Coming from Manchester, we drove all the way up to Edinburgh, the very first city for our Scotland part of the trip. It is amazing to see how the scenery change little by little and once we head further up north into Scotland. You can see livestock such as sheeps greeting us. Well, the air also got much fresher. You know that you are going to have an amazing time in Scotland. This whole trip actually revolves around Scotland and Isle of Skye in particular. It was about a 4 hours drive from Manchester to Edinburgh. We had 2 nights in Edinburgh. Usually for hotels the first chain that I will go for is definitely Hilton and then Marriott. While there are a couple of hotels in Edinburgh, we decided to go for the Doubletree Hilton Edinburgh City Centre. Since the location is good and parking is easy.
1 night of the stay was paid with points since the stay rate is too ridiculous. That cost me 50000 points. For the other we paid about 172 Pounds or around 313 SGD. It is certainly not cheap. I was kind of attracted to the all day parking facility that only cost 12 pounds, which might be a bargain given high cost of parking. Furthermore we could earn points as well as free breakfast from our gold membership. Check in was smooth but take up a little time since we had to tie both of our booking together and got the same room for both nights. As per the norm in Doubletree, warm cookies were given at check in as well as two bottles of water. I still can’t comprehend why hotels now love to pass the water at check in rather than placing it in the room. Isn’t it much easier. We were also offered an upgrade to a castle view room which was nice.
Before I got to the room and the rest of the review, I would just like to touch a little on the parking situation, the carpark is offsite, 2 mins walk away and it only cot 12 pounds daily. It is a sheltered carpark and it is easy enough. Just get the ticket and another ticket from the reception to enjoy the promo rate. If not you would have to pay 40 pounds. We also luck out, on the second day, a Sunday, we could just park on the street for free. This is kind of a scotland thing.
The hotel only have 4 floors and we were given a room on the first floor which is actually technically the second level. The Décor was alright, it looks new in the lobby, room was alright although the corridors are a thing of the past. The property do definitely need a renovation soon. Exterior is awesome as you can see since it is a historical building. I love the room which was a surprise actually since the property is rather old. Especially the common areas around the floors. But I love that the room have super high ceilings, in fact I think it is the highest that I have stayed in. This makes the room look so much more spacious and open. It felt huge. The room is almost rectangular in shape with the washroom near the entrance. Then you can find the minibar and wardrobe area. Here you can find a safe, the fridge as well as an ironing set. The room is definitely old. But still pretty nice. Then there is a tv set up and a proper working desk at the end of the room.
The highlight of the room is definitely the castle view. Well the Edinburgh Castle is an icon and super gorgeous one, perched on the top of a hill too. I love how idyllic the view is from the window. This is also accompanied by a lounging chair and a side table. View is rather sick!
Then in the room there is two super single bed which were lush and firm. I always love Hilton beds which are one of the most comfortable one in the world. I love that they are always taller and firm. I love sleeping on harder mattress. Pillow though was paper thin as usual.
The toilet is a good size and it comes with a bathtub as well. Toilet seems to be refreshed. Toiletries were by Crabtree and Evelyn as per the norm in Hilton properties right now. The water pressure is amazing and temperature control is excellent as well. I love that there is a hand held handle which is so so important in hotel life. Something that I really appreciate a lot. A hairdryer is also offered. It does seems like they have done a pretty good job of upkeeping since some of the stuff in the washroom were pretty new.
Breakfast is served in the lobby restaurant and they served up a buffet. We had complimentary breakfast due to our Gold status. I have been a fan of hilton member and how generous they are with it. For example here, the breakfast for 2 cost around 28 pounds. It is nice and generous of them that they offer the full selection to premium members. You can also order cooked to order hot dishes which is a nice touch. There was a lot of items on the buffet from bread, juices, yogurt, eggs, sausages. Here are some of the pictures of the buffet. They were fresh and the pastries were flaky.
Here is the menu as well. Although it is small, it is still nice to have cooked to order options. I had some omelettes which was excellent. While the French toast is unmemorable.
I love that fruits and water are provided in the lobby all day long. In addition in the morning I saw them offering towels and bottles of water to guest who might want to run in the city. This is such a nice touch since Edinburgh is so pretty. However no coffee was offered which would be an even better touch from them.
Overall it is a super comfortable and nice stay. Although a little stingy with upgrades. It is just one of Edinburgh properties by Hilton in the city. While I wanted to try the waldorf, it is kind of troublesome to change hotel. Furthermore after consideration of the parking situation I will definitely choose to stay again here. The service is good but of course you can’t compare it to a South East Asia property. I think the hotel have been undergoing some reno parts by parts and it is sure in need of it. The hotel location is perfect as well and you can walk to anywhere in the city centre. There is a Salisbury just next door as well. Highly recommend!
Seeing The World In Steps 