I have stayed here several times in the last 5 years. Forget that it is in a bad area, when you are inside, you could be anywhere.
The Holiday Inn, Kings Cross, is a proper four star hotel. The concierge service is excellent, especially for tourists looking for guidance on how to get around and see the sights. The rooms are well proportioned and very reasonably priced (for even better value, go to www.sixcontinentshotels.com/sixcontinentshotels, where you can register for their priority rewards scheme and get the rooms dirt cheap).
Okay, so you may get no view at all, or a great view of a huge Royal Mail depot next door, but in London you have to expect a certain amount of awfulness.
The point is that this is 10 minutes walk from Kings Cross station, and not much further from St Pancras. From Euston station, you could walk but I would advise a cab.
I have found that they are friendly and efficient, when travelling on business or on pleasure with a young family. Adjoining rooms can be arranged (we stayed with myself, my wife, 9 month old baby and in the adjoining room two other daughters under 11 - it was as near as you can get to having an apartment for hire in central London).
On to the location - though Kings Cross is poor, you are only 5 minutes from Russell Square, and less than 15 minutes by cab to Leicester Square (China Town, Soho, Trafalgar Square, etc) so if you are training it down to the big city, I can highly recommend it.
If you are driving, then car parking is going to set you back around £30 / day at an NPC near to the hotel so do take this into consideration (as well as London congestion charges) if you are visiting.
The only fly in the ointment is the "welcome" at breakfast. At no time in the last 5 years (and I have been on 5 different occasions) has the person in charge at the entrance to the breakfast area, given me the impression that I am anything less than a thief or an international asylum seeker. They will ask for your room number and what type of breakfast you are having in such an accusing way that you will feel like calling the British Embassy for support!
That aside, it really is a gem of a hotel for visiting London, especially if you are travelling by train to Kings Cross....
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Location. The Holiday Inn London Kings Cross/Bloomsbury is located in London, England ... more
One mile from Oxford Street and Covent Garden 2.5 miles from the London Eye Three miles from Buckingham Palace Hotel Features. Two restaurants servi...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Location. The Holiday Inn London Kings Cross/Bloomsbury is located in London, England ... more
One mile from Oxford Street and Covent Garden 2.5 miles from the London Eye Three miles from Buckingham Palace Hotel Features. Two restaurants servi...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
The Holiday Inn London Kings Cross Bloomsbury is a central London hotel situated between ... more
the City of London and Londons West End Kings Cross Farringdon and Russell Square underground stations are all within easy walking distance The New Eurostar termi...
Information:
Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Jan 31st, 2004
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