Four Points by Sheraton Edinburgh

The bed was comfortable enough, and the hotel was very quiet since it isn’t on a busy road. The bedroom looked nice and had USB sockets for charging, but the refurbishment clearly didn’t cover the whole room and seemed done on a budget. In the bathroom, the sink and bath had big cracks and chips, the plug was missing and its metal part was broken, and the toilet flush didn’t work. There was mould on the toilet roll, shower enclosure, and windows. A colleague’s room had a large patch of wet carpet, probably from a roof leak, bubbled ceiling paint in several places, and a badly cracked top-floor bathroom window. The air conditioning controls need better lighting, and the system switches itself off after a few hours, which was frustrating because it wouldn’t stay on all night. The bins could be collected more often too, depending on the view from your room. Breakfast was another letdown: the chef didn’t show up, so there was no hot food. The girl serving was lovely and very apologetic, but all we got was some random salami, stale bread, and a big dish of baked beans.

The location was a real plus, right opposite the Haymarket tram stop, and it made getting around Edinburgh easy. We liked the small breakfast, and the young man on reception on our first day was friendly and helpful. We stayed from Saturday to Tuesday, but had a mixed experience overall. Our room, 416, was extremely small, though the bed was comfortable. The pillows were much too soft for us. On the fourth floor there was just one small, very dirty Velux window, so we couldn’t see outside properly. Each night, a loud, constant fan-like noise came from the window area, and a strong light shone in. The room stayed very hot even after we turned the heating down, so we had to leave the window slightly open despite the noise. The bathroom also had nowhere to hang hand towels after showering, with no towel rail or similar. The lift broke on Sunday morning and wasn’t fixed during our stay. With rooms on the fourth floor, we think that should have been treated as a priority. At checkout, the two women at reception barely acknowledged us. There was no eye contact, no question about our stay, and not even a thank you. That left a cold last impression.

I had lunch at Amalfi, the Italian restaurant, one afternoon. The soup and all-vegetarian pasta were good, though they could have used a bit more seasoning. My husband stayed in the rooms last month, but has decided to switch to Hilton for his upcoming trips because they were very cold. The heater didn’t work, and the tap water was really cold. They should look into that, especially with Edinburgh’s January and February weather.

I’d tell people to avoid this hotel, and frankly the whole chain, based on how I was treated. I was diagnosed with leukaemia the day before my stay and contacted the hotel to ask for a cancellation on compassionate grounds, even though the booking was non-refundable. I was in hospital trying to take in a life-changing diagnosis, and they said they’d only cancel if I first booked another stay. Making another reservation was the last thing on my mind. Other providers I contacted responded kindly and helped straight away. This hotel showed no empathy and didn’t offer even a voucher or other goodwill gesture. It made an already traumatic time incredibly distressing. I would never recommend staying here.