Overview

I have to add my own very positive experience this weekend. The Gleneagles Townhouse in Edinburgh has the most amazing access - it is a magnificent, listed building so certain conditions had to be met. The unique stone has been matched to its surroundings so that an observer might not notice there was anything different. In fact, when I first arrived and saw it I wondered “where is the access to the left of the main door?” It is my understanding that there are only two of these in existence! Full marks to this hotel for their foresight and disability compliance. The whole hotel was completely accessible throughout and the staff were wonderful!

Transport & Parking

I went by taxi as there are no facilities outside the hotel door for parking.

Access

I rang in advance of going to ascertain what the access was like. Was it suitable for a powerchair? I was advised that there were two options - one full access to the left of the main hotel entrance and another was a side entrance. When I first arrived I looked for the access to the left of the door - it was not obvious, but that was because it has been very cleverly installed. The hotel is a listed building so certain conditions had been met. For example - it was a flight of stone steps and they had matched to stone very carefully (at a guess). (See video) Inside the hotel, everywhere where I wished to go was fully accessible. There was a large accessible toilet on each floor and at the rooftop bar and there were lifts to each of the five floors. We went into the restaurant on the ground floor, again fully accessible.

Toilets

All I needed to do was ask. There was an accessible toilet on each of the floors where I wanted to go. All of them were roomy, very clean, well laid-out with grab rails and everything within reach of any wheelchair-user. The toilet in the rooftop bar had a sliding door which I thought was a first class idea!

Staff

From start to finish all the staff were very friendly and extremely helpful. Nothing was too much trouble and I was treated with great respect and consideration.

Anything else you wish to tell us?

As there is no requirement at this present time for Covid precautions, I did notice one or two guests were wearing masks. Of course, this is a top notch, upmarket hotel, very expensive for the average person and my visit there was as a guest - a very rare treat. Having said that I would definitely recommend it to others. As it was a Friday night it was very busy and the restaurant was quite noisy - but that is to be expected. The architecture of this listed building is exquisite and well worth the visit. I had an extremely enjoyable evening there!

Photos

Video