Nicolson Apartments - Edinburgh, United Kingdom 

Fine, but Nothing Special
Posted: Fri, Jun 20 2008
A basic, affordable place to stay. The Nicholson Apartments is conveniently located close to the Royal Mile and is very spacious. My sister and I stayed here for two nights over the weekend in Apartment number 5. Overall it was a fine experience: we were greeted by a friendly staff member as we received our keys and had a tour of the flat. However, the flat was not properly cleaned, and had corners of dust and dirt everywhere. Our tv did not work on arrival, and when fixed only had BBC1 (which is a lot less than the 5 terrestrial channels). The walls were thin and we could hear everything but our biggest disappointment was that the single bed collapsed every night I slept in it. Upon inspection the bed had been broken in multiple places, so I can only assume the apartment knows full well of this. Although a cheap place to stay, I'm sure you can find much better.

Luxury price, low-budget standards
Posted: Mon, Sep 03 2007
The website says: "Offering luxury self-catering accommodation in the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town. Each apartment is furnished to the highest possible standards, designer finished and fully equipped. Situated conveniently for all of Edinburgh’s attractions our apartments make for an exceptional base while visiting our historic city." The reality: no bath plug broken blind in master bedroom dirty plates and cutlery broken cupboard doors in kitchen, one of them very dangerous for young children shower attachment fell to pieces if you tried to adjust it bathroom water pressure ludicrously low large brown stain on one of the bed duvets dirty toilet seat – traces of sick on underside nasty smell from bathroom vent letter-box flap fell off each time the front door opened very draughty, single-glazed sash windows -- lot of noise, even at rear of building -- had to buy ear plugs for the kids to help them sleep box for digital TV froze repeatedly – very poor choice of channels overall standard of workmanship very shoddy on even the most basic fixtures and fittings. Some of these more pressing complaints, e.g. no bath plug, were immediately brought to the attention of the management, who did ...... precisely nothing. Two voice mail messages went unanswered. Standard of customer service = less than zero. Upon arrival, we'd also been kept waiting for over an hour past the agreed rendezvous time in order for the flat to be cleaned and for the management rep to turn up. There was a big parade in town, but that's really no excuse, especially when you've travelled a long way and the kids are tired. The rep eventually showed up nearly an hour late with our keys. If the cleaner hadn't been kind enough to let us inside the building, we'd have been left standing on the doorstep in the rain. In short: absolutely nothing like the sort of standard one should rightly expect for that kind of money. In return for a 'luxury' price, you're often left with 'budget' B&B quality. My advice? Avoid. You'll find far better value or money if you shop around. (Lovely city though ... well worth the trip, despite the massive disappointment with the flat.)