Adam9er

I will be staying at the Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa Edinburgh. How is the hotel? How easy to get there and around the city from there? How are they with elite benefits. I am an Ambassador Elite.

nequine

Very easy as the Sheraton is in the city centre. A short walk along Lothian Road takes you to Princes Street, the main street in Edinbugh.

As for elite benefits, there is a nice lounge on the ground floor that you can get drinks/food in the early evening - it used to be a more expansive food range pre-covid days compared to what I got on my last visit (it was brought over on a cake stand but might now be back to more buffet style given the lessening of Covid restrictions). You can get breakfast there too or use your welcome gift to have breakfast in the restaurant instead.

Usually, and always depending on avaiaibilty, you can get room upgrades too. I've scored getting a suite a couple of times and the last time I got upgraded to a castle view room.

Definitely a nice hotel but given the very high rates it charges, I'll stick to one of the other Edinburgh Marriott chain hotels for the vast majority of my stays.

Adam9er

I agree with the high price. I was able to use two FNA vouchers for my stay. That is why i chose this hotel. I wanted to maximize the FNA. I did submit a Suite Night Award upgrade request.

nequine

Its definitely worth it if you are getting it as a freebie either with points or vouchers!

Edinburgh is very busy just now although the festivals/Tattoo (and the rugby) finished at the weekend so the city might start to calm down a bit!

dcchi

Just finished a 5-night award stay here for a first-time visit to Edinburgh. Was choosing between the Sheraton Grand and Glasshouse. We were extremely happy with our choice and stay overall, though there were some smaller negatives.

Leading off with the downsides:

• The hotel's main entrance is extremely pedestrian unfriendly, if you are like us walking from one of the train stations to the hotel. The main entrance (on the 1st floor) is actually in the interior of a "courtyard"-like area that is surrounded by buildings without even a sidewalk to access to the main entrance. This is totally not an issue if you are arriving via taxi/car, but just if you are walking there (and following Google Maps directions, for example!) You quickly learn that the pedestrian entrance is on the 2nd floor, which leads out to a large square on Lothian Road, which is a major thoroughfare with plenty of restaurants and such, and easy access to Princes St nearby as well.
• Like many hotel rooms, the room lighting leaves much to be desired. That is not to say there is not nice lighting, it is just that even with them all turned on, there are significant areas in the room that are pretty dark, especially for aging eyes. However, that is a "normal" complaint regarding hotel room lighting. The lighting in the room is even worse because they have a system (which, whoever designed it must believe it was a great benefit) that is difficult to understand (they give you a page of instruction on how to use them) and very frustrating over time. I'm firmly in the camp of having each lighting piece having its own on/off switch I suppose!
• This was also the first hotel I've been to where the lighting in the hallway and elevator waiting area turns off after some time. It will switch back on via motion detector, but the motion detector sensors are not easily triggered so you can be walking out of your room for 10 feet in the dark before they turn on. Seems like if you want to put them on these sensors, those sensors should actually work better!

Now that I've mentioned the annoyances we encountered, the positives:

• Room was satisfactory. Not huge, but good enough size by European standards. Bed was very comfortable. Mini fridge. Nice bathroom.
• Lounge: on first floor. Breakfast provided here and it was definitely sufficient. Not a huge spread but not a cheapy spread either. And always quickly replenished. We were very happy with the breakfast and ate a hearty meal each morning before heading out. The BEST part of it were the breakfast hours. Unlike US hotels where breakfast often ends pretty early (some as early as 9am), breakfast here went until 11am! Very nice and appreciated feature especially for those of us experiencing jet lag. The lounge itself never felt crowded. Small tables nearby the food serving area, and more lounging type areas in the remainder of the lounge. Staff was also courteous and nice. The first morning we were there, they asked for our room number (presumably to confirm we were properly in the lounge) but after that, we weren't asked for that info. Also, they serve canapes in the evenings from 5-7pm. It is not served at a buffet, but rather you order it from the staff themselves and they bring it out on a multi-level server (just like if you went for Afternoon Tea).
• Spa/Gym: The hotel doesn't have its own gym, but rather there is a private spa/gym (called One Spa) that is connected to the hotel on the 5th floor. We went to check it out the first day we arrived and were given an overview by the gym staff of what they offered. My wife went back each evening of our stay and was really very happy with it. In particular, she raved about the "thermal suites" that were part of the spa. I didn't experience it myself firsthand but she was very pleased.
• We were very happy with the location. The core places we went (Princes Street, Castle/royal mile, University area) were a 10-30 minute walk away. Pretty central and easy to get around on foot. Lots of restaurants right outside the hotel on Lothian Street. Sainsbury Local and a Super Drug a block away. And every sort of retail about 10-15 minutes away on Princes Street and beyond. Tram and Airlink 100 stops are about a 7 minute walk (Shandwick Place stop).

bigshooter

I have a week stay coming up in early February. Debating between the Sheraton and the new W with the Sheraton being ~100k points less.

I need a decent room for working remote from and will probably partake in breakfast a few days. My only real pro for the Sheraton is likelihood of a castle view upgrade.

Any recommendations? Think the W is worth it for the newness and not being tired as some Sheraton posters have mentioned?