Breakfast was nice, although coffee was strange in a bad way. Hotel adjoins a first rate health club which is complementary to guests.

The location of The Scotsman is perfect, it couldn't be better next to both the old and the new town, Waverley station, airport coaches and Edinburgh Castle. As a first time visitor to Edinburgh it was great to receive upcoming emails to my visit with the hotel's tips about the town. However - they missed one big thing! We arrived with train to the station and just when we jumped off the train we saw the hotel. We took our bags and realized that the entrance was located above the bridge, several steps and hard carrier of bags to the reception. It was actually cool because we took the Fleshmarket Close (famous from Ian Rankin's books) but - I was glad my parents wasn't traveling with us. It was really annoying to realize the hotel had an entrance from the street but you had to be a pre-registered guest! Come on - why don't inform us about this earlier?? No information at the hotels own webpage, LHW or in the up-coming emails.

Check in was splendid as well as the porter service. Just after check-in we reciveed a fruit basket and a gift from the management (a very nice touch). The room itself was lovely scottish with good details but also annoying, fx. it wasn't possible to see the TV perfect from the bed, the wardrobe doors couldn't be full open because the bed was in the way to it, as well as the bed wasn't closed located to the wall! The bathroom was nice, but we didn't appreciate the Cowsheed pumps - I would prefer individual amenities and not such pumps the previous guests also used. Gladely we had some small bottles of Molton Brown with us, so we didn't need to used this. I would expect this from a hotel with this standard.

The building is cool, you can get lost very easy - specially on your way to breakfast or spa. The continental breakfast was so poor so I was very happy it was included in the room rate, al'a carte breakfast was nice and homemade but you can only have one choice of these items. If you would like to have both pancakes and a full Scottish breakfast it would be in your dreams or you have to pay extra. Service was also terrible and in the breakfast room as well as the surroundings (a conference room). We found several other salons they could use for breakfast which was so much nicer!

We had room-service which was awful. A dried hamburger and a well-burned pizza. If we wasn't to sleepy we should go for Pizza Hut instead around the corner! However - it wasn't so expensive. We had a dinner at the North bridge Brasserie located in the hotel - this was a success with very well composed menu. One of the best desserts I ever had was the "Earl Grey tea mousse", If I wasn't to full I would go for two!

A very nice advantage of the Scotsman is the spa and the fitness center. Really nice property and the swimming pool with a steel bassin was a new experience. We had to treatments in the spa which was good and not so expensive. I can recommend this!

We had a great deal B&B for 126 pounds which was much less then ex. the Radisson SAS Hotel (4 star). I would stay at The Scotsman again, but not if it was a better rate then the Radisson SAS (which are located just around the corner from Scotsman and looked very nice). For standard rates around 300 pounds I would definitely consider if the Scotsman is worth it.

We couldn't decide between this hotel or The Balmoral! The hotels are opposite each other separated by the North Bridge and the huge railway station. Reception was lovely and old fashioned, roaring fire, cosy sofas, friendly staff. We'd booked a lovely large room (high up) as it was for a celebration. Wonderful view over the bridge, town and Calton Hill. The room was gorgeously fitted, a slide out flat screen TV and bar, a table with a monopoly board, fresh fruit etc. The break was a celebration and kindly the manager had put a bottle of good quality champagne on ice for us in the room as a gift on our arrival - a lovely touch and much appreciated by us both. The bathroom was heavenly, huge and spotless with a roll-top bath, shower and wonderfully decadent "Cowshed" toiletries (at least 8 large bottles of them!).
As others have pointed out, the railway station is directly below the hotel - however this makes the location good, only a stones throw to The Royal Mile or Princes Street. But equally there is some noise from trains and announcements, and the lower your room, the more you'll hear it. We did here some during the evening/night, but it didn't stop up sleeping (and I'm a light sleeper!). Mainly it's the diesel trains which make an annoying rumbling noise.
Breakfast is low down in the basement, but was excellent, plenty of choice and service was friendly and efficient. The bar and brasserie are wonderfully opulent, food is excellent as are drinks. This hotel is definitely old fashion luxury, the building is stunning (seek out the marble staircase and have a meal or drinks in the bar) and worthy of a high rating. We stayed in the winter, so I can't comment on the lack of air-con, Edinburgh was freezing during our stay, so wrap up warm!