Generally a very nice hotel, recently nicely refurbished. The room was a very good size with a comfortable bed. Bathroom was adequate other than the shower hose being too short to get the shower head positioned at a decent height.

The major downside was the noise, having a room at the front of the hotel meant loud music to 3am and beyond. Not to be recommended on weekend nights because of the noise.

My husband and I stayed for a weekend in autumn on the 6th floor i believe. we must have gotten lucky and given a refurb'ed room because it was wonderful and nothing like the pictures the last reviewer posted. we had a large room with huge bed and new fluffy duvet and loads of accent pillows of high quality. flat screen tv, lovely bathroom with new tub and shower. we skipped the breakfast and had tea in our room from the in room tea tray. (note: no minibars)

we vistited the bar Tempus downstairs at night for drinks. Lovely. we had a drink (great wine list and traditional cocktails with flair) and took our 2nd drink up to our room.

the area does get loud at night. it's a uni town so when the bars let out it is pretty crazy and loud outside. even up on the 6th floor you could hear the cries of the drunks! it didnt bother us much.

the staff were fine. friendly enough, but since we had no complaints or need to interact a lot, we didnt have much contact with them. everything was pleasant. i would recommend this hotel, but inquire upon booking about making sure you are placed into a refurbished room. from reading here, the difference between the 2 does seem quite vast!

STAR WARS



This hotel has a split personality, on one side it is refurbished and these are the pictures you see advertised, the rooms on the other side resemble dog kennels (sorry, that could be unfair to dogs), tiny, damp, squalid, badly ventilated, poor bedding, one pillow per person, two sheets and one thin blanket (see pictures). You are guaranteed to get a cold as we did from the poorly fitting badly maintained FILTHY windows (see pictures).



Firstly we were allocated the dreaded room 402 (see other reviews), this room has a bed pushed against a wall and you could almost touch each side of the room by spreading out your arms, not only that but the furniture would be unfit to sell second hand and I am NOT joking. We were 'upgraded' to room 320, that is the room we eventually stayed in as there was no more choice and is detailed above.



But wait for the best of it, after complaining, it was admitted to me by the General Manager that BOTH of these rooms were in fact single rooms and had been WRONGLY placed on their inventory for 6 - 7 MONTHS and SOLD AS DOUBLE ROOMS, but WAIT, they also admitted that they have done the same with ANOTHER room (no number known as yet). I have not finished with the hotel, my weekend was ruined and my wife and I now have a stinking cold. I have reported them to Edinburgh Trading Standards to have them prosecuted for selling single rooms as doubles.



SO, if you have been allocated room 320 OR 402 for a stay in the past for double occupancy then you have been squeezed into a SINGLE room, this room CANNOT be used for double occupancy according to the 4* criteria. You should contact the head office of Principal-hotels and speak to the CEO Mr Tony TROY, I am sure he will be delighted to offer you the difference back in cash AND pay for compensation for ruining your stay as he did ours.



Do NOT accept room 402 0r 320 for double occupancy as it breaches their conditions. Visit Scotland are reviewing their status at the monet, so feel free to contact them with your views via e-mail :- [--]



As for the breakfast, that is a nightmare, long queues, staff that dislike the management and are leaderless, designers of the breakfast and ding room that do not have a clue about practicality, just superficial nonsense. The designers have been successful in hiding the restaurant from hotel guests, we could not find it and ended up eating out.



What maddens me is the fact that my complaints mirror those of previous guests and NOTHING has been done, I would NEVER recommend this hotel to ANYONE after our experience, refurbished or not, there is plenty of other choice around. Just look at my pictures and compare them to the hotel webiste or the pictures shown on lastminute.com, OUTRAGEOUS . CON is a polite way of putting it, but as others say, the front of house has been worked on to suck you in, but beware the horrors that await you.



Check our pictures against the ones on these links :-



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But not to worry, after uncovering the unfortunate use of a single room for two and having been put in two of them I have been offered a free night, I guess you know where they can shove that!



Lets see how many people have been 'mistakenly' given a single room for two, please share your experiences if you have and don't forget to speak to Mr Troy for a refund and compensation for being sold something that is not what it is claimed to be.



BE WARNED floors 3 and 4 have not yet been renovated

My husband I stayed this weekend at the George Hotel for a birthday treat and we thought it was brilliant. The rooms are really nicley decorated (no minibar though), with a huge comfy bed and flat screen TV. Tempus the bar is great for drinks before and after your evening meal. Only had breakfast here and it was really nice and the staff were efficient and friendly. Stayed in the Caley and the Sheraton and this hotel for the money was the best. Defo be returning.