Still known locally as the “Zoo Post House”, the Holiday Inn Edinburgh is located some 5Km from the Centre of Edinburgh on land that once formed part of the car park for Edinburgh Zoo. Originally built in the 1960’s as a Post House hotel (hence the local name), the hotel has subsequently been considerably extended. The hotel still shares part of its car parking areas with the Zoo, incidentally there appeared to be literally hundreds of empty spaces during our visit, although those undercover or in front of the hotel were very tight and limited to about 50.
The hotel is built on 6 floors part way up a hill overlooking the main A8 Edinburgh to Glasgow road and consists of three wings built at differing times in a Capital T shape. The original west wing and the slightly later east wing straddle the Reception, Restaurant and other public areas. Rooms on the south side of these wings have views out over the city to the Pentland Hills but also overlook the A8 while rooms on the north side overlook the car park, the Zoo buildings and Corstorphine Hill. The much more recent north wing is built into the car park.
It is easy to find by car by following signs for the Zoo, easiest from the City Bypass from the west of the city. Access is more difficult for those without their own car as the hotel is too far to walk from the City Centre or the central railway stations (Haymarket is the nearest and most convenient station and has frequent buses to the hotel). Lothian Buses Service 100 from Edinburgh Airport to Waverley station does stop immediately outside the hotel. However it is likely that this service will be withdrawn when the controversial tram system linking the City Centre to the Airport is eventually completed in a few years time (2011 or after!). In the meantime the construction work for the tram system is making access into the City Centre very difficult with buses and cars diverted and pedestrians corralled behind high barricades which obstruct the views of the castle and other historic buildings.
Our experience of the hotel is limited to a south facing executive room in the original west wing. These rooms are now (very) small compared with current international hotel standards and the bathrooms are positively tiny, with hardly enough room to dry yourself when you get out of the bath. The rooms are very well equipped with fridge, trouser press, iron and board, complimentary water as well as the usual TV and hospitality tray. Views out of these rooms are good and although we slept with the double glazed window open we didn’t find the noise from the road too bad. Rooms in the North wing being more modern may be larger.
Because we were visiting Edinburgh for a family celebration, we did not eat in the hotel (breakfast wasn’t included in our rate) and we didn’t have time to try out the leisure centre (pool, gym, hot tub and steam room – marketed locally as a Spirit Health Club). We did however find Reception staff friendly and welcoming with a minor error on our bill sorted out quickly and without fuss. We also appreciated the gift given to recognise our Platinum Priority Club status for which a room upgrade was not possible as we had already booked an executive room.
Because we were able to book a promotional rate, the hotel was good value for us, but do look for special deals as we would consider the rack rate as excessive at well over £100.
All in all not too bad a hotel provided you do not book it as a City Centre hotel.