Edinburgh hotels
 

Could someone offer their opinion on a choice of staying at the Edinburgh Marriott at 111 Glasgow road or the Premier Inn at 82 Lauriston Place. I believe I can get the Marriott on Priceline for about the same money as the Premier Inn. We will be using public transportation and wonder if the Mariott is that much nicer than the Premier Inn.
Would you stay at the Marriott and take transportation or the Premier and walk to the sites?
Thanks, Bill

You cannot choose a hotel when bidding on Priceline - you are just as likely to get a different hotel. But in any case the Marriott is not at all convenient for touring Edinburgh -- it IS convenient for the airport -- not for the city.

The location of the Premier Travel Inn is 10000% better --but why are those your only two options?

Check out Fraser Suites on the Royal Mile. We stayed there this July and the location could not have been better. Walking distance from Waverly train station, kitty corner to St. Giles... We booked via Expedia or Hotwire (sorry, my friend actually did the booking. Beautifully appointed, great bathroom (especially after the tiny showers we had in our B&B's). Cost for regular room was about $140. Their website has much higher prices.

I appreciate the replies to my post. I want to be clearer about the 2 options I have looked at so far. I use Priceline quite often and have researched that for the City Centre area the 4* hotel that comes up the most is the Mariott.I know that any hotel is possible though. The second option, the Premier Inn, was prebooked without cancellation penalty because the price seemed the lowest for it's distance from the City Centre. I believe the prices would both be about $110 a night.I am still looking for a better hotel or B&B option if possible. Thanks,Bill

I also want to be clearer -- the Marriott is NOT in the city center. 111 Glasgow rd is less than 2 miles from the airport (closer to the airport than some that are in the PL airport zone).

I'd personally never bid PL in Edinburgh - and this is from one who uses PL often. It is great for some places -- not for Edinburgh IMO.

About the only good thing about the hotel is that there is plenty of choice of buses into central Edinburgh - but you could spend 30 minutes travelling each way on a typical day

Thank you for the heads up on the Marriott. I will definitely not be bidding on Priceline for Edinburgh.

Check out the Knight Residence too, the location is down the hill from the southwest corner of the Castle.

BigRuss thanks for the Knight Residence tip but it looks like the cheapest room is about $300 a night, I would like to stay around $125-$150 a night.
Bill

We had a wonderful stay at the B&B "14 Hart Street." It is in New Town and the location is convenient with numerous good restaurants nearby. The B&B is beautifully furnished and the hosts are gracious and knowledgable. The included breakfast was excellent and the Scotch Whiskey in the room (no extra charge) was also a very nice touch. It should be well within your price range.

Yeah, I saw the Knight Residence went up a bit (I saw quotes in the low $200s for next spring). Consider a Guest House (B&B with 6-10 guest rooms -- this is a Scottish term) or nice B&B and stay in New Town/Princes Street Gardens area or Old Town so you can basically walk throughout the city center. Edinburgh is smaller than Fort Worth (population and physical size), so if you're centrally located, you're able to basically walk just about wherever you'd want to go. But it's also an old city so many of the streets are narrow and the vehicle traffic is slow.

We stayed at Castle View Guest House, which has a great location near Princes Street, but the innkeepers were pretty unwelcoming and you may not enjoy the 3+ story climb to the rooms. No matter what, you'll be doing plenty of climbing in Edinburgh (whole dang city runs uphill in every direction).

P.S.: There's no such thing as Scotch Whiskey -- in Scotland and Canada, the product is whisky.

Good point about the whiskey BR.

BTW here is a link to photos that I took of the interior of 14 Hart
www.flickr.com/photos/basingstoke2/collections

The set of 14 Hart photos is in the collection UK May 2010 - should be the first collection on the page.

Thank you for the pictures of 14 Hart but my dates are unavailable.
Bill

Hi BSexton,

I've stayed 2x at http://www.deneguesthouse.com/. It has very handy bus stops for the #23, 27, and 36. You can also walk, though as BigRuss notes, the hills seem to have only one direction, up, but I love Edinburgh and hope you enjoy your trip!

BSexton, a couple of things. The Premier is fine. I've stayed in it. It's reasonably located, and well serviced for what you get.

I on't know what your dates are, but I regularly use laterooms.com when looking for a bargain. Assuming you're not going during the Festival, you might want to keep an eye on it, and see if anything better comes up.

If I were staying for a week, I'd take a flat, for sure. Personally, I'm also prepared to sacrifice location for character. But if location is key, keep an eye on the Radissson in the Mile, the Apex-es in the Grassmarket and the Express by Holiday Inn in Picardy Place.

You often get stunning bargains at the George, but only last minute £80 for a £300 room is not unusual.

One word of warning. I inadvertantly used the Travel Lodge in Eglington Crescent recently and was NOT happy. Similarly the Jury's Inn at the back of Waverley Station. Grrrr!