Review: the new Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood hotel

This is our review of the new Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood, which used to be a Macdonald hotel.

In November last year Rob wrote an article about two former Macdonald Hotels in Manchester and Edinburgh which had quietly appeared on marriott.com as unbranded hotels.

This ‘in-between’ state is now over, and last month Head for Points was invited to the official reopening of the fully fledged Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood, and to see for ourselves the result of the £10m investment in the hotel.

The sister hotel, Marriott Manchester Piccadilly, is also now open and refurbished although the launch event for that has been pushed back beyond the summer.

As this was an official press event, Marriott paid for our travel to Edinburgh as well as our one night stay. However, as usual, Marriott has not seen this review before publication.

Where is Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood?

As the name implies this hotel is a stone’s throw from the Scottish Parliament building at Holyrood, Holyrood Palace and also within spitting distance of the Dynamic Earth attraction.

However, the hotel makes a good base for any visit to the city. It only took me 15 minutes to walk from Edinburgh Waverley Train Station (take the Market Street exit and turn left) through the Old Town to the hotel. Later that day it was only a 20 minute walk to the castle for a bit of sightseeing.

As you enter the hotel, Reception is immediately on your right.

Ahead is a corridor leading to the lifts accessing the rooms and basement, and to your right a bar which extends out into the restaurant. Directly in front of the bar (opposite Reception) is the Great Room lobby lounge.

This is a PR shot of the Great Room, as when I was there it had been cleared of all furniture ready for the drinks reception that evening.

The hotel’s design aesthetic has been inspired by the work of Sir Eduardo Luigi Paolozzi, an Edinburgh born artist known for his graphic work. (Paolozzi was responsible for the mosaics at Tottenham Court Road tube station in London.)

There are nods to him throughout the building in both the iron work around the place and the artwork on the wall, and it does make the hotel feel a little more boutique than you might otherwise expect.

Rooms at Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood

My room for the night was a Deluxe King Room (with categories above this being Superior King, Club King and Junior Suite). In addition, and new since becoming a Marriott, the hotel offers a number of interconnecting and family rooms.

The room had a clean, modern, veering on ‘industrial’ vibe with good lighting and (as befits a recent renovation) both USB A and C sockets at either side of the bed. On entering the room there is an open hanging space, clothes drawers, iron and ironing board and hair dryer to your right. Next to that is the tea and coffee station with a kettle and sachets of Twinings tea and Nescafe coffee (oddly, no Nespresso machine). There is a mini fridge and safe below.

There was no desk, but the round table and chair, with nearby sockets, was perfectly adequate for me to work at.

The bathroom was to the left of the entrance with a decently powered drench shower and This Works toiletries.

There are 160 rooms in this hotel, and this is the style of room you will experience on floors 1 – 4 which have been given a full refurbishment.

Floors 5 and 6 were renovated by Macdonald shortly before the change of ownership and, frankly, are not quite so aesthetically pleasing, but having seen one they are every bit as comfortable.

Dining at the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood hotel

As I was in town for the relaunch, I didn’t experience any of the hotel standard fare other than breakfast. We were however treated to a very good Scottish Italian fusion lunch, curated by the head chef. This was excellent so I can only judge from that that the food will be good!

As well as the main buffet breakfast station pictured above, there is a station for continental pastries and breads and a hot buffet offering the usual bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, beans, mushrooms plus haggis.

This is on top of the a la carte breakfast menu from which I had porridge with honey and berries on the side. Again everything you would expect is on this menu including full Scottish (Holyrood) breakfast with vegetarian option, eggs anyway you like them, Scottish smoked salmon, waffles ….

The restaurant opens for lunch, afternoon tea and dinner and the food classification is ‘Scottish’. It is also possible to have more of a ‘light bite/pub’ style service in the Great Room and room service is available.

The M Club Lounge

For rooms with Club access and those with Platinum or higher status in Marriott Bonvoy, the M Club Lounge is another option for dining.

It is open 24/7 and offers buffet breakfast and evening drinks with canapes. Outside of these times, soft drinks, tea, coffee and snacks are available throughout the day.

The Spa at the Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood

I wasn’t really expecting the basement level of this hotel to reveal the 14m pool pictured below, which puts the Marriott well ahead of your average business hotel in terms of facilities.

There is also an infrared sauna and sun loungers arranged down one side of the pool. The pool itself looked good, but I’m not sure I would dwell too long poolside.

I would however have been happy to dwell in the treatment rooms, had they not been fully booked.

This is one of four treatment rooms offering Elemis face and body treatments, as well as waxing and a range of manicures and pedicures.

As well as the machines shown above, there was a good range of free weights and resistance training machines in the Fitness Centre.

The spa is open daily between 9am and 9pm during the week, and from 8am to 8pm at weekends.

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised by the new Edinburgh Marriott Hotel Holyrood hotel. What I expected to be a relatively dull business hotel proved to be impressive.

For a stay in the Old Town, right next to the Royal Mile and Holyrood Palace, this is a good choice. The refurbishment had gone further than I thought, although it’s a shame the top two floors weren’t redone to match the rest, even if they were virtually new. The lack of a coffee machine is also a little odd in 2024.

The pool and treatment rooms are an unexpected bonus. You also have the Club M lounge if you have the right level of Marriott Bonvoy status.

Edinburgh is not short of high end hotels (see Rob’s Gleaneagles Townhouse review here, or Rhys’s recent W Edinburgh review here and his pre-covid Kimpton Charlotte Square review here) but this offers everything you need for a more reasonable price and comes with the attractions of the Old Town on your doorstep.

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The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

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We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

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You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
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The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points.