As always when I have an overall negative impression, I'll just state the good and the bad so people can make up their own minds what they are looking for.
Good:
* breakfasts (included for all residents) are excellent
* staff are all friendly and helpful, but overall very inexperienced. You would expect this as I think the average age would be 19 - great when you want a drink or breakfast, not great when you want efficient checkin or any problems addressed
* maintenance is swift (which I would think is necessary). In just a two day stay we encountered the following problems: towel rack falling off the wall 3 times, lights in the bathroom wouldn't stop flicking even when switched off, lift broke down, plug in the sink would not work
* funky decor, just don't look too closely - it is a bit tired, eg the fluffy bedside rugs had cigarette burns, the grouting around the bathroom was cracked, there was a definite water damage mark above the shower where there was clearly a bad leak from upstairs, our shower cubicle leaked all over the floor of the bathroom each time we showered, the push down plug in the sink would not work
* sheets on the bed were lovely
* housekeeping was efficient
Bad:
* only having a shower when there is easily room for a bath just seems cheap
* if you are in one of the rooms at the back of the hotel, they overlook the back street where every day of our stay a truck pulled up at about 8am and started throwing glass bottles into a recycling bin for at leats 30 minutes. This was on a Friday morning and Saturday morning. There is no possibility for a lie in. When we mentioned this, it was greeted with a shrug of the shoulders. This alone would mean I would not stay again - I do note though that there was never any audible noise from the bar
* whilst the ambience when you walked in was always young and funky, which we liked, there was really no possibility of a comfortable time in the bar - which sometimes at a hotel you like to have a relaxing drink before heading out
* checkin was awful - we arrived about 10pm after our flight was delayed, and could not hear the "receptionist" (once we found him) over the sound of the bar - it really is equivalent to trying to check in with a barman. Equally checkout was dire - everyone descends at 11am, and there is only room for 2 people and bags at the desk, so as the lift continues to bring more people down, there is almost carnage as everyone falls all over each other. Quite amusing really
I had read all the reviews so knew what to expect, and did not think it would bother me to be in a funky place, but really it is quite inconvenient, and there are a number of other options in Edinburgh to stay where you can sleep in, and not continually have the "funky" decor collapsing around you. Avoid room 9!






