Old Waverley Hotel

The Old Waverley Hotel

Hotel Class: 3 out of 5 stars3 Stars - 3 Reviews and 532 Opinions

43 Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 2BY, United Kingdom

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76%

of people enjoy staying here

3.5 our of 5 stars 535 Opinions

Excellent
 
109
Very Good
 
209
Average
 
95
Poor
 
46
Terrible
 
76

Our Members Say

  • norrie8568 profile photo
  • Reviews: 5

1 out of 5 starsUser Rating

great location,,thats about it!!

ok,,,where shall i begin,the old waverley hotel in princess street was for me a very poor example of how hotels should be,,firstly,,after calling the hotel en route to edinburgh to check availability,,and an early check in time,,i was told ,,"no problem" on arriving at 11.15 am,,was told my room would not be ready till 1 pm,,eventually got the room at 1.30pm,,thats not an early check in?is it?
the staff were ok,,not that we spent much time in the hotel,,but no real complaints there.the price was £100..(suite)double room,excluding breakfast,£120 with b/fast.the room was to say the least "shabby" very tired looking indeed,,table light wasn't working,,cracked tiles in the bathroom,,stained carpet,,chipped paintwork! not nice at all,,what must tourists think about this??
the only thing going for this hotel is location,,thats it,,i paid my room as i checked in,,and was asked for a further£30 deposit,,when asking what the "deposit " was for,,the answer was,,"standard practice in most hotels"??i am an experienced traveller,,and can tell you i have never came across this anywhere,,in all the hotels ive stayed,,worldwide ! there was also no notice of acceptance regarding the deposit on my(paid) bill,,so your trusting the receptionist to return the monies??,,maybe im being a bit harsh,,but if i was a tourist visiting this country,,and seen what was on offer for the money,,? very poor!
avoid,,avoid,,avoid.!unless you have an early train to catch!(waverley station opposite!)

Unique Quality: location,,very central..good views,,bit noisy from the traffic on the main street though.

  • Opinion of Price: about average

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  • dvideira profile photo
  • Reviews: 418

5 out of 5 starsUser Rating

4.5 out of 5 starsHelpfulness

Good location and friendly staff

Situated in a landmark building that is a classic example of Victorian elegance. On the "high" side of Princes Street with views of Castle and Town, the address is among the best without the high prices. Rooms are cozy and quite comfortable.

As I told in the intro page, we arrived there very late in the evening and we were tired and hungry. Not to mention we already had lost our check in time...

( the pic in here was not taken for me... It is from the hotel homepage )

Unique Quality: The staff at the hotel was so friendly... starting for the surprise of being welcomed, while still climbing the stairs, in good portuguese: "Boa noite, sejam bem-vindos"... ( well... easy enough... we were the only two "missing" guests at that night and our last names "Videira" and "Souza" made them guess it right... hehe ).

After that, even if the restaurant was already closed, they managed to serve us dinner at our room and a very nice piece of "gateau" with icecream... Not to mention the wonderful, unforgetable -- specially at that time -- pint of bitter ! ! It tasted as the best beer I have always had.

Well... that was ages ago... I just hope the Hotel continues to be as good as it feels to us back there.

You may check the prices and rooms at their home page link down there.

  • Opinion of Price: N/A
Old Waverley Hotel Photo: old waverley hotel - edinburgh

Old Waverley Hotel Photo: old waverley hotel - edinburgh

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  • CdnJane profile photo
  • Reviews: 473

4 out of 5 starsUser Rating

2.5 out of 5 starsHelpfulness

Handy for Shopping and the Railroad Station

It was my great aunt in Tobermory who suggested The Old Waverly to my friend and I, and while a little more than we had planned to pay, we figured the location paid for itself, and in savings due to the fact that we didn't have to have a cab get us from the train station.
The room we had was a huge twin-bedded room with a view over Princes Street and the Scott Monument. The beds were comfortable, but we did find that the room was (surprising for Scotland) a little too warm at night, and we couldn't figure out how to turn it down. (Call housekeeping??? What a silly idea!!!)
However, we were young and resilliant, and had walked ourselves into exhaustion so it wasn't a big deal.
I just adored the location, with the shopping around, close to catching the train, or car rentals too, lots of restaurants and pubs to check out, and the city tours started just across the road.

Unique Quality: LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION - that is the biggest selling feature.
The breakfast buffet was really quite something too. Certainly meant that we didn't have to worry about lunch, after such a filling meal.

  • Opinion of Price: about average

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More about Old Waverley Hotel

Old Waverley Hotel a.k.a. Fawlty Towers

by A TripAdvisor Member

Hotel looks nothing like literature, reception staff obviously have had no training whatsoever, found them to be aloof & unhelpful. Room OK, clean enough although shower had no temperature control & was scalding, as was hot water tap, this is potentially dangerous & there were no ‘hot water’ warnings.

Food in Cranstons Restaurant was absolutely terrible & extremely overpriced at around £16 for a main course. Service was below standard (again due to lack of training & foreign staff). Regardless of when we dined they had ‘run out’ of several dishes. Bar poorly stocked, we resorted to wine from the restaurant wine list (also limited) which was also very overpriced.

Room did have excellent views of Scott Monument & while you cannot fault the hotel on it’s location, sadly this is the only positive thing I can say about The Old Waverley. I would advise people to stay elsewhere if possible, as you will pay the same for superior hotels in the area. This hotel is a very bad advert for Scottish tourism!

worst hotel ever

by TripAdvisor Member hazkaz

Was booked up in december,on arrival they informed us that bed bugs were a problem,and moved us to a completely unsatisfactory accommodation at the other end of the city.who informed us that this hotel constantly overbooks and uses the bed bug story as an excuse.
We had booked bed and breakfast and ended up in a one bedroom apartment with 2 boxes of cereal and milk,they took £135 of our card without authorisation,and refuse to return my phone calls or the booking offices phone calls,this has been ongoing since 4th december.
The manager mr akimundo refuses to take any calls and his undermanager just states he is not interested in my complaint
Do not stay at this hotel a bad advertisement of the scottish tourist industry.

Can do better at other hotels

by A TripAdvisor Member

I travel to Edinburgh every so often for work, and therefore am always curious to try out hotels based on their locality and relative value for money. Based on this I chose the Old Waverley, which despite poor/average past reviews, boasted a prime location, and also somewhere that although a little crusty, but would more than make up for it's charm/history.

Unfortunately, though the staff ranged from unsurpassed friendlyness to more than acceptable, and relative hubbub of other staying guests, the poor state (shabyness) of accomodation could not be overcome.

Public areas are generally ok, but room itself was dark and shaby, with the bathroom old. Therefore despite the clean sheets and towels, it was difficult to not think the room was unclean, and therefore little time would want to be spent in doors.

And in this price category, there are more than several simply newer/better kept alternatives which should be considered before staying here.

An odd mix

by TripAdvisor Member law2580

This hotel has a mix of good points and bad.

Good points:-

Excellent location
Staff are Helpful and Friendly
Good restaurant and excellent breakfast!!
Nice relaxed bar and lounge areas

However,

Room needed urgent decoration and bathroom needed minor repairs.

Very noisey -particuarly if you are staying in the front part of the hotel

1 tiny lift serving all 7 floors was inadequate and it became a real problem - particuarly at peak times eg: check out / breakfast times.

The hotel is clean and comfortable and for the price would be good value if re-decorated. At present, there are better hotels for a similar price in the area.

wouldn't stay here again

by TripAdvisor Member tonymsrad

Stayed here in July,2001. Perfectly adequate, price fine, had a family room. But, room was charmless and a little shabby. Staff very nice. Food fine. I would stay next time in old town. The location here was very good, walking distance from everything, but on a busy street with lots of department stores--no atmosphere

Happy with stay...old but clean..problem free stay

by A TripAdvisor Member

Wife and I had our dream tour of Scotland on Trafalgar tours cancelled due to 9/11 travel lull so we decided to go it our own using the same hotel rooms Trafalgar would have booked us with. We are from the Orlando, FL area USA and have seen a lot worse hotels for a lot more money here in the States. On our arrival, we were very courteously greeted, immediately given our room and had a trouble free stay. Yes, rooms could have been nicer for the price, but although old, was clean and bed was comfortable. I am a personal lover of old buildings and found it quite charming and you couldn't beat the location..right in front of the Sir Walter Scott Monument with Edinburgh Castle easilly visible from outside. Breakfast was good and hearty. No convenient parking..but hey...it's historic Scotland...not the mall right? I was 34 years old at time of travel and am writing this review 2 years later.

Old old hotel

by TripAdvisor Member american_expat_CPH

I stayed at this hotel recently for 2 nights during the week when I was in town for a business trip. My overall impression was that the hotel is old and shabby, and desperately needs to be renovated.

Having said that, room was clean, and the view I had was fantastic. The Sir Walter Scott Memorial was right outside my window, and if I looked to the right, I could see the castle on the hill. I could even hear a bagpiper playing outside on the street! The location is excellent.

I have very little to say about the staff, bad or good. They made almost no impression on me whatsoever.

I had no alarm clock or iron. There was a shelf above the sink in the bathroom to hold toiletries, but it was not level and things would fall off it, incredibly annoying. The hotel is also virtually inaccessable to anyone handicapped due to the layout.

Frankly, I'm a little annoyed with the company travel agent that booked this hotel for me, it is most certainly not a good choice for business travellers. The rate I had was 76GBP, which in itself is way too high for what you get. However, the rates the hotel advertises are positively blasphemous.

Next time I'm there, I plan on trying the much nicer looking Ramada down the road or the Balmoral.

 
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Our Members Say
CdnJane profile photo

 LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION - that is the biggest selling feature.
The breakfast buffet was really quite something too. Certainly meant that we didn't have to worry about lunch, after such a filling meal. 

1265 members live in Edinburgh

 
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 Old Waverley Hotel

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Edinburgh Hotel Waverley
Edinburgh Hotel Old Waverly
Waverley Hotel Edinburgh
Old Waverley Edinburgh

Address: 43 Princes Street, Edinburgh, Scotland EH2 2BY, United Kingdom

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