Tim_T

Had a lovely 2 night stay at the Glasshouse. Arrived by train and it’s less than a 10min walk from the station. Booked a standard room (and got cash back from AMEX making it excellent value) using SNA to get a lovely terrace suite.

continental breakfast with up charge option for £12.50 along with 2 drinks coupons. Mini bar was included with 4 cans of pop, 2 kingfisher beers and 2 waters.

loved the roof top garden terrace with views of Calton Hill. Staff were very friendly.

only negative was that our room, 53, was right next to the Snug bar which had a loud individual enjoying the bar until closing. Not the hotels fault

dewidaniels

My stay at the Glasshouse is not off to a good start. I checked in online this afternoon for a stay tomorrow night. This evening, my room type is showing as an Autograph Room and not the Calton Hill Suite that I booked. The rate shown is still for a Calton Hill Suite. I’ve messaged the hotel on chat.They replied 30 minutes ago to say that they’ll look into it and get back to me.

dewidaniels

I’ve just heard back from the Glasshouse that it was a glitch in the Marriott check-in system, and that I had been assigned a Calton Hill Suite. Indeed, the app is now reporting the correct room type. Phew. I’m very much looking forward to my stay at the Glasshouse and will post a review here.

Radiation Station

Maybe they downgraded you and then back pedalled when you realised and contacted them? I tend to find Marriott Bonvoy IT is very accurate regarding room assignments with only one exception.

Either way; it’s sorted now and I hope you enjoy your stay.

dewidaniels

I enjoyed my stay very much. The Calton Hill Suite was lovely. I'll post a review separately.

However, either the Marriott check-in system is defective or two separate hotels have tried to downgrade me without telling me (while still charging for the original room). I'm staying at the St Pancras Renaissance tonight. I reserved a Premier King room. I checked in online yesterday. This morning, my room type on the app had changed to a Chambers Suite, so I hoped I had been upgraded. This evening, the room type had changed to a Superior King room. When I checked in, I asked the receptionist to confirm I'd been assigned a Premier King room since the app said I'd been assigned a Superior King Room. She asked "Did you reserve a Superior King Room or a Premier King Room"? I replied, "A Premier King room". She replied, "In that case, it's a Premier King room", which I thought was very strange. I'd stayed in a Superior King room using points last Wednesday night. The room I was assigned on Wednesday night was spacious with a nice view of the Francis Crick Institute. Tonight, the room I'd been assigned was smaller with a view of a brick wall. I returned to reception and spoke to a different receptionist, explaining that I'd reserved a Premier King room but I seemed to have been assigned a Superior King room. She replied, "But your reservation is for a Superior King room". I reiterated that I'd reserved a Premier King room, to which she replied, "My system says you booked a Superior King room". I showed her my reservation email which showed I'd reserved a Premier King room. She asked if she could take a screenshot and went to speak to a manager. When she returned, she said "Since you've shown me the email, I will assign you a Premier King room even though the system says you reserved a Superior King room". She then said the only Premier King room available was an accessible room. She didn't offer me any alternatives, so I accepted the accessible room. The room doesn't seem to be any bigger, but it does have a view of the British Library. I'm still not convinced I've been assigned a Premier King room. If this is a Premier King room, I don't see the value in paying 32 GBP extra for a view of the British Library instead of a brick wall, but no extra space, especially as their website describes a Premier King room as a "larger guest room".

dewidaniels

I'm on my way home from a three-night stay at the Glasshouse, Edinburgh. The Glasshouse is certainly my kind of hotel. I like the Autograph Collection because they tend to be smaller, with more personal service and a bit of character. I've previously really enjoyed staying at the St Ermin's Hotel in London and the Ven at Embassy Row, Washington DC, which are both Autograph Collection Hotels. I stayed in room 44, which is a Calton Hill Suite called the Dalwhinnie Suite. I thought it was a lovely room. It was spacious, with a separate sitting area. The floor to ceiling windows make the room feel very light and airy. The bathroom had a walk-in shower and a separate bath. The bath was large and perfect for soaking in after walking around Edinburgh. The bar was nice and the service was excellent. Two alcoholic drink vouchers were included and there was also a free in-room bar that had soft drinks and beer. The wi-fi was excellent and easy to access. Having a few rooms that open directly into the bar seems a bit weird, but the location of my room was absolutely fine. The only slight drawback to the Glasshouse is that most places you'd want to visit, such as Princes Street and the Royal Mile, are uphill from the hotel. In that respect, the new W Edinburgh seems to be in a better location, being uphill from the Glasshouse.

dewidaniels

I'm pretty sure there's a defect in Marriott's software. I complained to the Front of House Manager when I checked out of the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel yesterday and I think we figured out what had happened. I've emailed [email protected] to report the defect.

On 10 June 2023, I reserved a Superior King Bedroom at the St Pancras Renaissance. On 18 June 2023, I decided to upgrade to a Premier King Bedroom. On 12 October 2023, I modified the reservation again because the price of the Premier King Bedroom had dropped. The manager explained that the reservation passed to the hotel by Marriott IT was the original reservation of 10 June. The hotel's IT system showed the room type and room rate from 10 June 2023, not 12 October 2023.

This also explains what happened at the Glasshouse. On 10 June 2023, I reserved an Autograph Room for three nights. On 20 September 2023, I decided to upgrade to a Calton Hill Suite.

In both cases, the Marriott website and app showed the modified room type until I checked in on-line, when it reverted to the original room type.

ElevatorEnthusiast

Very, very disappointing - the breakfast for Elites contains zero hot options, and if you even want a scrambled egg, you have to pay an upcharge of 15 GBP - asinine and ridiculous for a non-US hotel.

I would much rather they get rid of the drink coupons and provide a proper breakfast, but they wouldn't accept that line of thinking at the front desk.

The room (not a suite upgrade despite online availability) is also obnoxiously worn, but I could ignore that if they would provide some eggs and sausages.

Guess I'll get McDonald's in the morning...

Edit: The 15 GBP for a scrambled egg isn’t necessarily accurate - see full review a few posts below.

ElevatorEnthusiast

As this property has thoroughly made me mad with their ridiculous hot breakfast policies, I’ll go ahead and post these flattering photos of the room and hallway condition:

I am so not shocked in hindsight that this is a YTL Hotel - the worst operator in Malaysia - maybe they are trying to raise funds for a renovation or even a paint job with these 15 GBP breakfast upcharges?

Radiation Station

I stayed here once during the pandemic and the chap who checked me in tried to deny me 4pm checkout. We did at least get a hot breakfast and some comp drinks in the bar. Sounds like things have gone downhill further. I didn’t like the rooms here. My choices in Edinburgh now would either be the new W (sexy, new and shiny), Kimpton (lovely boutique hotel who always treat me well), or the Sheraton (tired decor but pleasant lounge, amazing gym, and great elite treatment including free use of the one spa for Titanium).

ElevatorEnthusiast

I’ll moderate my opinion on this hotel a bit, but I still wouldn’t return. Here are my full impressions - this property does seem cheaper than other options in the city, so it might make sense, even with breakfast upcharges:

• Room upgrade cycled between Carlton Hill room, Greenside Terrace room, then Carlton Hill room - I saw suite types online but was told no suites when I asked at check-in - ended up in Carlton Hill room
• Property is odd - seems to mostly occupy the roof level of an entertainment complex (floor 3) - the hotel bar is in the hallway with rooms - there are some rooms on 1 and 2 to the side of the entertainment complex, but these seem only accessible via stairs (along with the breakfast room at the end of the hallway of rooms on floor 2) as I didn’t see any lifts going to 1 and 2 on that side (maybe I missed them)
• Lack of privacy as guests are encouraged to walk through the roof garden where many of the rooms look directly towards
• Hallways looked worn and dirty - likely from wet shoes from the roof garden, perhaps?
• Room was very worn with lots of scuffs, etc. - just looked old
• Bed was fine - relatively soft mattress, plush pillows, plush-ish covers - think some would feel the whole thing feels a bit too soft
• Shower pressure was quite good, but water leaked out of the door
• Single-use toiletries seemed very watery
• Toilet flushes like an airplane toilet (same design as Andaz London) - very loud
• TV was very small, and Chromecast didn’t seem to have the connection interface working
• No bedside outlets
• Had to ask for 2 PM checkout, which they said they would put, but they called me at Noon asking “if I needed help with my bags” - they did not seem to know about the 2 PM checkout
• Did not use the drink vouchers - said there was a specific Elite menu
• They did provide turndown service
• WiFi was quite slow and sporadic at times
• Patio door wasn’t fully sealed at the top (as it could be leaned in) unless you kept your body weight against it - so lots of wind noises last night during the storm (patio furniture blew all over, and the table top fell off the legs outside)
• Included Elite breakfast doesn’t include any hot options, but I spoke with the restaurant staff - while it’s not on the menu, you can get 2 eggs and a meat side for 5 GBP - I disagree that what I received was actually 2 eggs, but they ended up bringing me out a 2nd plate with 2 additional sausages and some more eggs as apparently, the kitchen made my order twice - added 10% restaurant charge brought that to 5.50 GBP, which would probably be close to what I would have spent at McDonald’s anyway - full Scottish breakfast and eggs Benedicts, etc. are a 15 GBP upcharge

I likely won’t return, even if they renovate.

Photos:

ElevatorEnthusiast

Cherry on top - they awarded me zero base points for my room rate - though, did award points for my breakfast upcharge. What a lovely property.

ftrichard

Come on, be honest. It's quite clear the reason they upset you is that the welcome amenity is a small plate of chocolates and not a set of macarons.

ElevatorEnthusiast

This property was so annoying that I even skipped a day of calling Mother due to my poor mood - she told me the next day that she thought I was mad at her. Rest assured she doesn’t like the Glasshouse now either ;-)

The chocolates weren’t even good.

Okay, now I’m just being salty…

ElevatorEnthusiast

Ambassador Service corrected the points issue within the same day.