These days, like most people now, I prefer to do things on a tight budget. Whilst I might shun a 5* hotel these days, I still have some standards and I normally expect to spend around £65 a night for a decent 4* in London.
£65 is suddenly sounding quite high to me, so for recent trips I looked ... Read review
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Advantages: Not a bad location and very cheap Disadvantages: Stairs and tiny rooms may bother some
...cost ==
easyHotel is a franchise operation, so not all hotels are owned by the same company. I've only stayed in one, so I cannot comment on how well the standards are maintained between properties.
In Europe there are hotels in Budapest - Hungary, in Larnaka - Cyprus and two hotels in Switzerland, Basel and Zurich
In the UK there are 6 hotels in and around London. Earl's Court, Heathrow, Paddington, South Kensington, ... .../> == The Earl's Court easyHotel Experience ==
The best way to save money when staying in central London for me is to get a hotel a little away from the most popular areas. I often end up in the vicinity of Kensington or near Gloucester Road tube station. This works well for me, I add some credit on my Oyster card and use the tube to get everywhere I need. It only becomes inconvenient if you plan to return to the area after midnight, ... more
These days, like most people now, I prefer to do things on a tight budget. Whilst I might shun a 5* hotel these days, I still have some standards and I normally expect to spend around £65 a night for a decent 4* in London.
£65 is suddenly sounding quite high to me, so for recent trips I looked at an even cheaper option, easyHotel.
The Website
easyHotel.com is a typical 'easy' branded website with all that orange thrown all over the place. It's easy enough to navigate and booking is easy and fast. There is a service fee for each booking of £1.50. You have to register to make a booking, but I've not been spammed by them since I made my first booking a couple of months ago.
Before you go, be sure to print out your confirmation, they like to have it when you check in. I'd print a map too, just to make life easier when you're trying to find your hotel.
Locations and cost
easyHotel is a franchise operation, so not all hotels are owned by the same company. I've only stayed in one, so I cannot comment on how well the standards are maintained between properties.
In Europe there are hotels in Budapest - Hungary, in Larnaka - Cyprus and two hotels in Switzerland, Basel and Zurich
In the UK there are 6 hotels in and around London. Earl's Court, Heathrow, Paddington, South Kensington, Victoria and Luton.
Of the London ones, Heathrow always seems to be the cheapest, sometimes as low as £21.50 I think, but looking at the site now it seems to be consistently around £24.50, £26 with booking fee. The booking fee is per stay not per night. I've noticed that the Heathrow hotel isn't a particularly handy location between the airport and the M4, the hotel operates a transfer to the airport for £4.50 and there is a bus for around £2.00 nearby. They have a car park charged at £6 a day.
The next cheapest, the one I have stayed in, is Earl's Court. I have stayed there on a Thursday for a total of £26 for two people and also stayed there for 2 midweek nights for £55.50 inc. booking fee.
The Earl's Court easyHotel Experience
The best way to save money when staying in central London for me is to get a hotel a little away from the most popular areas. I often end up in the vicinity of Kensington or near Gloucester Road tube station. This works well for me, I add some credit on my Oyster card and use the tube to get everywhere I need. It only becomes inconvenient if you plan to return to the area after midnight, then you'll need to work out which bus to take or get a cab.
A little further out from my usual area, in fact one further tube stop, you'll find the easyHotel Earl's Court. It's 5 minutes walk from Earl's Court tube station. If you arrive by car there are no parking facilities. To get to the hotel, head for the Earl's Court road exit of the tube station and turn left as you leave. Follow the road down for a couple of minutes until you reach West Cromwell Road. You'll need to cross Earl's Court road to use the pedestrian crossing to get over West Cromwell, there isn't a crossing to get over near the hotel itself. Once across West Cromwell, head left for another couple of minutes. You'll see a couple of ugly orange flags in the distance, you'll know you're going the right way if you see the word TESCO glowing in the distance. There's not much on West Cromwell Road other than the 24 hour Tesco a further 5 minutes down the road. If you're looking for food then Earl's Court Road has restaurants, take-aways a Somerfield and a Sainsbury's Local.
Currently they are fitting out a Premier Travel Inn a couple of doors down from the easyHotel, but it's rates will be around £99 a night from what I've worked out, so it's not really a direct competitor and I wouldn't expect it to drive down easyHotel prices any further. It has a nice purple lighting effect on the white building however, much nicer than the orange you'll experience down the street!
The hotel looks like converted houses and it most likely is. The street looks a bit residential with the addition of a main road outside. There is a lift for those in a wheelchair to climb the steps. When you reach the door to the hotel you'll find it locked. A quick buzz and they'll let you in, reception is manned 24 hours a day.
Check in is easy (lives up to the name), just hand over the printout of your reservation and after filling out a short form you'll get a keycard (or two if you're sharing a room). No credit card details are taken. If two of you are staying in the room then you'll be given an extra towel to add to the one already in your room. If you need more then they cost £1 per towel.
There are no lifts in the hotel and the first time I stayed I was given a room on the top floor. This involves quite a lot of steps, not a problem for me but for some it might be a bother. Accessible rooms are available for those with restricted mobility, but you'll need to provide evidence of your need when checking in. The reason for this is that the accessible rooms cost the same as the cheapest rooms but have more space and no stairs to climb, so they'd be attractive to people that didn't need them.
The corridors have a basic carpet, painted walls and lots of bright 'easy' orange doors with big numbers on them.
The rooms have similar decor, an orange wall behind the bed and off white throughout the rest. I have booked the cheapest rooms when staying, which in this hotel means no window and a tiny room. Air is piped in through holes in the ceiling, two pumping air in, one extracting it. This air movement doesn't generate any noise.
On my first stay I had a double bed that occupied the entire end of the room, not because the bed was big, but because the room was small. There was a tiny strip of floor to get down the side of the bed. There are two coat hooks on the wall behind the door. One thing I do miss is a small table, you have nowhere to put anything other than on the bed or on the floor. If you bring luggage you'll have to wedge it behind the door.
There are larger rooms available, also some with windows. You'll pay more for these though. On my second visit to the hotel I had a room in the basement which had a little bit of room at the end of the bed to put one of our small suitcases. It made things a little easier!
The bathroom is of the airplane toilet type, kind of like those used in Ibis and other low budget hotels. This seems to be the smallest example to me with the addition of an orange sink making it look even more special! The shower is fine but you'll probably want to bring your own shower gel and stuff, the one stuck to the wall seems to be of dubious quality but is adequate to wash your hands. Apart from a little hole in the shower wall to park your shower gel there is no storage in the bathroom, if you have lots of tubes and lotions to park around the sink you'll find things getting cramped. My advice is to put the toilet seat down when not using it, there's a high risk of something dropping in there, including your oh so rare towels hanging from the small towel rail on the back of the bathroom door.
With no windows the place is seriously dark at night. There is a small red light in the ceiling by the door where the emergency light is. If you're sensitive to red lights (I know some people like to remove all light in a room) then the one on the TV might bother you. Sometimes in the night it flashes green, I think it tries to program you in the night. The lack of light in the morning means you may have no idea what the time is. Having returned from a foreign trip I came to this hotel and found that I slept until the late afternoon with no light to help my body adjust to the time zone.
A nice touch is the dimmer on the wall by the bed, so you won't have to shock your eyes too much when you wake up. If you need to charge your phone or something there are a couple of power outlets on the wall, near the door in my experience.
Only on a couple of occasions have I heard other people in the hotel, walking in the corridor. Most of the time it's very quiet. I had no trouble sleeping at all.
If you want to watch TV you'll need to pay for it. £5 for 24 hours, £14 for 4 days. I've never bothered but there is apparently a good range of channels (20 of them). Other paid services include having your room cleaned and bedding changed for £10. I quite liked not getting disturbed by any housekeeping staff. If you want fresh towels, yes, £1 a time.
Internet terminals are available near reception for £2 every 30 minutes. Wi-fi in the hotel is £10 for 24 hours or £5 an hour. Coffee and tea are £1 a time from reception. I just went down to Tesco if I wanted something to drink in the hotel.
Checkout is maybe the easiest part of the stay, just return your key, state your room number and away you go!
Check in time is 3pm, checkout at 10am. They state that they will charge extra if you stay later but I didn't try. They will look after your luggage if you arrive early or if you want to go places on your last day, though there is a £2 per bag for 24 hours fee for this too.
Summary
easyHotel really works well for me. I wouldn't want to use them for a relaxing holiday, but if I'm in a city somewhere or stopping over near the airport then I'd certainly use them. They will probably be my hotel of choice in London for now, but only when their prices are low. If the cheapest rooms are going to cost more than around £45 then I'll choose to stay in a regular hotel.
For people who need a little space or if you can't get around so well I'd probably consider staying somewhere else.
