Stay Central Hotel

"My brother and I stayed at the Stay Central Hotel in Edinburgh in April 2026 4th – 6th and it was, without exaggeration, the most disruptive hotel experience I’ve ever had. We paid £231 per room, per night, expecting a standard level of comfort. Instead, we were placed in a room directly opposite The Three Sisters bar—which is essentially a nightclub operating inside the same building. The noise was relentless. Deep based music and whistling continued until 3:00 AM both nights. At 1:30 AM, we spoke to the night staff, who admitted the situation was unacceptable but offered no solution other than "passing it on." When I went to the bar myself, the supervisor acknowledged the volume but said it was a "management decision" to keep it that loud. The most insulting part was being told by staff that we should have checked the website for mentions of a bar nearby. A hotel's primary purpose is to provide a place to sleep. If a room is structurally incapable of blocking out nightclub-level noise until 3:00 AM, it is not fit for purpose. This isn't just about a bad night's sleep; it's a safety issue. I had a 4½ hour drive back to Yorkshire the next morning while completely sleep deprived. To top it off, management initially only offered a 10% refund (£23), which is a joke considering the stay cost us £462 total. Pros: None that outweigh the exhaustion. Cons: Extreme noise, dismissive management, and zero duty of care for guest well-being when it truly mattered. It must be said however, after writing a strong letter, we were offered a £70 discount which I guess was something. But this does not match up to the extreme level of disturbance, destruction, and discomfort that we experienced over the two enduring mornings of pure, sleep-deprived misery and blatant corporate neglect. A word of warning. If you are considering Stay Central Hotel, be extremely wary of Room 104. I strongly advise you to demand written confirmation as to whether sustained disco music will be blasted into your room until 3:00 AM. We were never apprised of this massive disadvantage during the booking process, and it effectively rendered the room unusable. Or avoid this hotel if you actually plan on sleeping."

"A modern and clean hotel in a very central location however the nosiest hotel I’ve ever stayed in. I wouldn’t recommend if you’d like a good nights sleep or need to have a restful evening. There is a night club in the courtyard of the hotel and the party continued on a Saturday night until tb early hours and then the clean up began with bottle being emptied and staff talking loudly. The room was red hot and heating on full blast but we couldn’t open the windows as stuck shut. The shower wasn’t hot just went hot and cold The room itself was clean however the beds were so uncomfortable We didn’t have the breakfast as it was expensive and opted to go for a local cafe. Overall I really wouldn’t recommend and our whole party had zero sleep despite in differing rooms. There was a mix up with our accommodation and half our party was sent to other apartments ins totally separate place."

"To end the year on a high note, we decided to treat ourselves to an unforgettable experience at this hostel… and unforgettable it certainly was. Let’s start with the positives: the facilities are beautiful and the location is excellent. Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ends, because the real “character” of the place lies in its management (with the honorable exception of the reception staff, who were always kind and professional, as if they worked somewhere else entirely). We arrived as a group of friends and were assigned a private room with a bathroom. Upon entering, we were warmly welcomed by a sink clogged and decorated with the previous guest’s vomit — a bold and immersive touch. We reported it immediately, and after an impressive display of indifference and poor treatment, the bathroom was finally cleaned… the next day. Breakfast deserves its own chapter. The Spanish host in charge offered us a truly unique form of hospitality: asking for a coffee was a problem, sitting six people together was a problem, and accidentally making a mess while eating was, of course, unacceptable. Overwhelmed by such warmth, we chose to have breakfast elsewhere to avoid further enjoyment of his presence. On the only day we did have breakfast there, each of us paid individually with our own card. As a nice bonus, the total cost of all breakfasts was also charged to the person who booked the room — a creative and generous approach to billing. To finish on a high note, the manager was openly rude, maintaining perfect consistency in the overall experience. In short: a beautiful place in a great location, run by people who somehow manage to completely ruin the experience. Highly recommended if you’re curious to see how not to run a hostel."