Grassmarket Edinburgh

Great location, amazing price, ok rooms

I took a trip to Scotland on a whim and booked a room at the cheapest place expedia.ca listed - which just happened to be the Grassmarket Inn.

The hotel was undergoing construction while I was there, as it appears as if it has been bought out recently by a hotel chain which is doing some minor renovations.

My room was very small - there wouldn't be enough room beside my bed and the wall for someone to sleep, for example. That being said, it was some of the best value accomidations I had while in the UK - the cleaned my room well daily, didn't touch my stuff, and gave me shortbread cookies for each night of my space, which kept me happy.

My gripe with the hotel was that for some reason I couldn't get cold water out of my tap, which was pretty strange. The vinyl bathroom tiles also had airbubbles under them, so you could sort of bounce up and down on them if you liked. But for 30 pounds a night, I was very happy and would return without hesitation.

Location, Location

It's the location and the value that makes the Grassmarket Hotel so good. Yes, It's a Rabbit Warren and the pub downstairs is quite noisy till late. The single room I had was very clean, recently decorated although very small, but then I was not having a party there, just sleeping, it had a TV, tea making and hair dryer. Breakfast ws quite good, included porridge and Haggis (Something a nearby 4 star hotel did not serve)

Great location for the Old Town and Castle. Great value hotel.

Not Bad...

Location is definitely the key to this hotel...it's convenient to everything. True, there are numerous pubs nearby which can make the streets noisy (not the management's fault) and the layout of the hotel is like a rabbit warren (talk to 17th century architects), but I found it to be good value for the money, friendly staff, and the perfect location. If you're looking for a place that will treat you with kidd gloves, this is not for you. If you're looking for a place to rest, this works well. Did I mention the location?

Better than expected!!!

After seeing some of the previous reviews for this hotel I must admit I went there fearing the worst. All i can say that i was pleasantly surprised that we found this hotel to be more than adequate. Dont get me wrong this is not the Ritz, but if you want something warm, clean,decent breakfast and in a good location then dont be put off by other reviews.

Fab Hotel -Great Value

I think some people who reviewed this were in a different hotel. The lift goes to all floors. The reception is directly there when you walk in the door. The room was compact - not small - what do you expect for that price in the heart of Edinburgh. It was clean, had a wardrobe, hairdryer, coffee/tea making facilities and a lovely clean spacious bathromm. We were directly above Biddy Mulligans but we didnt experience any noise apart from some chit-chat. They have bouncers to move people on (the pub is part of the hotel). Hubby went for breakfast and he had no complaints. Good mix of people in hotel. Welsh Rugby fans who had came to Edinburgh to watch Wales v Scotland - great excuse for a weekend away. (It was played in Wales) The only thing I would semi complain about was the night receptionist. He was sullen and didnt take us on. He should remember we have all had to do -- jobs, to enable us a few years down the line, to be able to afford to stay a night in a hotel.

Recommended tho!

Great Overall!!

My fiance and I arrived in Edinburgh at our hotel on the Royal Mile to find out they gave our room away, so they escorted us down the hill to the Grassmarket. We couldn't have been happier. The staff was very friendly and helpful. Unlike other reviews I've seen, our room was very clean with great views of the West Bow, Cowgate, and Grassmarket. The biscuits and in room Teapot was a nice touch.

The location is Excellent to get to everywhere as well. Though, you should probably be in good enough shape for the hike to Princes St. and Calton. Hopefully if there are budding problems here they get straightened out soon as I'll be sure to stay on my next return.

Well situated, friendly hotel

Well situated, friendly hotel with a great breakfast that keeps you going all day. My son and I have stayed here during Edinburgh Festival in both 2004 and 2005. We found the staff really helpful and friendly, our room was clean and well equipped and the cooked breakfast really did keep us going all day - so we only had to stop for a snack at lunchtime and then have dinner. Also - the location is fantastic - two minutes walk and you're on the Royal Mile. It is noisy, but that is only to be expected as it is next door to a bar!!! We'll be staying there again in 2006.

Location, Location

There's only about 2 good things about this hotel...it is in a very central location, great for walking all around the city center. And the hot breakfast was great. The rest of our stay was purely mediocre. The room was extremely small, as was the bed and bathroom. It was fairly clean, just looked old and not well maintained. The pillows were very lumpy, and we brought extra towels just in case. When I read it used to be a tenement house, it makes sense...the reception is about 3 floors and a long walk from most rooms. And the lift only goes up one floor. So overall, not great, but we stayed there for Hogmanay and it suited our needs very well in terms of a central location.

Terrible Hotel

Hated this hotel!...we booked two single rooms for two nights and asked for rooms next to or close to each other. Sure enough they alloted 206 and 207 and when we started searching for the rooms, we realised that we made a mistake booking at this hotel because it was so confusing to even to get to our rooms...in order to reach 206, you have to take the elevator to the first floor and then walk up the stairs to the second floor and then starting going thru a maze of corridors to finally get to our rooms! Interestingly, 206 and 207 are not next to each other -- in fact you have to go thru multiple doors to get from one room to the other. Rooms are small and bathrooms were horrible! Slim and grim - even for a two star hotel this was too much! Staff was not very helpful nor friendly! Breakfast was ok - it was cooked to order. Location was good - close to the Castle and city center.

The worst hotel I've ever stayed in

The walls of our bedroom were grimy- with scuff marks and what looked like blood smears.

Despite there being two of us booked into a double room, we only had one hand towel and one bathsheet provided

Constant noise from the street and other customers in the hotel

Breakfast. What can I say about the complete lack of customer service? I was advised by the receptionist to take breakfast later as the breakfast room would be busy. Despite the fact that this was not particularly convenient to our plans, we concurred. We arrived after 9 o'clock as advised, to find the breakfast room in a chaotic state, with nobody in charge and bewildered guests milling about trying to make sense of the paltry offerings on display.