Best Western Mostyn Hotel, London

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Good location, close to Oxford Street without the expensive Oxford Street hotel prices
Disadvantages:	Minor annoyances that could simply be resolved or attended to in a more customer - friendly manner

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I recently stayed at this hotel along with my husband and two year old daughter. We needed to be located nearby the US Embassy and really wanted the closest thing to a stress-free travel experience as possible. (We were travelling to London from the northwest via Euston Station.)

Our daughter still is able to sleep in a travel cot and the hotel provided us with a family suite which is slightly larger than a double room so that the cot would fit in the room. We were able to get this room for £50 per night plus VAT by phoning the hotel and quoting their special room rate for a double from their website. This did not include breakfast, though we didn't find this a problem. The hotel does offer a continental breakfast, but is pricey at about £8 per person. We happily settled for McDonalds and Garfunkels - the latter which does a nice full English breakfast.

Upon arriving at the hotel, I was immediately impressed with the attractive lobby and reception area. The staff were friendly and made check-in quick and smooth.

First impressions of our room were quite good. It was a decent size and nicely decorated, though I was surprised to find a double bed, plus a single bed and the baby cot just folded up in the corner with no bedding prepared or anything. It took us about ten minutes to set it up and work out bedding for the cot - basically having to strip the twin bed and make it fit the cot. (Other hotels we've stayed in not only had the cot up and prepared but also included free teddy bear's etc. which we always thought was a nice touch.)

The bathroom had a lovely marble decor and I found the shower one of the easiest to work.

There were minor annoyances with the room, however. The main one was that on the hotel's website it says it is a smoke-free hotel. So I was a bit mortified to find my daughter picking up an ashtray and trying to open the box of matches that accompanied it.

The in-room safe did not work. We contacted staff about this and were told that the battery was probably dead and that it wouldn't be fixed until after we left. We were however, offered to keep valuables in a safe at reception which we did use in the end.

Another minor annoyance was the furniture - though we did laugh about it from time to time. It is nice and modern but bedside drawers kept opening by themselves despite closing them several times. My main concern was bumping into the drawers if getting up at night to run to the toliet, etc.

Our family suite was located right next to the lift which was great for convenience but it was a bit noisy later in the evening when people were coming in from being out until 3am. While I had a great sleep and found the beds very comfy, my husband said he barely slept because of all the noise. Fortunately, our daughter slept though it.

We spent some time in the hotel's lounge/bar area and while it turned out to be expensive we enjoyed the atmosphere. The staff were great with our daughter, particularily one employee - Daniel - who gave her plenty of attention and was very helpful and friendly.

The location, near the Marble Arch, was great for us. It was only perhaps a five minute walk to the Embassy and one street off of Oxford Street so there was always somewhere to go without having to go too far. Besides being near the Marble Arch tube station, it is also a short walk away from Bond St. station. Quite convenient.

There is an Indian resturant at the hotel but we didn't try it only because our daughter doesn't really eat that much curry at the moment (hence our Good rating on food as it would be unfair to rate it - good selection of drinks at bar, though pricey.)

However, walking about four streets down Oxford Street to Duke Street there are some great family resturants including Garfunkels, Bella Pasta and the Spaghetti Factory. So we didn't have to struggle with our evening meals.

Our last day in London involved a morning appointment and our train wasn't due to leave Euston until the evening. We enquired about a late-check out as it is offered, but it would have cost us another £50 to hold it until 6pm.

Instead, the hotel let us store our luggage but they did charge £5 to hold it. We later spent some time in the lounge area before setting off to the station and the staff were more than welcoming in letting us stay there.

Overall, we were happy with our stay and if we needed to stay in that part of London again, we would probably stay there again. It would be hard to pass up a great price on an Oxford St. hotel - especially after seeing how expensive some can be!