Lochend Serviced Apartments

The apartment was clean, lovely and well maintained, and the staff were really friendly. There were useful extras like cereal, tea, coffee and sugar, plus fresh towels and clean bedding. The main problem was other guests making a lot of noise as they came and went, especially walking through the halls in the early hours. The apartment is right on a main bus route, so getting around Edinburgh is easy.

We stayed from 9-12 August. The apartment was clean, comfortable and spacious, though we mostly just slept there and had breakfast before heading out. Reception staff were helpful, and the bus right outside was excellent. We took a taxi from Waverley, which cost £8 with all our luggage. We could hear other guests arriving late and banging doors, as previous guests have mentioned. Bath towels were provided, one per guest, but I would have liked a couple of hand towels. There may have been some in a cupboard, but I couldn't find them.

The flat was spacious, which was its only positive. The sheets were dirty and smelled of the previous occupants' body odour. They were replaced, but we had to remake every bed ourselves. The sofas were filthy, and the place smelled of cigarette smoke and a strange chemical, like nail polish remover. The camp bed they provided had been stapled together and broke as soon as a small child sat on it. The replacement had a mattress so filthy I wouldn't have let my dog sleep on it. The whole place felt like university halls, with people partying until 6am. Terrible, the worst place I've stayed in the UK. Avoid it.

First off, the accommodation wasn't signposted from the road. Even though the woman had told me the street name, we had to turn around a few times to find the entrance. Parking was a bit difficult, though I assumed it was just a busy period. It would also help to have a list in the elevator showing which apartments are on each floor. Nobody mentioned that the key locks weren't fitted properly. We spent about 10 minutes figuring out how to open the door: the upper lock had to turn left, and the lower one also had to turn left. The photos tell the story of the apartment. It was extremely dirty and didn't seem prepared for guests at all. It hadn't been vacuumed, the kitchen was greasy, and the sofa was covered in dog hair. The smell nearly made us vomit. The bedding didn't look clean and smelled of cigarette smoke. There were no hand towels, and spare bedding and duvets were left on the floor. Before checkout, someone knocked persistently, then a cleaner came in to collect the spare bedding, perhaps for another room. What shocked me was that she dragged a duvet along the dirty floor and then put it on the beds. Some people may say you can't expect much for £135 a night for a whole apartment for five people. In my view, it doesn't need to be luxurious or the latest thing, but it should be clean and tidy.