Nov 6 posted in Ambassador experience thread
IC The George Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Status - Diamond Ambassador with Lounge Pass until end of 2024
Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked 1 Double Classic
Received: 1 King Premium Pet Friendly
How are the rooms?
Room was about 25M and clean
Mini bar with bottle of Diet Coke and premium Orange drink
Rain shower bath in tiny bathroom
Complimentary still and sparkling water but in hotel filled bottles. Tasted like distilled water. Water from the tap in Edinburgh is much more minerally.
Large 3 seater sofa across the window – out of scale to the room
Allocated 7th (top) floor with side view over The New Town and a bit of The Forth
Room gift of 2 miniature bottles of local gin, tonic water, lemon slices with Juniper berries and invitation to call for ice when required.
Gift wrapped box of premium local chocolates
Nice room but suspect lower floors even in the position allocated will not have much of a view – unless you pay for a "view" room.
How is the exec. lounge?
Very pleasant space overlooking George Street
Light use – only 6 guests on this night.
Food selection at cocktail hours (lengthy 5p to 8p) very limited. No hot options. We weren’t too bothered as we had had a large lunch.
Small selection of premiumish wines. The Barry Bros Shiraz is not cheap at retail, and is priced at £10 for 175Ml in the bar.
Breakfast buffet was augmented with a menu. All good quality.
Same – horrible – house fill water as in rooms.
What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- Room smallish but clean, comfortable and well equipped
- Excellent location – barely 10 minutes from railway station.
- Front desk were charming but many seemed new. Staff in lounge were delightful
Neutral:
- Staff as with just about all UK IHG hotels currently are either new or over stretched. The night we were departing the hotel was heavily occupied for an event. I felt sorry for housekeeping and concierge team..
Bad:
- Messed up late departure. Tried to enter at 12.30. Then when I returned at 14.00 next guests’ baggage in room despite DND on door! I gently pointed this out as I had to get a smoking hair dryer changed
Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
Paid about £180 – so not cheap, but compared to rates here most nights, on the lowish side. During peak season pricing is not far off IC PL. At this kind of pricing will probably return for a short break same time next year.
Postscript
The day after departure I left a review following the IHG e-mail invitation to do so. I haven’t left a review for at least 100 stays. But I was sympathetic with how stressed the staff seemed.
Same day 10,000 Hotel Awarded Points showed in my account – extraordinarily generous.
Best UK hotel stay for years despite very basic flaws for this level of hotel.