Voco Edinburgh Haymarket (UK)

What is your Priority Club status?
Diamond

Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
Yes

Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Queen Std > Queen Premium High Floor

How are the rooms?
Very small and cramped, no storage space.
Table lamps got in the way, had to move them onto the floor and put some stuff on the window sill.
Not even enough room for the Nespresso machine which has to be placed at an angle.
Well-insulated from outdoor temperature and noise.
Can’t see any meaningful difference on the IHG app/website between standard and premium rooms except no Nespresso.

How is the exec. lounge?
None

What was good and what was bad?
Strange check-in procedure. Instead of doing a pre-authorisation, the room rate plus a £30 deposit was fully charged. This was a deliberate policy and not a mistake. No problem with splitting onto two cards to maximise the IHG Amex offer.
On check out, staff were happy to refund the deposit (minus my restaurant spend) onto a different card. This retrospectively meant I didn’t need to eat at the hotel to reach the offer thresholds....
However, I didn’t mind as the food at the restaurant was quite cheap – had a wrap (£8) one evening and a burger (£14) the other. Very nice and filling. Probably would have cost more to eat elsewhere.

Got some sort of marshmallow in the room as a welcome gift.

Excellent buffet breakfast with a wide range of hot food as well as plenty of healthier options. Proactive staff and nice atmosphere in the restaurant.
Only negative was that breakfast starts at 0700, but on one morning they were not finished setting up until 0715 (they did let me in at 0710).

Conveniently located about 500m from Haymarket train station, but there is an annoyingly complex road junction with bike lane outside the station entrance, and another half way where the cars seem to come from random directions. On my departure, there was a windy rainstorm which made the walk seem a lot longer.

Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?
I used an IHG Amex IHG offer, so the total I eventually paid was £385.78 for two nights which included two dinners and 10000 bonus EQ points. Additionally received ~£50 from a cashback portal.

A very good deal for Edinburgh especially as this was only booked one day in advance, when my travel plans changed abruptly.

If I was happy to tolerate the small rooms, I’d return when this is the cheapest out of similar nearby properties (i.e. the other voco and the Indigos) and I can't or don't want to stay in Glasgow instead.

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