Holiday Inn Express EDINBURGH - CITY WEST by IHG

Overall, the hotel is okay. Pros: it's inexpensive, offers a decent breakfast, and allows late check-in. We were also able to leave our luggage there until the evening. There's a bus stop nearby. Cons: paid parking—we paid £11 for the night, even though the parking lot is on-site. The hotel itself is old. The room was spacious, but it's in need of renovation. There was a cigarette burn on the curtain, some damage to the bathtub, the bathroom door had mismatched handles put together, and while the towels weren't old, they had stains. The hair dryer didn't work. We had a twin room, and the mattresses were terrible—lumpy spring mattresses that sagged badly.

The hotel is conveniently located on the main road leading out of the city, with a gas station right downstairs. Parking is available, so it seems ideal for those traveling by car. However, we didn't drive. From the train station, we took bus 43 for about 20 minutes, which dropped us off near the gas station, just a 100-200 meter walk to the hotel. This was also quite convenient. We relied on buses for all our trips during our stay; bus 43 goes to Princes Street and George Street, and bus 47 goes to the National Museum, with most journeys taking under half an hour. If you don't mind the short travel time, the hotel offers good value for money. The room was relatively new, with all the standard amenities, clean and tidy. Breakfast was also decent. The room even offered a nice view; we happened to be there during the Mid-Autumn Festival and saw a beautiful full moon. 🥰

Edinburgh is truly beautiful. The castle and Calton Hill are must-visit spots. The Museum of Edinburgh is also very interesting and worth a look. The hotel itself is about a half-hour drive from the city center. There's a large shopping mall and supermarket right next door, which is very convenient for shopping.

This hotel is really remote and run-down. The breakfast was the worst I've had in the UK. However, there are plenty of chain supermarkets and beauty stores right across the street, so you can buy food and eat in your room!

I really loved Edinburgh as a city; however, the hotel is quite a distance from the city center. While there's a direct bus, it was often delayed due to traffic. There's a large supermarket nearby, just across the street. Getting to the front desk requires walking up an incline with no separate pedestrian path, which was inconvenient when carrying luggage. The breakfast was quite poor, and the room facilities were terrible. I was given a corner room with no working Wi-Fi. The bathroom fixtures were extremely old, the toilet was hard to flush, and the shower head was broken. Most alarmingly, there was a connecting door on the wall opposite the bed, leading to the next room, which made me feel very unsafe. The soundproofing was also awful; I could hear conversations, coughing, and even someone turning over in the adjacent room. All in all, I absolutely do not recommend this hotel!

This is a review I simply have to write. We checked in for the weekend as a party of three. The room rate including tax was 2,100 RMB per night. Upon arrival, we were told that while we booked a family room, the reservation was for 2 people, so an extra person charge applied—an additional £125! That brought the total to 3,000 RMB for one room, one night! 1. Absolutely zero soundproofing: Police cars or ambulances kept roaring past outside, waking us up roughly once every hour. Anyone walking down the corridor could be heard clearly, and we could hear conversations from the next room crystal clear as well. There was a loud, kettle-like boiling noise inside the room that went off every half hour. When I recorded it and asked the front desk the next day, they told me it was just the air conditioning. 2. Appalling cleanliness: There was a weird odor in the air and on the pillows. The shower was tiny with extremely low water pressure. Imagine conditions even worse than a 10-plus-year-old Hanting or Home Inn back in China. 3. Location: A bit out of the way, with a gas station right outside and a cemetery diagonally across the street. Taking the bus back from the Royal Mile is 3 stops for £2.90, so if you have a group, taking a taxi is actually more cost-effective. 4. Front desk service: The woman who checked us in had an extremely arrogant attitude, completely uncommunicative, and even threatened to inspect our room. 5. That said, I must give huge praise to Trip.com and their customer service. We had originally booked two consecutive nights, but we couldn't endure even a single second longer. Trip.com's customer service actively communicated with the property to help us cancel the second night, constantly comforting me and showing genuine empathy for what we went through—it almost brought me to tears! Truly grateful for their help in resolving this issue! I didn't take any photos because I really didn't want to pollute my camera roll; just picture taking a shower standing in a filthy bathtub and a bed that is too hideous to look at. I honestly want to urge everyone to steer clear of this place at all costs. Do not stay here, no matter how cheap it gets on weekdays.