Why it’s good for business
It can be hard being a five-star hotel in a city whose main industry is
finance but Edinburgh’s Balmoral seems to be doing just fine. The banks that
have their headquarters in the city – Bank of Scotland (now part of Lloyds)
and RBS – have both taken a battering and the number of business travellers
to the city may be down but this iconic hotel still wins over guests.
The Balmoral, part of the Rocco Forte Collection, is one of the city’s most
recognisable buildings and is one of Britain’s grandest railway hotels. It
was designed by architect William Hamilton Beattie in an ornate Scottish
Baronial style, including an enormous clocktower, and opened in 1902 as the
North British Hotel, the name by which it was known until the 1980s. Inside,
the hotel is elegant, with grand staircases and wide corridors.
As well as the stunning architecture, the building enjoys a central location,
handy for both the New and Old Towns and naturally, being a railway hotel,
is slap bang next to Waverley station.
Business travellers will welcome the excellent service here. Staff seem
uniformly well trained in being friendly and helpful but not overly
obtrusive.
The hotel’s general manager Ivan Artolli says that some companies have shied
away from five-star hotels in the current economic climate, either to cut
costs or because they cannot be seen to be using five-star hotels. As a
result, there are some good rates for business travellers at the moment.
The room
As with many old buildings, the Balmoral has sizeable rooms (with the possible
exception of the interior facing rooms) and proper wood-framed windows that
you can actually open rather than hermetically-sealed plate glass. The high
ceilings, with ornate cornices, and muted greens, greys and pale yellows
give the rooms a very airy feel. The furnishings are classic but with a
modern twist.
One strange quirk is that you have to order a coffee and tea tray from room
service rather than having a tray tucked away in a drawer somewhere,
although this is provided free of charge.
The porter says room 652 is one of the most popular at the moment. It was here
that J K Rowling finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows back
in 2007. When she put her pen down at the end of the epic series, the author
wrote a note on the back of a bust of Hermes in the room saying “JK Rowling
finished writing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in this room (652) on
11th Jan 2007”. The room has since become a popular place to stay for
Pottermaniacs, deapite the £965 a night price tag.
A place to meet
The Drawing Room, just off the main foyer, is a quiet location for a meeting
with a client or colleague. The Balmoral also has a strong meetings
offering, with ten different rooms with capacities ranging from 15 to 450
for the Sir Walter Scott suite. All meetings are naturally lit and offer
wi-fi.
