Hilton Edinburgh Carlton — Hotel in City of Edinburgh

I would have expected so much more from a 4-star Hilton hotel in the city center (but on the other hand, if the location is excellent - which it is - perhaps the standard doesn't need to be top-notch). This hotel was the worst of the hotels on our trip; the smaller and cheaper ones provided much better service. Some notes below (with the emphasis on this being a 4-star hotel). If it were a 2-star hotel, this would have been an excellent experience!

The price/quality quota doesn't match up. Again, if it was 2 stars - excellent location and OK experience. 4 stars, nope, not even close.

The grout in the bathroom looked like it hadn't been cleaned for years, and black mold was growing on it.

The shower head was leaking (and not a little, about half the water). Wasteful.

No toilet brush (I suppose it's European standard not to have one, but pretty icky anyway).

No bathroom ventilation, so humidity, and smells are stuck for some time.

The room view was the worst, facing a wall with a dove. But I think this sums up the irony of my expectations vs. reality, so it provides a humorous element to the stay :) Plus for that.

Our king-size deluxe room was quite run-down, with wallpaper torn off the walls. The TV was awkwardly placed in relation to the bed (if you were to watch TV, prepare for neck pain). In no way a biggie, of course, but an observation on the overall planning and flow experience.

There was no mini bar in the hotel room. Condiments were stuffed away in a cabinet. And there was no coffee machine or water boiler to use the coffee/tea, so I'm not sure what the point of those condiments was anyway.

Super small bottles with shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. It feels like it generates a lot of plastic waste. If they were there to provide an "exclusive feel", it didn't really work out considering the other things…

The breakfast was all carbs and fats, without nutrients. I missed fresh vegetables, cheese slices (not brie), maybe a smoothie, and overall healthier choices. The offering was cocoa puffs, white bread, waffles, sweet pastries, marmalade, sugary berries, haggis, sausages, and standard fatty-drenched mushrooms/tomatoes/eggs. The croissant was so dry and compact it was inedible. The French would scream in horror.

The layout of the breakfast buffet was also making it crammed, squeezed into a tight space in the back, with servers and confused breakfast eaters in the same tiny area. There was no natural flow in how people moved, which caused many "oops, sorry" situations and dropped items. Just an observation.

Also, the space was quite noisy.

But not only to complain, here are the highlights: The location is excellent! Close to everything. Easy to come and go during the day. The front desk was pleasant and professional, but the concierge service was...

The hotel reception looked like it was undergoing renovation. So tiny and congested There were two lifts only and that took quite some time to respond as the staff was using them as a service lift along with customers. One of the lifts didn't have proper lighting for two days of our stay. The hotel receptionist who helped with our check in felt cold and wasn't pleasing at all. The hotel booking was done through Agoda which had listed a microwave in the room, a shower cubicle with a bath tub in the room and check out time as 12 pm. The first two were not there in the room and when we checked with the hotel reception they said that they will have to speak to Agoda about the mismatch. I'm wondering what the revenue manager is doing? On the day of checkout we were called at 11.10 saying checkout is at 11. Thank God that we were all packed and were just about to step out when they called or else it would have been embarrassing for us and also quite annoying to rush things at the last minute. This wasn't intimated during check in or any of the days of our stay. The shaving gel that was provided by the hotel has such a burn that my husband was having a painful experience. We finally ended up buying a shaving gel from boots for the rest of our stay. Room was extremely well cleaned when we entered the room the first day. However post that during our stay the cleaning was not really upto the mark. Not sure why that is. The hotel has in room service however this can be placed order on via their QR code only. Now during our check in we were asked to deposit 20 quid per day as security even though we had prepaid our entire stay. Now never ever in our entire life had we been asked to make such deposits earlier. While ordering the drinks on the app which was quite the hassle as there is no mention about it being bottles or served on tap we had to call the in room dining (they don't respond on time) and they said only bottles are being served to the rooms. Placing order gives two options and we opted for room charge(funny thing it doesn't let u do that). Which means u pay for the whole thing and get it. Called the in room service and no one bothered to pick up and asked reception to ask them to call back which never happened. These may be small things but when you stay with properties such as these, one does expect a certain standard of warmth, responsibility and promptness to solve issues. To me it wasn't the most pleasant stay. I had mailed the team at the hotel about our stay requirements and they didn't bother to respond to that either. It was my son's bday on 22nd April which was mentioned in the email sent during booking and the hotel didn't have the basic courtesy to send out a complimentary cake or anything. As I said it is the small things that make a hotel stand out, Hilton Carlton failed...

Labeling this hotel a Hilton is very misleading. It was luxurious lipstick on a pig. The best part of the hotel is it's location in the center of town. It is an easy walk from the train station and right in the middle of the Royal Mile. The next good comment I would leave was that the bar staff was very nice and accommodating.

The rooms are very poorly maintained. There were carpet stains, ceiling stains, broken tile in the bathroom, and broken shower fixtures that need repair. Next, the smoke alarm would get triggered if we left the bathroom door open while taking a shower. That was both scary and very annoying. The bathroom itself did not appear to have any ventilation.

Next, the location of the rooms are terrible. You have walk all the way around the hotel in a maze-like pattern to get to your room. You go up one floor, turn left, down the hall, turn right, go down five stairs, turn right, go up three stairs, down the hall, turn left, go through unlabeled doors, then take the single elevator to your room. It looks like the hotel bought the building next door and couldn't figure out a way to join the two buildings in a cohesive way. The hotel's layout is very poor.

There was a single slow elevator to our room, which was also used by kitchen, maid, and event staff. Once it took so long, we had to walk it. It puts me in an awkward situation as a guest because I feel like I'm impeding their work to use the elevator to get to my room.

On our way out to a tour, we asked if we could be moved to a room in the main building of the hotel, but we were told we could only move that very second. We would not be allowed to take a tour first, and then change rooms when we got back. We decided the pre-booked tour was more important. When I asked to move rooms, the receptionist didn't even ask me why we wanted to move or if there was a problem that could be fixed. She didn't seem to care.

Breakfast was terrible. The orange juice was bitter and extremely watered down as if it was reconstituted from frozen. The apple juice was also watered down. The worst part was that they had no place to put the tongs on the buffet. People would put the tongs on top of the food, which was disgusting.

It would be nice if you could ask your staff not to smoke during their shift. Twice, I spotted the staff smoking outside the hotel entrance while I was returning. I hate the smell of cigarette smoke and its the last thing I expect to smell when entering what is advertised as a luxury brand hotel.

Overall, I found this to be a very disappointing Hilton. I would not...