Apex Grassmarket Hotel

Such a beautiful location. We had the castle view and it was awesome! But what made our trip was the front desk - Alasdair! My mother and I loved him. He is very friendly, helpful, knowledgeable and we always hoped he was at the front desk when we came by. We will book again just for him because he truly loves his job/Edinburgh and you feel it from the moment he greets you!

There couldn’t be a better view! The rooms are spacious, spotless, and comfortable. The staff are incredibly friendly and warm, and the hotel’s location is perfect — right in the heart of the city. I’m so glad I had this experience.

We booked a 3 night stay Friday- Monday at the Apex Hotel (Grassmarket), having been very impressed with a previous stay at this same chain in Bath. Unfortunately, despite paying £750 for our short stay (inc breakfast), this hotel is just not up to the same standard. The location is very good - a 10-15 min walk from many of the main attractions, but a word of warning, the hotel is in a busy area for nightlife.Thus, you can expect some street noise due to being in the thick of things, especially on the weekends. There is a small car park on site, but the hotel won’t let you pre book a space, so we reserved our own private parking through Just Park, a 20 min walk from the hotel. This worked out cheaper than the hotel parking rates. Upon arrival, we were asked to check in and settle our balance, although the balance requested differed from that on our confirmation email. The hotel proceeded to explain that VAT of £105 had no been included, which really bumped things up for what was already a relatively expensive stay. Not the best of starts. The room itself was spacious and clean, but clearly tired in places, as are some areas of the hotel. The biggest let down was the spa facilities, which was the main draw for us when booking, since we were so impressed with the spa at the sister hotel in Bath. The facilities here unfortunately look tired and uncared for - the pool water was tepid at best and the sauna very hot. Changing rooms were small and most of the lockers broken / unusable. We tried out the hotel bar once during our stay, ordering cocktails. The pornstar martini I ordered was probably the worst I ever had, which was disappointing for the £12 price tag. I was able to swap it for a Coke and mixer, but was given no apology or partial refund on my drink. Breakfast was good; we liked the fact that you had buffet options, as well as a cooked menu. Service staff were lacking in number however, and service was slow as a result. You can easily find breakfast to a similar and most likely, better standard in Edinburgh for the same price. We recommend Lowdens, not far away from the hotel. We’ve visited Edinburgh many times before, and will be back again, but unfortunately, we won’t be choosing to stay at the hotel again.