Residence Inn by Marriott Edinburgh

It’s taken me years to write this review. I held off because we moved countries and didn’t want to cause problems plus everything else with an international move. Then I wanted to just move on, but after four years I haven’t stopped thinking about this and how nuts it was. So, story time. This happened in 2021. We moved to Edinburgh in 2021 and my partners company paid for us and our 3 cats to stay here while we found our own place. Everything was fine and great location, but the problems started when during a work call I was on, total strangers entered our room. The front desk had given random people our room number and key to check in to. This could have been disastrous for several reasons obviously. They did nothing about this but “oops sorry”. Thankful I was not home alone at this time. But the worst was when we did find our flat, we started moving our belongings there. When we had finished one of the big trips with most of our suitcases and cats to the new flat, we were exhausted and spent the night in the new flat. When we returned to get the last of our belongings we found the room closed off with a sign for a cleaning. A warning of do not enter for 24 hours or something(I believe they were using an ozone cleaner). We had not checked out. We still had time on our room that was paid for. We inquired at the front desk and the girl there just told my husband they thought we left. ???? Upon getting a manager we also found out they had tossed our remaining belongings into the dumpster. They did not reimburse us for any of this and just said we could go check in the bin. Since the company paid for the hotel it’s not like they could comp it for us or anything(not that this was offered). They gave us some worthless Marriott points since we will likely never use Marriott again after this. Suffice to say, absolutely insane behaviour at this hotel. You will not be safe here and neither will your stuff.

If you’re considering staying here, please take this review as a sign NOT to. I wish I had listened to all of the 1-star reviews I saw on here. It would have saved us a lot of headaches and our time in Edinburgh wouldn't have been ruined. In summary: There was zero soundproofing in our room. It took four separate complaints before the hotel took any action. Each time prior, we were brushed off and our concerns were not taken seriously. When we finally spoke to the manager, he offered 10% off our stay (nowhere near adequate for a ruined vacation). When we checked out, the hotel only refunded 10% off 2 out of 4 nights, then refused to honour the manager’s written offer of 10% off the full stay. They have since refused to respond to our emails and escalate the issue to Marriott’s escalation team. In detail: We were assigned a room with a conjoining door to the next room. Because of this, there was essentially no sound barrier. We could hear everything our neighbours were doing, even at a normal conversational level. Someone making tea sounded like they were in our room. We had no privacy, no quiet, and were unable to sleep. As soon as we realized how severe the issue was, we called reception around midnight. While they said there was nothing they could do at that time, they offered to send security. We clearly explained that the neighbours were not being noisy, the room itself was the problem. The next day, we spoke to reception again. We were told, “The good news is your neighbours checked out today!” We explained again that the issue wasn’t the people, but the complete lack of soundproofing. When I asked if someone else was checking in, the response was that they would “tell them to keep it down.” This made it clear our concerns were not being taken seriously. That night, we once again heard every conversation our new neighbours had. We called reception again, received the same response, and again had to explain that the neighbours were not the issue, the lack of soundproofing was. The following morning, we spoke to the manager, Vishal. We explained that it is completely unacceptable for a hotel to be unable to provide basic privacy and rest, and even more unacceptable to ignore the same complaint three times. We told him we wanted to leave and stay elsewhere. He said he could only offer 10% off our stay and a room change. We did not agree to this on the spot, so he sent us an email documenting the offer so we could consider it. He also stated that any additional compensation would need to go through Expedia. At checkout, we discovered we had only been refunded 10% of our first two nights, not the full stay as promised. Expedia confirmed that the decision was entirely up to the hotel, the opposite of what the Hotel told us. When we contacted the hotel with written proof of Vishal’s offer, they refused to honour it. We have gone back and forth repeatedly, and they continue to refuse any resolution or escalation. It is unbelievable that a hotel backed by Marriott would treat guests this way. A hotel’s most basic responsibility is to provide accommodations where guests can rest, and this property failed at that entirely. The lack of accountability, professionalism, and cooperation is baffling, and these poor business practices deserve serious attention.

Service is brilliant Front desk is incredibly helpful That said, the room we were given had old towels. Etc ie was not properly cleaned The floor has the horrible smell of fresh paint A bad experience but the staff are great Location is great