Holiday Inn London-Camden Lock, London

Author's product rating:   

Advantages:	lovely rooms, great food, good location, easily accessible
Disadvantages:	could be noisy at night

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This week I stayed at the Holiday Inn Camden Lock for three nights while I was in London for work. My only previous trips to London have had me staying in the ExCel Novotel in Docklands so this was a new experience for me.

LOCATION

The hotel is located in Camden, next to (predictably!) Camden Lock. It is about a five minute walk from Camden Town tube station, which makes it fairly convenient if you’re having to use public transport to reach it. The website states that the hotel is also outwith the congestion zone, which I guess means you could drive down to the hotel and then use it as a base to get elsewhere using the tube or buses. (Although its worth noting that the website also states the car parking facility is 1km away!)

As it is right off the main street, it is very handy for all the shops, restaurants and bars too. Which is never a bad thing! (Well unless you're skint - which I was!)

ROOMS

I thought the room was well equipped and very pleasant. Not only did I have a very comfortable bed, I also had two chairs and a table (presumably for if I wanted to have dinner/breakfast delivered to my room) and a big desk and swivel chair. They obviously cater to the businessmen and women! I sat behind the desk for five minutes just for the sake of it but I didn’t actually have any work to do so it got a bit boring after a while . . .

There’s a mini-bar, an iron, a TV with a fairly good selection of channels (terrestrial, Sky One, TMF and a couple of news channels as well as some pay-per-view movie channels). Plenty of storage space with both a wardrobe and several large drawers, and a safe which is free to use. There was also air conditioning available, which I didn't really need since it wasn't that warm . . . but I imagine it would come in handy on particularly hot days!

I also couldn't find fault with the bathroom, which was equipped with a bath/shower, which was fairly easy to use. (Sometimes I find the bathroom/showers with combination controls to be a little confusing but this one was pretty self-explanatory!) and sufficient counter area around the wash hand basin to lay out all my stuff. (I had brought A LOT of toiletries for a three day stay . . .)

The one possible downside to the room was the location of mine directly opposite a pub. The first night a few of my colleagues complained they had trouble sleeping due to the noise. I personally quite enjoyed it, but that's cos I was sitting next to the window with a bottle of wine, watching the action outside and NOT trying to sleep!

BREAKFAST

We had been booked in for board and breakfast, which would could either have in the restaurant or in our room (although there was a five pound tray fee for that). We opted for the restaurant option (which turned out to be a good thing as my colleague got breakfast delivered to her room and the member of staff delivering the tray spilled it everywhere!). The restaurant was very nice and had a great buffet selection of breakfast goodies, from your typical morning fry-up goodies, to cereal, pastries, bread, various types of juice . . . I did find myself going back for second helpings every morning! I would definitely recommend the breakfast there!

MISCELLANEOUS

I didn't use any other facilities within the hotel, and didn't have dinner there (although the menu did admittedly look very nice) either, so I don't feel like I am really equipped to speak about these. Other facilities offered however are a laundry/dry cleaning service and also wi-fi access is available throughout the hotel.

One last thing I feel I should mention were the staff. They were very pleasant and friendly - which obviously makes the hotel experience far better. The receptionists always said hello when you passed and the staff at breakfast were very polite too.

Some of my colleagues weren't particularly impressed with the hotel and said that they had far preferred the ExCel Novotel we stayed at previously - however, I thought it couldn't be faulted, it was obviously in a far livelier area and had very good facilities. I loved my room and the breakfasts and I think it would probably be a good base if you wanted to go sightseeing in London for a few days or were there on business. I'd definitely recommend it.

For further information you can visit the hotel's website - http://www.holidayinncamden.co.uk/