The Edinburgh Carlton hotel is a bundle of contradiction. Everything about its situation screams 'adore and recommend me'. An awful lot of what's inside fails to meet expectation and changes your mind.
Let's start with the good.
Its location is fabulous. If you arrive in Edinburgh by train at Waverley station, you'll walk up the steps to be greeted by the hotel sign. After a few hours of travel, the joy from this alone might be enough to rebook. The hotel is a stride away from the Royal Mile and the triangle. You will be surrounded by restaurants, funky boutiques and book shops. Princes Street is just across the bridge upon which, it almost sits. You really can't get any better if you're on foot and want to explore.
The price - exceptional at £60 per night for a 14 day advance booking on its own site. Beat that!
Now for the bad.
As a 4 star, the rooms, though large even for the basic, are a British hotel cliché - dull, dull, dull. Muted colours, a squat 1980's TV, matching Grecian goddess pictures in gilt frames and too little lighting. Nothing matches particularly well and compared to the public areas, you feel downright duped. This is not a romantic retreat!
Nice touch with the mini-fridge and low room service menu prices!!! However, I soon forgot those on seeing that the bath I'd run was yellow. Euch.
Service was ok, not great and not bad. Indifferent.
One hot tip - book a twin room and push the beds together. Ta-da, you'll have an instant king size bed without the cost.
To sum up - the Carlton's a functional, convenient hotel. 4 star, it isn't, but then, it is very British in that regard. Book and use it to recharge before you once again enjoy your amazing surroundings.