Customers are lords of the Kings Manor hotel

THE hotel itself is 20 minutes from Edinburgh city centre. Its fabric is 160 years old, and some could argue that Musselburgh is as easy to reach as the Scottish capital.

Manager James Brown says the award is down to the hotel's hard-working staff. Picture: Jane Barlow

Best Western Kings Manor Hotel proved itself pick-of-the-bunch by being crowned the group’s Best Customer Experience Hotel at the National Awards in Brighton.

James Brown, manager of the hotel on Milton Road, said he could not be more proud of his team for helping bring the silverware home.

He said it showed that putting the customer first paid dividends.

He said: “All of us here are delighted to be crowned this year’s winner of the Best Customer Experience Award.

“I am very proud that our teams have been recognised by the people that really matter – our customers. It’s a testament to our incredible staff, who work hard every day to ensure guests have the best experience when visiting, so we’re proud to be recognised for our efforts on a national scale.”

Among the customer friendly quirks of the location, which is just a short hop to ­Portobello beach among other destinations, is the fact it is one of the few in the city to bill itself as being pet-friendly. It also claims to have the second ­largest hotel-based leisure club in the whole of the Capital, with gym, indoor pool, sauna, tennis, spa and jacuzzi.

Free internet is also provided along with free onsite parking, all of which have proven vote winners for the Matthew Clark sponsored category.

It was the 40th anniversary of the awards, themselves sponsored by catering firm Brakes, with 14 hotels ending up with honours.

The team from Edinburgh were presented with their award at the Best Western annual members conference at the Grand Hotel in Brighton.

Les Asplen, managing director of Best Western Great Britain, paid tribute to their efforts.

He said: “It is important to take the time to recognise the excellent work going on across our hotels, particularly in recent times, which have been challenging for this industry.

“As independent properties, each and every one of our member hotels have unique stories to tell, so we like to highlight their brilliantly different qualities and acknowledge those that take the customer experience to the next level.

“I’m thrilled to see Best Western Kings Manor Hotel as the winner of the Best Customer Experience Award this year.

“It is due to their continued hard work and outstanding customer service that they took home the award.”

Travel site Trip Advisor gives the hotel 4.5 out of five stars, ahead of its official three-star rating, with 671 of the 1330 contributed reviews rating it excellent and 442 very good.

One recent comment said it as a “fantastic hotel” adding: “The room was exceptional and nothing was too much trouble for any of the staff on duty.”