Elevating the Guest Experience with Cutting-Edge Audio Technology at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh

Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, located in the historic India Buildings in Edinburgh's Old Town, blends luxury hospitality with innovative technology. Embodying the Virgin brand ethos, the hotel offers personalised service and brings together food, music, design, and local culture to create a welcoming atmosphere. Reflecting its musical legacy, the hotel prioritises the integration of music into the guest experience, appealing to those in search of character and musical inspiration during their visit.

Teaming up with Adlib, a leading UK audio technology supplier and integrator, Virgin Hotels Edinburgh set out to deliver the hotel's audio environment. Together, they aimed to create an audio experience aligned with the brand's musical philosophy and unwavering dedication to excellence.

The Commons Club

Situated within Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, the Commons Club is a hub for dining and socialising. As a consistent feature across all Virgin Hotels properties worldwide, Commons Club features four flagship spaces, all with distinct flavours of Virgin Group hospitality: The Bar, The Shag Room, The Kitchen, and The Restaurant.

The first Commons Club space visitors might enter is The Bar, which offers a cosy space for guests to enjoy innovative cocktails in an elegantly designed setting. Enhanced by discreet audio technology, such as eight QSC AD-S4T loudspeakers and two QSC AD-S28T subwoofers, The Bar provides a space where guests can "share stories and a dram, with strangers turned friends."

Opposite The Bar is The Shag Room, which invites guests to socialise and savour expertly crafted cocktails. Powered by LA2Xi, the two L-Acoustics X8 loudspeakers with custom red RAL finishes to complement the scarlet and gold decor, alongside a concealed L-Acoustics Syva Sub, deliver an immersive audio experience within an intimate setting.

Exiting The Shag Room and descending the stairs to the lower level unveils Virgin Hotels’ dining venues, The Kitchen and The Restaurant at Commons Club. These establishments showcase the finest in local and international cuisine through breakfast, lunch, and dinner service. Additionally, they provide exclusive chef’s table dining experiences, elevating the dining experience with a sense of exclusivity.

To elevate the dining experience, The Kitchen has four seamlessly integrated QSC AD-S.SAT loudspeakers, and two QSC AD-S.SUB subwoofers are discreetly nestled within the furnishings, ensuring a harmonious audio backdrop that complements the dishes served in this charming culinary space.

Adjacent to the corridor is The Restaurant, boasting "the best bites in Scotland, where every plate is a culinary journey – from the cobbled streets of Edinburgh to the wild heart of the Highlands." Adlib's audio setup features eight QSC AD-S.SAT loudspeakers and two QSC AD-S.SUB subwoofers for background music, which may be augmented by two QSC AD-S8T loudspeakers for live music. This discreet audio installation helps create a calm atmosphere for guests to savour the diverse flavours of Scotland within the historic basement of the India Buildings.

Eve

Adding to the hotel's allure is Eve, a dynamic venue within Virgin Hotels Edinburgh that houses a live music venue, a brunch and dinner restaurant, and a trendy coffee bar named Florist. Boasting a line-up of diverse music genres and welcoming a mix of world-renowned DJs and local, unsigned talent, Eve sets the stage for unforgettable experiences. The venue's cutting-edge audio installation includes a main hang comprising L-Acoustics A10i Wide and A10i Focus loudspeakers per side with KS28 subs behind. To maintain consistent sound levels throughout the room without the area immediately in front of the stage being overbearing, these are complemented by two pairs of L-Acoustics X12 delay loudspeakers.

For mixing and playback, the Adlib team has integrated an Allen & Heath SQ5 digital mixing console with a DX168 Stagebox, two Pioneer CDJ2000NXS2 decks, a Pioneer DJM900 mixer, and two limited-edition red Technics SL1200M7L turntables, to keep within the brand colours.

At the back of the venue resides the Florist coffee bar, which features four L-Acoustics X8, all acoustically de-coupled from the ceiling and two L-Acoustics SB15 concealed in the furnishings.

Just outside Eve is its Courtyard, featuring two QSC AD-S8T loudspeakers and two QSC AD-S112-AD-SW Subs, ensuring that guests inside and outside the venue are always part of the atmosphere.

Greyfriars Hall

Once an historic church, Greyfriars Hall has been transformed into a versatile function room that is available for hire and ideal for intimate ceremonies, corporate events, and weddings. The venue promises to leave a lasting impression with its unique atmosphere, characterised by vaulted ceilings and the historic surroundings of the church building.

To enhance the audio experience, two L-Acoustics Syva loudspeakers have been installed below the historic window, and two Syva Low bass extensions have been installed within the furnishings to ensure impeccable sound quality, with appropriate lower-end reinforcement. Custom facility panels strategically placed throughout the hall facilitate seamless connectivity, allowing wedding and function bands, DJs, and corporate speakers to plug and play, and fully use the audio system for events and ceremonies.

Public Areas

Throughout the hotel's public areas, guests can enjoy continuous, high-quality audio that enhances each space. In the Coffee Bridge, four QSC AD-P.SAT pendant loudspeakers, paired with the QSC AD-P.SUB pendant subwoofer, create a warm atmosphere for guests to enjoy coffee and conversations.

Meanwhile, in the intimate Funny Library, four QSC AD-S.SAT loudspeakers and QSC AD-S.SUB subwoofers discreetly blend into bookcases, providing a subtle audio backdrop for guests to unwind with a good book.

The bustling Circulation and Reception areas feature a mix of QSC AD-C4T Ceiling loudspeakers and, in specific locations, QSC AD-C4TLP, ensuring a pleasant auditory experience for guests moving through these spaces.

Finally, the impressive interior of the Oculus Lounge features four QSC AD-C8TNB ceiling ‘speakers, enriching the central lounge area with a captivating audio atmosphere that enhances the overall guest experience beneath a historic cupola.

Networking

The networking aspect of the audio installation at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh plays a crucial role in delivering reliable audio distribution and a smooth user experience for the hotel’s staff throughout the building.

The installation utilises the QSC CXD8.4Q, CXD4.3Q, and CXD4.2Q network power amplifiers to amplify the audio signals, ensuring crystal-clear sound reproduction across all venues. The QSC Q-Sys I/O-8 Flex expands the system's input and output capabilities, accommodating various audio sources and destinations.

At the heart of the network infrastructure are the QSC NS-1148P and NS-1124P Q-Sys network switches, facilitating smooth communication between devices for optimal performance. Together, these components create a robust and intricate audio ecosystem within the hotel, offering its users an efficient and feature-packed audio solution that is easy to use via a web browser or dedicated iPad tablets anywhere in the building.

A Delightful Result…

In total, the Adlib team has installed over 120+ loudspeakers from L-Acoustics and QSC, along with 12 amplifiers and 3 Q-Sys Cores, seamlessly integrated throughout the hotel to deliver an exceptional audio experience. The partnership between Adlib and Virgin Hotels Edinburgh has transformed the audio environment, paying homage to the brands’ musical roots and heightening the overall guest experience.

“You just enjoy music when you’re walking through these spaces”, concludes Virgin Hotels’ Regional Director of Engineering, Grant Aitken. “We’re all satisfied with the end result; we’ve managed that particularly successfully. We’re all delighted, and hopefully, Adlib is delighted with the end result here as well.”