A luxury four-star Edinburgh hotel has apologised after a guest had a 'dreadful' experience.
A family of three took a trip from Manchester to Edinburgh after the wife booked a surprise trip for her husband and son. However, as soon as they arrived, they were met with complications over their booking at the Hilton Hotel Carlton.
Taking to Tripadvisor, the husband stressed at how 'dreadful' the stay was and said they 'grinned and bared it' for just one night before deciding enough was enough and returned back to England. The Hilton quickly responded with an apology and admitted there were 'clearly issues with training the front desk team'.
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In the seething review, the man explained that his wife had booked an Executive Room but once they arrived they were told that the room was no longer available as the guest has chosen to check out later.
He also added that there was only one member of staff at the front desk during the afternoon which lead to a lengthy queue.
He wrote: "Once we'd checked in we were told The Room we had booked was now no longer available. This being due to somebody wanting to stay in that particular room longer? But we had booked it - surely it would be them who would have to move? By now another member of staff had taken over and was dealing with my wife.
"To be fair he was very apologetic about the whole situation and duly allocated us what we were led to believe was a better room (or so with thought). He explained that the room hadn't been serviced however of we came back after 3pm we could use the room.
"We made our way into the city, which is fabulous and definitely worth a visit. On our return to the hotel we were duly informed that the room we had been promised was now not available has it had a stale smell of cigarettes!
"We asked for another room of the same size and more importantly for the same price my wife had paid for only to be told that a room of the same standard also had a problem with the air -con so we couldn't have that either!
"By now we were beginning to get annoyed angry and frustrated. The guy on the desk promised he would "block us a room out" for the next day.
"He gave us the "only room" left but it was totally unacceptable for so many reasons, too long to list.
"There was nothing much more we could do, but grin and bear it. After much deliberation we decided as a family to check out and simply return back to Manchester the following morning.
"We were lucky enough to get a refund for the day/night we were not going to be staying. However after several phone calls to a manager Julio this was the best he could do? A truly dreadful experience in a truly dreadful hotel."
The disgruntled guest added: "The breakfast in the morning was awful, and the presentation... well let's just leave it there shall we. Avoid, avoid, avoid. The only reason it gets a rating is because of its central location and NOTHING ELSE!"
The manager of the Hilton quickly replied, apologising for the situation and insisted that the breakfast has improved since the family visited.
They said: "Many thanks for your feedback and thorough breakdown of your experience. Clearly there seems to have been some issues with the training provided to our Front Desk team. I am very sorry that your experience was impacted by room types and configuration of rooms on the first night.
"I am sure our team would had been diligent in putting aside an alternative room for the second day, it's a shame you were unable to experience the alternative room put aside for the remainder of your stay. I am glad the team was able to give you a refund.
"We are a new management team and have now revamped the breakfast, which has vastly improved since January.
"Should you wish to return and give us another try, please reach out to me. Furthermore, next time i would recommend booking directly through Hilton.com rather than a third party, your room type will be guaranteed as we have full control over the inventory Hilton sells. This may alleviate any disappointment - the same applies for when you book any hotel."
The four-star hotel has been rated with four stars on Tripadvisor with 1,131 guests ranking it as 'excellent' and '559' as very good.
After a guest stayed in the hotel in March, they wrote: "Service staff rooms etc all very good. Husband and I enjoyed our trip very much. The room was very clean and the bed was very comfortable The dining room was very opened and food was good. I have all but positive things to say."
Another said: "Centrally located hotel. We are gold Hilton honors members and loved our executive king size modern room. What I did notice was the sound proofing - it was quite amazing. We had a front facing room on floor three and I didn’t hear a sound all night."
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