First things first I think it’s important to start on the positives.
The view of the Castle and the location of the apartment are completely incomparable. You are in the heart of the City within easy walking access to everything you may want. The apartment had every facility you need for a self catering break.
Negatives
Changing our apartment the day before check in to a less desirable apartment, pee soaked bed linen and an extractor fan you can’t turn on unless you want the apartment to smell like sewage.
We have previously stayed at one of Destiny Scotland’s other locations (the Malt House Apartment) and absolutely loved it, the apartment was beautiful and extremely comfortable with all the amenities we needed to support us during our stay. We felt we were a little out of the centre of the city however and decided when we were going to return we would be in the heart of the city and we truly were.
We were a bit let down in a number of areas however. We booked our stay 6 months in advance to guarantee the best room available and requested to stay in one of the ‘Superior one Bed Apartments’. The images shown on the website from which we used to decide which apartment to book clearly showed two floor to ceiling huge windows which flooded the apartment with light. A sofa in front of one and the dining table in chairs in front of the other. Lovely jubley. We couldn’t have been happier with our choice.
A week before we were due to book in (when we had already left home and were staying elsewhere) we received our check in instruction advising us we were in Flat 1 on the second floor. We were so pleased as from looking at Google Street View it was clear we were going to be staying in one of the apartments with the huge windows we’d seen in the pictures and had booked.
Unfortunately, the day before we checked in we received a further check in email which said we would be in Flat 4 on the third floor. There was no explanation for this. I was really disappointed as I knew from looking at Street View we would not have the benefit of the larger apartment we had anticipated. I contacted the team to be told it was like a game of Tetris to get everyone in which meant people would often be moved. I was not impressed.
We raised this again with the team when we arrived at the offices to drop off our luggage (such a useful facility to have to drop off our luggage prior to booking in and leaving with them until our evening flight, thank you). I said I was disappointed as we would not have the floor to ceiling view we had been anticipating. The member of staff we spoke with said we were still in a superior apartment and our view would not be compromised. Once we entered however I can categorically say I disagree.
The apartment is beautifully modern, the induction hob, fan oven, fridge/freezer, dishwasher and washer/dryer were all very appreciated and meant we were fully self-sufficient, all items we were very grateful for.
However, let’s be under no illusion here, the top floor apartments are compromised in space and access to the view of the castle. You lose space because of the roof line. Be aware too, the staircase to reach the apartments are almost corkscrew so carrying our 32 kilos of suitcase up the stairs was not a fun experience.
We entered to find the sloping ceilings impacted on the overall space we had been anticipating in the apartment. We had a bay window which looked out over the castle which we had to clean as it was filthy inside, and out. We don’t expect the outside to be cleaned regularly, they face out onto Princes Street so expect them to get dirty quickly, however, we do expect the inside to be cleaned. There were face and hand marks of the previous occupants on the glass which impacted on the view and we couldn’t relax until we’d moved the sofa around and cleaned the windows so we could enjoy the view of the castle.
On our last night we had booked a night walking tour but when we went to leave the complex we were held back by a number of extremely drunk people trying to access a party which was being held on the floor below us. We’re unsure whether this was in apartment 1 or 2 but it wasn’t a nice experience being stood at the bottom of the stairs being unsure to leave the complex as a group were struggling to get in. We didn’t want to face refusing access to the complex as we were unsure how they would react so we had to wait for them to source the number to access the right apartment. It was clear they were too drunk (and, according to their conversation, too stoned) to remember the log in code. We waited until they had called their friend and sought the code to enter the complex before we left. When the door opened we found two women completely unaware of their surroundings and barely able to stand entering the complex with three other gentlemen and another female. We returned to our apartment at approximately midnight to find the party still going in full, noisy swing, not what we had anticipated.
Another note, do not turn on the extractor fan in the bathroom for Flat 4, my god, we turned it on following a shower, went out and returned a couple of hours later and it smelt like something had died in the apartment. The smell was so pungent and made the apartment an unpleasant place to be. It smelt like rancid drain water and it took us a while to work out what it was and where it was coming from. We turned the extractor fan off, aired the apartment and then left it off for the rest of our stay.
On the day of check out we always try to make things easier and strip the beds and place all the linen and towels in an easily accessible place for housekeeping staff. This is when we realised that underneath the top sheet there was a thin mattress protector which was covered in yellow stains. This would have been instantly obvious to whoever had placed the top sheet over when changing the bed linen between guests. We took photos as we couldn’t quite believe it. At £150 a night we don’t anticipate sleeping in other people’s urine because a member of staff couldn’t be bothered to change a mattress protector. Fair to say we were furious and I’m unsure whether or not we will be using Destiny Scotland again which is such a shame as they do have some fabulous properties in our favourite city.
If you want to be in the heart of it the definitely go for it but check you get the room/apartment you pay for and expect and be anticipated to clean or check it’s clean before you stay.
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