Starting with the fabulous:
The apartment was spotlessly clean, well located, spacious, well lit, and well appointed. It was clearly recently renovated and from a property standpoint, left nothing to be desired. The views are amazing, the beds comfy, and overall, the unit feels like a large suite in a very upscale hotel. Communication was prompt and thorough.
Then the "good to know":
Ignore the warnings about the stairs at your peril. The walk up with baggage isn't for the faint of heart, but it is charming, and the apartment and the views are totally worth it.
Also, pay attention to check-in and check-out times (4pm in, 10am out). These are later and earlier than standard and there is no place to check your bags. All in all, not a problem for us, but just something to note.
Of course, it is not the property's fault but on our last night, a party in the courtyard of the building went on until past 4:30am. We barely slept and had to get up early to be out by 10am, having tidied the place and returned the key to a remote location (see below).
The not-so fabulous:
At the price point of this property and with a professional management service, Hotels around Town (HAT), I would have also expected a small welcome pack of tea bags, coffee, maybe a tiny pack of sweets, milk in the fridge or bottle of wine. The kitchen was reasonably furnished with dishes, pots, and pans, but no "basics" (especially appreciated would have been coffee or tea). The bathroom had a cheap, huge bottle of shampoo and no soap. There were no maps, books or other information in the unit, although they did email a link to a generic Edinburgh guide (used for all their properties, so many of the recommendations weren't within walking distance.)
HAT communicated quickly, but the service is poor. The key to enter the common hall was cut poorly, making it finicky and very difficult to open the door. On our first night, it took us about 10 minutes of fiddling until the lock finally engaged, which was disconcerting. When we reached out to HAT, we were told that they might not be able to fix it for the entirety of our stay. It was unsettling to leave the apartment not knowing if we'd be able to get back in--and no one offered to get us a new key. We were told if we wanted, we could go to a hotel about a half mile away and pick up another one.
When we returned the following afternoon, all of the key lock boxes had been mysteriously removed and a sign posted that any boxes not part of another management company were not allowed. HAT again emailed us to let us know that we now needed to return our keys to the hotel "around the corner" (but in reality about a 10 minute walk).
We're experienced airbnb guests and have stayed in a wide variety of properties from owner-managers onsite to other professionally managed properties. Each has their own charm and advantages. While HAT responded quickly to emails, I would have expected a new key to be provided within hours or at least a day, especially on a weekday.
Finally, the night before we checked out, we were sent an email about stripping beds, taking out trash, recycling etc. While we would ordinarily do this as a courtesy for owner-managed properties--it seemed especially burdensome considering the early checkout along with the need to return the key remotely.
Would I stay here again? Yes, in a heartbeat, but only if it were managed by a different company.