W Edinburgh Hotel Review: Inside Scotland’s First W Hotel at St James Quarter
Bronze ribbons above the New Town, sushi twelve floors up, and Edinburgh’s most argued-about roofline.
Edinburgh does not do skyscrapers, and it does not, as a rule, do bronze. Then St James Quarter went and built one anyway — and the city has been looking up ever since.
Scotland’s first W hotel opened its doors in November 2023, and it has spent every month since refusing to blend in. Where the Old Town deals in stone and shadow, W Edinburgh deals in a nine-storey ribbon of bronze-toned steel, wrapped around glass and visible from as far away as Calton Hill. Locals had opinions about it before a single guest checked in — comparisons to citrus peel and cartoon emojis were, by all accounts, not spared during construction — but the noise has mostly settled into something closer to affection.
What’s inside is more interesting than the argument outside. This is a review of the hotel as it actually runs: three buildings, one square, a spa that smells faintly of heather, and a rooftop that gives you Edinburgh Castle and the Firth of Forth in the same 360-degree turn.
Location: St James Quarter, New Town
Rooms: 244, including 45 suites
Rating:5-star
Opened: November 2023
The Layout: Three buildings, one square
W Edinburgh isn’t a single tower — it’s a small campus built around a reimagined St James Square, and where you’re booked changes the hotel you get.
The Signature: Ribbon Building
The one everyone photographs. Nine storeys of bronze-clad steel with public spaces stacked on the upper floors, so the lobby, bars and restaurants all trade street level for skyline. This is where the theatre lives.
The Heritage: James Craig Walk
A listed 1775 terrace, restored rather than replaced. Sash windows, high ceilings and a quieter, more boutique feel — for guests who want the W’s design language without giving up Georgian bones entirely.
The In-Between: Quarter House
Newly built, stone-faced and deliberately restrained, knitting the Ribbon Building to the square. The most understated of the three, and the easiest to underestimate.
Rooms & Suites: Granite bars and glass-walled terraces
The standard rooms
Entry-level rooms lean moody — navy and slate grey against warm copper fixtures, with a carved granite bar for mixing your own nightcap rather than a desk. Expect an illy machine, an illuminated mirror, and a complimentary steamer for whatever you packed creased. Many rooms in the Ribbon Building come with glass-walled terraces looking straight across the soot-stained rooftops toward the Balmoral’s clock tower.
The suites
Forty-five suites are scattered across the three buildings, several with private terraces built for the view rather than the square footage. The top of the range is the Extreme Wow Suite — the W brand’s answer to a presidential suite, and about as far from a tartan four-poster as Edinburgh accommodation gets.
The interiors are bold yet elegant — deep navy and slate grey warmed by copper fixtures and soft, deliberate lighting. On the Ribbon Building’s guest rooms
Eating & Drinking: Four rooms, four moods
The hotel’s food and drink is stacked on the upper floors of the Ribbon Building, which means most of it comes with a view attached.
Signature restaurant: SUSHISAMBA
Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian cooking under one roof, with a rooftop terrace that turns dinner into a proper occasion. It’s the loudest, most photographed table in the hotel — book ahead for a window seat.
Speakeasy: João’s Place
A Brazilian-inspired cocktail bar tucked away from the main circulation, built for late nights and better conversation. Small, dark, and considerably calmer than the restaurant next door.
Rooftop: W Deck
The 360-degree view the whole hotel is built around — Calton Hill one way, Edinburgh Castle the other. Heated igloos mean the Scottish weather is rarely an excuse to stay inside.
Beyond The Room: AWAY Spa, FIT & the Sound Suite
AWAY Spa & FIT
The spa and gym follow the W’s usual playbook — high-design treatment rooms and a fitness floor built for guests who don’t want to break routine on a city break. Nothing here is trying to be a traditional Highland retreat, and it’s better for it.
Sound Suite
A genuinely unusual addition: a working recording studio, open to guests who want to lay down a track or record a podcast between meetings. It’s a UK first for the brand, and one of the more unexpected amenities in the city.
Location: On foot from W Edinburgh
St James Quarter sits right where New Town meets the top of Leith Street, which puts most of central Edinburgh within a short walk.
Edinburgh Waverley station: 7 min walk
Princes Street: 2 min walk
Calton Hill: 10 min walk
Royal Mile: 12 min walk
St Andrew Square tram stop: 3 min walk
Book W Edinburgh
Rooms in the Ribbon Building move fastest during festival season — worth locking in early if a terrace view matters to you.
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Part of our Places To Stay in Edinburgh series · Welcome To Edinburgh