While I loved this hotel's location (walking distance to two tube stations, lots of fun restaurants, stores and pubs nearby), there wasn't much else that I enjoyed.
When we arrived at the hotel, after a red-eye flight and taking our time getting out of LHR, we knew that we wouldn't be able to check in. Our plan was to leave our bags with reception, then head out onto the town to explore before finally getting into our room. We managed the first part just fine - though there was a bit of confusion on the part of the desk agent, who didn't understand our request to hold the bags. We made it back to the hotel a bit earlier than the 2 pm check-in time that she provided. When we walked in, she made eye contact with me, and I just said, "We're still too early to check in, but we'll be hanging out next to the fireplace until it's time." She smiled and said she'd let us know as soon as the room was ready...which turned out to be a lie.
No matter, we got into our room, which was a cute and clean little double on the third floor. We were traveling for two weeks, so we had quite a bit of luggage to manage, and not a lot of space to work with. We had expected that going in, though, so we worked around that.
The bathroom was big and clean, and the shower was superb. The bed was decent for a few nights, though the pillows were so small and flat it was almost laughable. There are a tiny desk and chair right next to the door, two small nightstands on either side of the bed, and a full-length mirror outside the bathroom. All in all, the room itself - on its own - was decent.
The room inside the hotel, though, was not restful or pleasant at all. The most frustrating thing was the lack of insulation between floors and walls. It sounded like the people in the room above us made a game out of moving furniture all throughout the night. The floors are wooden, so you can definitely hear things being dragged from one wall to the other. And the shared walls with the rooms next door...oh, boy. I want to keep this review G rated, but let me just say that I hope your room is not next door to an overly amorous couple. And that's something that we kept in mind, as well - you can hear *EV-ER-EE-thing* between those walls. Conversations, laughter, sneezes, farts...moans. All on display for your neighbors. And finally, the window. It was a quiet street for the most part - it's a nice neighborhood - but one night there must have been a pipe leak or something because there was a crew jack-hammering the street and sidewalk well past 10 pm.
We definitely didn't experience the relaxing getaway we had wanted, but at least it was a decent value, kept clean and in a good location. read more