The Bonham Hotel

May 2nd, 2023

Apr 30th, 2023

Apr 25th, 2023

To be clear, the Bonham advertises itself as a five star hotel. That is the context of this poor review. It has many admirable traits. Its furniture is well appointed. Its carpets are deep. Its staff are friendly and aim to please, and can hardly be faulted. It is in the achingly beautiful west end close to Haymarket station. Breakfast is pleasant. Its pricetag is however that of an upmarket boutique luxury hotel. Our room is nicely decorated, although we find cobwebs clinging to the ceiling (similar could be noticed in the lounge areas). The basic towmhouse room will set you back around two hundred pounds give or take at the time of writing, without breakfast (a further 24 pounds per person). The basic room is what we have. It's small. Cozy? Sufficiently so that the only place to open the suitcase that has been dragged around Edinburgh streets is either in the bed directly, or after a great deal of shuffling furniture around, to one side of it (having been lifted over said bed), or in the hallway. The bed is a small double. This managed to fill much of the room. My companion and I enjoy each other's company, so a small double will do. More problematic is that our room overlooks the car park on what they refer to as their garden level. I am not sure a car park counts as a garden. I am not a member of the Royal Horticultural Society, so I cannot offer an expert opinion. Perhaps we ought have booked a suite? The view in those photographs certainly looked appealing on the website. An eye level view of the car park necessitates the closing of curtains at all times to avoid the curiosity of passers by, a concern that is given reality within minutes of our arrival by the wanderings of other guests to and from their cars. We are therefore deprived of anything like natural light whilst freshening up. This is not the biggest frustration, although a serious one. Their "townhouse" rooms on the garden (read: basement) level are directly below their beautifully wood floored bar and private event area where there appeared to be a wedding in progress. Our stay is set to a non stop symphony of heavy footsteps and the constant scraping of chairs and tables on wood. There is no rest to be found in the room. A basement room under a busy bar with no natural light. The Bonham, again, is a five star hotel. All the wood paneling and thread counts in the world cannot transform this into a restful, luxurious space under such circumstances. We arrive on a bank holiday weekend, forced to route via Edinburgh at short notice. Food, therefore, is expected to be challenging. The in house and much trumpeted restaurant, however, does not open on Sundays. We ask for a recommendation. We are given a printed list of eateries prepared for such occasions. Aha! Thinks the concierge, I know just the ticket. Most do not open on Sunday either. Some have closed down entirely. One in particular because it's chef recently died. The rest are booked. We scrabble around the internet and fend for ourselves. This wouldn't normally be frustrating, but again, the Bonham markets itself as a five star hotel. An attentive and informed concierge is an expectation here. In the guidance for luxury hotels, the role of the concierge is to anticipate a guest's needs. One hopes the concierge here do not keep pets. If your pockets are deep enough, perhaps you may be better cared for. You pays your monies, and takes your chances. I do not feel particularly looked after. Such is the nature of things that all possible spaces be turned into profit generating ones, however the basement rooms at the Bonham are a misstep. The Bonham may be a five star hotel. Google suggests it is. Their website says likewise. Having stayed in others, it certainly doesn't feel like one to us.
Apr 30th, 2023

Apr 20th, 2023