A room with a view... (Royal Terrace Hotel)

Name: grahamt

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Product:	Royal Terrace Hotel
Date:	02/04/01 (227 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Magnificent views...

Disadvantages: ...do not make up for the variable quality

The Royal Terrace Hotel is a member of the Principal Hotels chain. It is located in the Royal Terrace which you will find on the other side of the mount (the one with the Grecian folly on top of it) at the end of Princes Street. This is more or less in the centre of a row of Georgian terraced properties. It is ideally located for access to the sites and attractions of the city.

The views from the rooms at the front of the hotel are spectacular, overlooking, as they do, the city and the Firth of Forth beyond. The views at the rear are less overwhelming, overlooking only the hotel’s gardens.

One drawback is that it has no car park but, overnight cars can be parked on the road outside without charge. Cars must be moved by 8.30am the following morning.

I have stayed at the Royal Terrace several times. Although superficially “well-appointed”, sadly I have to report that the level of quality offered is very unreliable. I have been offered good, attractive rooms and I have been offered rooms which clearly are below an acceptable standard of maintenance.

For example, on my most recent visit the shower had loose tiles which permitted water to seep into the underfloor space. Now, clearly, this is not my problem but, had I been the occupant of the room below, I would have been less than happy!

Rooms are supposed to offer a dedicated data port for connecting computers for those, like myself, who need to connect to office facilities to work in the evening. I have never yet been able to get this to work at the Royal Terrace.

The restaurant in-house, The Conservatory, offers an agreeable menu but is quite small. I was unable to obtain a table at 7.30pm until 9.00pm on my most recent visit. I believe this is not unusual. We ate out. I have previously eaten there and the menu and quality of food is acceptable.

The hotel also offers a Health and Leisure Club with an indoor heated pool, sauna
, whirlpool and steamroom. I cannot comment on these as I have never used them. There are also conference and banqueting facilities as well as a Business Centre which offers secretarial services, although in this day and age, I suspect that most people do there own on their laptops.

Generally the Royal Terrace ought to offer above-average accommodation but instead it disappoints. By all means give it a try but if your experiences are similar to mine then it might pay dividends to kick up a fuss. I chose the cowards way out and wrote copious comments on the comments form. I even spilled onto an additional sheet, such were the problems that I experienced.

You may be luckier but I wouldn’t count on it.

Standard price is around £75 per person/per night, including breakfast.


UPDATE 13/4/2001

Well, seems they do read those comment forms. Got a letter today from the General Manager no less. She says that my observations on the state of repair (or lack of it) of the room I occupied last time I was there, have been investigated and corrected.

Well, that at least is something. No comment about all of the other deficiencies (not repair issues) so, if I go back again I'll have to see if there is any improvment on that front. Perhaps if you go there you can comment yourself?

No change in rating of hotel overall at this time.

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