InterContinental Edinburgh – lounge and rooms

Thanks for all the info here. I had a really nice stay 🙂 The junior suite was bigger than I expected and had a proper wall/door dividing the lounge from the bedroom – everything seemed good quality and well arranged in the room. Do the junior suites all have a separate lounge and bedroom, or was I lucky?

Breakfast was very good. The restaurant was a nice space and food came pretty quickly, with well cooked A La Carte options and good quality buffet (though they need a better coffee machine!) Service was very helpful, though could have been a bit more organised.

The lounge was a bit underwhelming but as we had visitors it worked out decent value at £60 for a day – got a couple of afternoon teas, and some nice wine/whisky and softs, for us and guests. There could be a broader range of food and drink (and something savoury with afternoon tea) but the quality of what there was good and it was a nice place to sit. It was often unstaffed which was a shame, but the people who were there were helpful.

In terms of service, everyone tried to be helpful and make things work. People often seemed a bit unclear what was going on, but everyone seemed to err on the side of saying ‘yes’. Very child-friendly – e.g. remembered his name and would happily get him something he liked if it wasn’t on the buffet, or let me stay past 4pm checkout because the kid was napping. I got the sense there was lots of staff turnover and maybe some inconsistency, but it worked out to be a good stay!

I may be less particular about hotels than many here, or price may also have helped set my expectations – stacking various offers meant the junior suite worked out under £120/night, and my expectations might have been different if I’d been paying £500! I know this is a fairly quiet time, too, which may have improved my visit. I’d happily go back, though 🙂

Grant wrote:

Glad you enjoyed your stay @AnotherUser. Out of interest what room did you book before being upgrade to the Junior Suite?

I have a two night stay coming up, first night on points and second night on credit card voucher. Given the points stay books in to the base room I am wondering if I should can it and pay cash for the first night for a King in the hope that my Amb status bags an upgrade to a Junior Suite which they let me keep for the second night.

I’m staying Friday / Saturday on a rugby weekend so it’ll no doubt be busy which will mean upgrades are thin on the ground. A King room is c. £300 whereas my base room is booked for 64,000 points.

I’d booked a King Premium City View room – they just upgraded me one room category. If you definitely want a particular room category, I’d be inclined to email the hotel and ask (or, if making a cash booking, go through Emyr and ask him).