The guest pack has it all sorted: “Should you require a personal trainer during your stay...” As if. Surely we all bring our own personal trainers when staying at a hotel like Tigerlily?

By night, this one-time Georgian townhouse glows disconcertingly pink on George Street, home of Edinburgh’s poshest shops. Is it a Hellfire Club? Is it a boutique boudoir? No, it’s an all-purpose club-bar with 33 rooms and restaurant.

Tigerlily opened last year and trumpets its location “in the heart of Edinburgh’s thriving style bar area... the hang-out of choice for visiting celebs”. It bombards guests with digital distractions: plasma screens, DVDs, games consoles. “You can place your iPod in the docking station,” it says. This is the sort of manically modish place that would have made me feel old even when I was young.

The lobby is buzzing with party atmosphere when we arrive early in the afternoon. Bright, breezy young women clad in black and with clip-boards and earpieces patrol the public areas: less party than party conference. One leads us up a pink staircase, past a gigantic disco ball, and gives us a tutorial on our room’s light controls. I make detailed notes. Standard rooms were full when we booked, so we’re in a more expensive Regency Room. It’s spacious, but it’s a dog’s dinner of design: wooden floor, pink brocade curtains, rock-rococo furniture, wardrobe with lily motifs. There is an ironing board, hairdryer and, oh-so-cool, hair-straightener, and the bathroom has an excellent power shower, a challenging joystick tap and no towel rail.

The major problem is the view. The room is at the back, overlooking a well of walls and windows, including a drab 1970s office.

Downstairs for dinner, it’s all thumping rock rhythms. At the bar, a “highly trained mixologist” is concocting cocktails for men with shaved heads and angular glasses.

“Is there somewhere quiet to eat?” I shout at a waitress. And there is: a private corner where the noise is just a distant boom. Things look up. The menu is modern and good value, with pan-fried red mullet and mushroom and spinach polenta.

Enterprising salads and well-paced, friendly service are followed by a good noise-free night’s sleep on a vast and comfortable bed, and an enjoyable if unfocused breakfast.

All told, though, we feel a bit incidental to Tigerlily’s hyper-cool. And, tragically, we forgot to pack our personal trainer.

Bottom line: Doubles from £150, including breakfast. Stephen McClarence paid £245.
Sampling the fare: Two-course dinner for two cost £38.40, plus £16.50 for wine.
Best thing: Location.
Worst thing: Being over 25.
Access all areas: Yes, but four steps up from the street.

Need to know: Tigerlily, 125 George Street, Edinburgh EH2 4JN, tel. 0131-225 5005; www.tigerlilyedinburgh.co.uk

Room: 6 out of 10.
Food: 7 out of 10.
Service: 7 out of 10.
Value: 3 (room); 8 (food).

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