Mercure Edinburgh Princes Street Hotel, Edinburgh

I was so happy to spend my first time in Edinburgh in this hotel. It was wonderful to have so many sites within a short walk. There's also plenty of fabulous shopping surrounding the hotel, if that's more your interest. The hotel itself is really nothing spectacular. It's actually kind of tacky on the inside, with sort of a 70s decor. But they were working on renovating it when I stayed there so we'll have to see if any big changes were made. Unfortunately, we also had scaffolding blocking what would have been an extraordinary view of the city. Overall, it was a clean hotel with good service but the real reason to stay is for the loaction.

Location is very good, but hotel is not very good though, more like 1.5-2* hotel. I originally was given single room that was very small, crampy, has this funny smell, very outdated, and located in the corner of very small hallway. I then asked for a double room and it was better, but still not up to 3* class. Closet has a sweaty smell. They try to make up the bad things by having LCD TV in all rooms, which I think is pointless. Below average room with LCD TV just don't go together. Hallway is dark, outdated, and feels more like a dormitory hallway than a hotel. Restaurant was not bad, view is good, a bit expensive. They need to refurbished the whole rooms, so then it can be a real 3* hotel. Bottom line: only stay if you can get the REFURBISHED room, otherwise stay away, especially from a single room.

Stayed here for one night mid-week. We were early for check-in, that was no problem there was a room available. Very clean and tidy. Only two bad points the shower didn't work and the view from the window was the fire escape, that was no problem as we only paid �49.