5 days at the
Hilton Edinburgh Carlton have come to an end. I have very mixed feelings. First, it's location is great 5 minutes walk from Waverley station and half a block from the Royal Mile. Second, the renovation completed is reasonably good. Everything is still relatively fresh and looks new though it does have a feeling of "on the cheap" about it.
I was staying using points (175K. for 5 nights) and I didn't expect or get an upgrade from the base king room. The room was more spacious than I anticipated. The criteria for me is can we open two large suitcases with falling over them or each other. This room was certainly big enough. But the furnishings were cheapish, as shown in the pic below. The bathroom was tiny but again on the positive side the double glazing window worked really so well we could hear nothing from Northbridge just below.
The major failing in my eyes was consistently poor service. On none of the days was our room serviced before 5.00pm and then it was a rushed job - like 5 minutes. It was common to have to chase up water, shampoo, tea bags etc
The executive lounge looked smart but is one of the weirder ones I've been in. It is very small and it was often not possible to get a seat at a clean table. Twice we asked the attendant to pull himself away from watching the TV and clear a table. There was no supervision visible. Evening food was a cheese board, a soup and a hot bain marie of something - fish, pork or veal usually. No salads or anything to go with it. The booze selection included beer, wine and basic spirits. In the mornings it was pretty much standard Hilton breakfast fare.
We did have one breakfast in the restaurant. It was a chaotic event for not only us. There was virtually no staff and long waits for anything - a table to be cleared, a pot of tea, ordered eggs etc.
Would I stay here again? Not for hard cash until I'd read some improved reports.
