TERRACE HOTEL ^{* *}

One of the weirdest hotel experiences I've ever had; this place is still in lockdown-mode.

Upon arrival, my wife and I were immediately inundated by all sorts of wonky and wayward signs explaining the things we are not allowed to do at any given moment, and while the front doors were open, the secondary doors into the actual hotel were locked. Stuck in this vacant hotel purgatory felt like a cross between Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and the Overlook Hotel from 'The Shining'.

After ringing the bell (as instructed by one of the many bizarre signs posted all over this lobby), we were greeted by a breathless woman who'd just run up a flight of stairs to unlock the front door for us. Explaining that she does not work for the hotel directly, but is a caterer, she gave us our keys and some sort of excel spreadsheet. The spreadsheet in question was columned by days and rowed by breakfast items; we were to tick which items we would like and return the form to the eternally-vacant lobby by no later than 10pm.

The woman, who was very polite and clearly embarrassed to be explaining this complicated Rube Goldberg-esque breakfast ordering scenario to us, informed us that the owner "was having a bit of a break". I paused for a moment before asking "a mental break?" while looking at this spreadsheet, but she gently corrected me that the owner is in fact on a holiday... Oops! An easy mistake to make given the circumstances, wouldn't you agree?

Hauling ourselves up three flights of stairs (not a problem for us, but you may want to consider this in case of mobility issues), we entered our room. Spacious *enough* and pleasant *enough*, I don't have much to praise or complain about. The view over Royal Terrace road was very pleasant.

Fantastic location, only a handful of minutes away from Holyrood Palace and - more importantly - Holyrood Park, my wife and I were left theorizing for our entire trip how much better this hotel would be if it were run by people who were not on "a bit of a break", especially one as long and extended as this!

Outside of meeting the caterer upon arriving, we never ran into another single soul here that was not a fellow traveller. And yes, we did manage to hand in our homework before 10pm each night, waking to find that (presumably) Santa had come to our door and dropped off our requested breakfasts. And honestly, this is where I'm torn; the price to stay here is almost unbeatable, but it's such a bizarre and pathetic little breakfast (pre-packaged fruit juices, crackers, fruits, etc), that it makes me wish they'd have knocked 10 pounds off per night and not even bother with this service. At any rate, the energy bars and juice boxes made for good portable refuelling on our hikes through Holyrood Park and the city proper.

Leaving felt almost as bizarre as arriving, as you deposit your keys on a vacant table and leave without seeing or speaking to anyone, we felt a bit like criminals fleeing the scene of a crime. But, considering this gorgeous old row house with a fully stocked dining area, lounge areas and grand architecture is being used in such an awkward, bizarre way, I'd argue this is the crime we were fleeing from.

I hope for a return to form for this hotel, because older photos really did make it look like a warm, pleasant place to stay.

Comfortable, nice rooms and location

Hier ist die Zeit stehen geblieben! In relativ zentraler Lage von Edinburgh in viktorianisch anmutendem Gebäude. Erstaunlich große Zimmer mit typisch britisch-minimalistischer Ausstattung: großes Bett, Schreibtisch, bequeme Sessel. Außer dem guten Internet hat sich gefühlt seit 30 Jahren nichts geändert! Bad mit Duschvorhang und dem typisch britischen Durchlauferhitzer in der Dusche, der notorisch schwer zu bedienen ist (schmaler Grad zwischen eiskalt und brühend heiß).
Der Gastwirtin fiel es sehr schwer, sich ein Lächeln abzuringen. Von Freundlichkeit keine Spur! Abends war ein detailliertes Formular (jeder Bürokrat hätte seine wahre Freude daran!) zu den Frühstücksoptionen auszufüllen. Am nächsten Morgen wurde dann eine lieblos gepackte Papiertüte mit abgepackten Dingen vor die Zimmertür gestellt. Trotz des detaillierten Fragebogens passierten häufig Fehler. Von drei Tagen hatten wir nur an einem Tag das Frühstück, wie wir es bestellt hatten.

Der Service ist nicht in Ordnung. Sehr u freundliches Personal.
Frühstück gibt es in einer Papiertüte vor die die Tür gestellt. Wasserkocher kaputt.

Had a 2 day stay at this hotel for the Edinburgh tattoo lovely clean spacious bathroom with bath and shower was great definitely come again , breakfast was continental which was a first for me I did enjoy thank u so much for our stay ????