W Edinburgh

W Edinburgh opened on 29 November 2023 inside St James Quarter, giving Marriott's lifestyle brand its first Scottish address and only its second UK outpost after W London. The 244-room hotel arrives nearly a decade after the project was first announced, its curling bronze "ribbon" facade already one of the most argued-over additions to the city's skyline. Inside, the pitch is Sushisamba on the tenth floor, a rooftop deck with 360-degree views, and a recording studio built for guests rather than just for show.

The place

The hotel sits at 1 St James Square in Edinburgh's East End, forming the centerpiece of St James Quarter, the roughly £1 billion mixed-use retail and residential development that replaced the former St James Centre shopping mall. The location puts W Edinburgh at the top of Leith Street, close to Princes Street, Calton Hill and the top of the Royal Mile, in a part of the city that had long lagged the Old Town and West End for hospitality investment. The property spans three connected structures — the twelve-storey Ribbon Building, a stone terrace on James Craig Walk dating to 1775, and the Quarter House — stitching the new development into Edinburgh's Georgian New Town fabric rather than standing apart from it.

The concept

W Edinburgh is Marriott's first W Hotels property in Scotland and the brand's second in the UK, following W London's 2011 debut. The project was first green-lit in 2015 under Starwood Hotels, before Marriott's 2016 acquisition of Starwood carried it forward, and construction ran through repeated delays before the hotel finally opened in November 2023. Interiors are by London-based practice Jestico + Whiles, who drew on Edinburgh's volcanic rock and coastal setting for a palette of dark wood paneling and copper accents that plays against the building's much-debated exterior — a spiralling bronze facade that critics have compared to everything from a ribbon to a novelty pastry. The 244 rooms and suites are split across the three buildings, ranging from standard rooms to the Extreme Wow Suite with its own sauna and terrace. At opening, the hotel employed around 210 staff, a figure the operator said would grow toward 300 in peak season, drawing on a workforce spanning 40 nationalities. The positioning leans on W's usual formula of music, design and nightlife rather than traditional Scottish country-house luxury, with a Sound Suite recording studio — the brand's first in the UK and only its second in Europe — aimed squarely at a guest more interested in creative culture than tartan.

Dining & wellness

Dining centers on Scotland's first Sushisamba, serving Japanese, Brazilian and Peruvian fusion cuisine from the tenth floor, alongside the all-day W Lounge on the eleventh floor and João's Place, a Brazilian-inspired speakeasy cocktail bar. A twelfth-floor rooftop deck, W Deck, offers 360-degree views over the city with seasonal outdoor seating. Wellness facilities include an Away Spa developed with Scottish skincare brand Ishga, alongside a FIT-branded gym with Technogym equipment.