Express By Holiday Inn Earls Court, London

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	Good location in London
Disadvantages:	Expensive to say the least .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Express By Holiday inn earls court, London

I made a visit to Holiday inn, in earls court during the middle of July and found this a nice place to stay.

The Hotel had a small sign displayed at the front of the Hotel window advertising rooms from ninety nine Pounds per room per night. Regarding the Hotel's location the nearest tube station is West brompton station which takes around ten minutes to walk from the station to the Hotel, or Fulham broadway is around fifteen minutes away.

The Hotel's immediate location is also close to South Kensington. Therefore Hotel visitors are treated to a great array of shopping malls in Fulham and high streets that surround the area. Directly opposite the Express by Holiday inn is a Thai Restaurant and a Beds Furniture Store. On the corner of the main road is a Polish Coffee shop and many other Restaurant's going towards Fulham.

Upon entry to the reception area I found the check in process to be fast and efficient, in that it took me around four minutes to have my payment taken and also my room card handed over to me. I was asked to confirm my name and details at the time I had made the booking over the telephone. Nothing else was asked at this time, not even a passport which was good.

The reception area was manned on a twenty four hour basis, with a security guard on site. The rooms available to rent out where on either a smoking and non smoking basis. I selected the non smoking option.

The Hotel has a Bar which is open until eleven o'clock in the evening and the Hotel also has a reward scheme where regular visitors can obtain Discount's or free visits upon adequate points of the Hotels Membership Card scheme. Unfortunately I was slightly disappointed with there being no outside views of anything. The reward scheme is also perhaps more suited for regular visitors of the scheme as it would take around twenty or thirty visits to get some form of discount.

Inside the room were two single bed's which felt adequately comfortable though they were low level beds. The air was fresh and pleasant throughout the Hotel especially in the room itself. There were coat hangers and a hair dryer which could be used if needed. Though as I was attending this as a casual visit out of boredom rather than business I really did not care too much about extra facilities.

Also included in the Hotel room was a old fashioned television screen which was placed on a nice wooden desk which also had a chair. The television had some of the Sky basic television channels and a remote control.

Once I was checked in I noticed the decor was all nice and tidy, with nice plain colours around the place. In the Hotel breakfast seating area the decor was more upmarket in having a big plasma screen showing the news channel and being very nicely decorated with some nice paintings.

The Bar area itself was rather small and serviced by the reception staff themselves and people ordering their drinks opted for sitting at the breakfast seating areas or sitting in the Hotel's smoking garden area. The garden area was fairly tidy and clean.

The garden area also had some nice plants and flowers which they were not anything spectacular to watch it was fine overall. I was charged three Pounds for a one hundred and seventy five ml glass of Red wine which was good overall as they had a selection of Merlot or Shiraz wine, and Chardonnay for white wine drinkers.

The overall atmosphere provided by the Hotel seemed a very cosy and convenient stay. The air felt very fresh within the Hotel as there was high quality air conditioning.

Regarding entry to the Hotel room door, there was no key, though there was a card access swipe system which I felt like a stranger using. Having placed the door card into this Card Holder system, I gained entry to my room and this lit up the room lights. The temperature of the room was good though it was far from warm.

What I liked most about this Hotel was the service, which was excellent in that I had asked at the reception for an iron and received one within one minute. I was told to return the iron after I had finished with this.

Furthermore I asked for a Toothbrush and toothpaste and was given a free sample of a small make-shift toothbrush set. Also inside the rooms were plenty of towels which was handy during the morning and evening for personal cleaning purposes.

The drawbacks to this visit was the one hundred and twenty nine Pounds price paid which did not include any dinner meals. All that was included extra was a standard buffet breakfast. I also was not overly impressed by the quality of the foodstuff provided in the breakfast buffet.

The breakfast was available from seven o'clock until half past ten. Though in reflection there is no traditional English breakfast. The main food at breakfast were bread and cake related snack foods, jam, yogurt, some milk, Fruit juice drinks and cereals. The availability of the breakfast is great in providing people a chance to eat as much as they like, though it is perhaps not a great healthy choice or smart lifestyle choice to consume loads of cakes and bread food etc.

I also had the impression from seeing other visitors that they were not that keen on having breakfast buffet or for those that did, they did not seem too keen on breakfast here.

What I also found rather bad in terms of value for money was having enquired about if I could use the Hotel Internet cafe, I was told that I had to pay four Pounds for one hour of Internet usage. I thought Internet at home does not cost that much, also the local Internet cafe near the Polish cafe was charging around one Pound for an hour so the Hotel Internet facilities I did not use.

Inside the rooms where two single beds, a television and a desk with a chair. The washrooms also had a great quality bathroom area which featured a nice touch by having a big 'Dove' liquid shampoo and shower Gel, the shower was effectively a power shower. In the wash basin this area was supplied with a dove cream wash dispenser.

The toilet area within this area was white and bright and spotlessly clean. There was not one spec of dust anywhere to be seen in this Hotel room.

Overall this is a highly recommended place to stay though it is expensive by comparison to three and four star Hotel's overseas. I give the Hotel an extremely high rating regarding the cleanliness and tidiness The room quality is excellent along with the standard of service.

Visit made July 2008 (one night).

recommended:
yes