Concern over hen party room

A HOTEL has created what it claims is the "world's biggest" hotel room to cater for stag and hen parties, sparking renewed concerns about the city's image as a party destination.

The two-star Osbourne Hotel, in York Place, has unveiled the eight-person room, complete with two en suite bathrooms, to cash in on the growing market.

The room has two double beds and six singles and is part of a £650,000 overhaul of the hotel's facilities. The room costs £150 a night - or £18.75 a head. Shahid Chaudhry, director of the hotel, said: "There is a growing demand for this kind of accommodation.

"We created this suite for group bookings where people don't want to be spread throughout a number of rooms."

However, Graham Bell, spokesman for the Edinburgh Chamber of Commerce, said: "This is not the general direction in which the hospitality sector in Edinburgh is striving to move. We have been working to bring up the level of what is on offer."