Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh (Edinburgh - July 2019)

Stay Report: Residence Inn Edinburgh

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We were a group of 3 traveling to Edinburgh and so we needed at least two double beds; however most of the hotels in the city only offered either one double bed or two twin beds.  The only hotel that I could find that offered the opportunity for all of us to stay in one room was the Residence Inn Edinburgh.  Residence Inn are Marriott's suite hotels and I have stayed in them before and enjoyed all the suite benefits - larger room size, generally a separate bed and living area, a small kitchenette, a bathroom, and complimentary breakfast.  Given my previous experience with the brand, and the fact that they offered two double beds, I booked the hotel through the website.  

The hotel itself is outside the city center and is located near the University of Edinburgh and about a 5-10 minute walk from the National Museum of Scotland; its about a 15 minute drive up the hill from the main train station.  With its location, there are many shops, restaurants, grocery stores all within a short walking distance away from the hotel.  The hotel looks newly built from the outside and it does not look like a hotel, as all the surrounding building look like they were built together and some were turned into offices, some into apartments and some into hotels.  The entrance to the hotel faces the walkway and not the street, so there really is no entry way to the hotel; you park on the side, unload your luggage, and walk up the stairs to the entrance of the hotel.

The lobby of the hotel is very compact.  As you enter, there are luggage carts in front of you and you go towards to right for the check-in desks. In front of the door is the small waiting area and to the left is the business center with two computers and a printer.  Next to check-in desks is the bar and restaurant, and this is also where the complimentary breakfast is provided.  The check-in agent who assisted us was not very courteous nor customer friendly and it provided a bad start to the overall experience at the hotel.  We checked in, received our key, and went down a narrow hallway to the equally narrow elevators.  Based on the narrowness of everything, it seems that the 'hotel' was designed as apartments and then later turned into a hotel; however it was designed, it was not a great design for the hotel.


Once we got to our floor, the hallways for the rooms were also narrow so that only one direction of traffic could fit in the hallway at one time (again, not built as a hotel).  As you entered into the room, you entered into the mini kitchen which contained a sink, a microwave, a mini fridge, cabinets above and below, a countertop, as well as plates, cups, and cutlery.  It was more of a kitchenette but it had the basics and was a nice addition to the room.  In most Residence Inns, from the kitchenette you proceed to the sitting area and then to the bedroom but here it was opposite.  As you stepped into the main room, the beds were in front against the right side of the wall and against the left side of the wall was the sitting area.  We had a room with two beds and the beds were wide, comfortable, and provided a good sleep.  There was a nightstand in the middle of the bed but that was the only space to place things if you were in the bed area.  

Across from the beds was the sitting area and a desk.  The sitting area was a L-shaped connected couch that

could also be turned into a sofa bed.  The couch was comfortable enough and provided some nice seating areas or additional places to store luggage (as that was lacking throughout the room).  In between the couch and the window was a desk which faced towards the room and bathroom and had your back towards the window.  The window was nice as it was large, spanned across the entire wall, and let in air and natural light; however, the window faced offices which were occupied during the day and it was very close so you could see right across - opening the windows meant diminished privacy.  The room itself - with the beds and the sitting area - was spacious and there was a lot of room to move around.  NOTE: there was no AC in the room at all.  Edinburgh was going through a heat wave and it was EXTREMELY hot inside the room and all the hotel did was provide two small fans which really did not help cool the room at all.    

The bathroom, on the other hand, was tiny and compact.  To the left of the sitting area was the bathroom which was separated into two parts.  There was a small sink with a soap and lotion dispenser up top and towels on the bottom - this part was open to the room - and then there was a door that led into the toilet and shower.  The shower was long length wise but was very narrow, and the shower/toilet area was very small so that you could not open the door to the shower and the door to the bathroom - also the shower door would hit the toilet.  There was also only one light in this area and that was above the shower area so this left the toilet portion in somewhat darkness.  Given how spacious the room was, the bathroom was that compact and not well lit at all.  The bathroom amenities - dispenser next to the sink and body wash dispenser in the shower - did smell nice.

There are a couple of standard amenities that the Residence Inn provides including complimentary

breakfast, complimentary wifi, usually a gym, a business center, and complimentary parking.  I did not check out the fitness center but I did try the complimentary breakfast, the business center, and the wifi.  The wifi was complimentary but there were two wifis - one for the room and one in the lobby.  The lobby wifi worked well enough for email but was very poor for streaming videos while the room wifi was horrible in that the connectivity kept dropping and you could barely do any emails.  The business center had two computers connected to a printer and the printing was complimentary but the computers were slow and inefficient.  The breakfast was complimentary and was basic - complimentary muffins, cereals, some fruit and eggs.  It was not great and just provided the basics.

Overall, it was a disappointing stay at the Residence Inn.  Yes, the rooms were spacious, two beds were provided, and there was a kitchenette but these positives were outweighed by the negatives which included the compact bathroom, poor customer service, lack of AC in the room, horrible wifi connectivity, and generally poor design of the hotel. If I had to choose again, I would much rather pay for 2 rooms in another hotel then stay in one room in this hotel.