Cairn Hotel - Edinburgh

Everyone in our tour group all had major problems with this hotel. They are STILL refurbishing and the whole front of the hotel is covered with scaffolding which may be holding the place up! It was grubby and I could not open the window since it was nailed shut. My bed was OK but others said they had really bad beds. Breakfast was in a dingy basement room. This whole Cairn chain seems to have problems.

Arrived at the hotel to find our booking had been messed up the receptionist tried to make out that this was our fault, not a great welcome or start.

Room was very grubby; bathroom even worse. The bathroom had obviously not been cleaned since the previous guests departed, there was toothpaste in the basin, along with a substantial amount of hair. There was even a little treat for us in the toilet.

Returned to the room after our night out to find that the spotlight pointed directly into the room. Asked reception if they could turn it off and were told they would at 4 in the morning(when it gets light). So at 1.30 in the morning we found ourselves changing rooms.

New room slightly improved, although it did not have enough hot water for me to have a hot shower in the morning.

Waited 30 minutes for breakfast to arrive (after they had taken our order twice) and when it did it was very small.

On the positive side one of the receptionists was extremely friendly and helpful.

Hallo liebe Reisende,

das Cairn Hotel war mit Abstand die widerlichste und ekligste Unterkunft in den 2 Wochen Urlaub.

Igitt. In den Betten waren noch Haare der/des Vorgänger/s. Das Bad war nur nach Versprühen einer ganzen Flasche Desinfektionssrays zu betreten, gescheige denn hier auch nur was zu berühren.

Die langen muffigen, stinkigen Flure/Korridore waren auch "etwas" verwirrend. Ganz zu schweigen von der Horde besoffener Engländer, die dafür sorgten, dass man erst garnicht an die Rezeption herankam. Bäähhh...

Arrived Friday 2.30 pm. Reception quite friendly. Warren like corridors to the musty smelling lower levels. Late November and no heating switched on in the small damp grubby room.Freezing. Turned on radiator in room and heating started working. No heating in en-suite. Turned on radiator, not working. Inform reception who sent someone to sort it. Nothing wrong with it, the boiler must be off. Two hours later, no heating, inform reception, nothing done. Sme again after another two hours. Almost froze to death in shower. Ask reception for extra blankets. Sorry the hotel is full and you can only have one. (One blanket for twin beds??)Complained to manager, and later by letter to Cairn, and was more or less told I was a liar.Wrote again but have had no reply.

The breakfast was quite acceptable ( a little cold)and served promptly by efficient staff. The bar staff were friendly and efficient and the roaring open fire in the lounge was a most welcome escape from the igloo we were billeted in. Managers excuse for dirty carpets/curtains/window etc was that the hotel was being refurbished, why then no discount for the awfulstate of the rooms. My advice, go in and have a drink in the bar, or a breakfast, BUT DO NOT BOOK A ROOM

i travelled with 60 other people as my primary 7 school trip i was 11 at the time we all though the hotel was terrible their was 3 of us per room my and 2 of my best friends were lucky cauz we had the back door room 107 or 108 bottom floor so we could go outsid ethe shower wouldnt go off it was a really maky hotel we were half board i would of rather not eaten the food was so bad hardly any of the phones worked 2 of our others friends were next door so quite often they climbed out of their window and came into our room i hated the hotel very enjoyable trip spoiled by a hidously horrible hotel

i found this hotel to be clean and comfortable, the staff were very helpful and friendly, excellent value for money

Two words......JUST. DON'T.

My husband and I just returned from a wonderful holiday in Scotland. We spent 3 days in Edinburgh, but not at the Cairn Hotel! We were booked in at the Cairn through our credit card point system which rated it as a 4 star hotel, needless to say, we were very surprised when we arrived there. The woman at the desk was so incredibly rude it defied description! The smell in that hotel as soon as you walked in carried itself all the way through the maze of doors and stairways and into the room. Now, the room......in order for my husband to walk around the room when I was in it I had to be on the bed. The sink for the bathroom was not actually IN the bathroom but out in the corner of the room. The carpet was so filthy there was no way either of us were going to remove our shoes! The TV was about the size of a small microwave, and when I reached down to plug it in, the dust that had been sitting back there flew up in my face. The window did not open. There were bed springs poking up in two places on the bed. As I was checking out this mess in the room, my husband was trying to find a place to park our car, as the hotel does not supply parking. He finally found a spot 8 blocks away. We might have been able to suffer through this place for one night, but really it was the rudeness of the staff that made us go back to the room, grab our things and leave. We booked three nights in another hotel, that took us all day to find, I might add. We are not picky people folks. This is just one place to steer completely clear of!

Stayed at the Cairn for a weekend during the Edinburgh Festival. Location is great - short walk to everything and lots of restaurants very nearby.

Hotel is old, basic, but our room was clean - although on the lower ground level so no view - and not much light either!

Staff were friendly and helpful and the breakfast was okay too.

Overall a cheap and cheerful base to stay in this fantastic city.

without a doubt the worst hotel of our trip - totally disappointed - to find our room was like going through a maze of long corridors and many doors - rooms were dirty and small - i would best describe this hotel as a dump and would not reccomend it at all