'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enou...
'Allo! I'm not contributing to Ciao for the time being but if you are bored / desperate / weird enough to wish to continue to read my ramblings, you can find me on Dooyoo under the user name plipplop. See you around! :P
Member since:15.07.2000
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When we recently had a team meeting in London, a friend of mine was given the task of arranging somewhere to eat and I was tasked with finding somewhere to sleep. This was good news because I got to choose a hotel that was convenient for me. Selfish, aren’t I? Oh well.
WHY I CHOSE LE MERIDIEN RUSSELL
Although I do occasionally venture out further, I tend to book hotels that are close to Euston or King’s Cross railway stations because this is where most of my team arrive by train and because all our company buildings are that side of town. The last time I was in town, I stayed in the Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury, which certainly isn’t bad after its refit, but I was unable to get seven rooms for the date I had in mind. Over on www.laterooms.com I spotted a discount in Le Meridien, RussellSquare from £220 per night to £89. This, of course, seemed like a bit of a bargain to me and with plenty of rooms available I duly signed up. For other travellers, Russell Square is very close to all sorts of tourist attractions, which will explain why there are so many hotels in the area.
TRAVELLING TO THE HOTEL
Le Meridien (formally known as Hotel Russell) is situated directly opposite Russell Square. The hotel is about ten minutes’ walking distance from Euston
train station and about twenty from King’s Cross. The closest Tube station is Russell Square, which is literally just around the corner and no more than five minutes’ walk. There are lots of buses through Russell Square, with stops right outside the main entrance to the hotel. The Meridien Russell is probably the most easily accessible hotel I have ever stayed in. I had travelled to the hotel from Islington, via taxi, and found that the taxi driver was a little confused by the reference to Le Meridien. He knew the hotel only as Hotel Russell – something worth remembering in future.
RECEPTION, CHECKING IN AND DÉCOR
The main entrance is located just off the street, up a fairly innocuous set of stone steps (certainly no good if you happen to be in a wheelchair.) Immediately in front of you can be found a rather grandiose staircase that sweeps upstairs like something out of a stately home. The reception desk is large and spacious and located to the left of the main entrance. Checking in was a reasonably quick affair, with the usual capture of details for registration. The receptionists at the desk are fairly brisk in their manner, but they don’t keep you hanging around, which is always important. At the time of my visit, the hotel was having some maintenance work done on the lifts, which meant that there was only one in service, and for some reason it was absolutely tiny. It probably took three adults with luggage, but no more, and it was incredibly claustrophobic. I really was relieved to get upstairs, and from there on in, I only used the staircase.
Parts of the hotel are very smart, and appear to have been redecorated or refurbished fairly recently. Some other, less frequented, areas are a little older and tired. The décor is generally quite old-fashioned, but quite grand and the Victorian hotel feels very traditional and well established. The corridors are long and wide, and I was quite amazed at how many rooms there were on each floor. Due to the length of the corridors, there are lots of separating fire doors, and if your room is right round the other side, it can be quite a trek to get there. One MAJOR disadvantage that I quickly noticed was that the bedroom doors are all very heavy and very large. This presents two problems. Firstly, they can be a bit of a handful if you have armfuls of bags and cases. Secondly, and more importantly, there is nothing to prevent them from slamming. With so many rooms, and so many guests, the slamming of doors becomes a real nuisance and you would be unwise to expect any peace until well after midnight.
THE ROOMS
There are a number of different room types in the hotel, each with different facilities and different outlooks. I stayed in a standard double room, which was comfortable enough, if not slightly cramped. The bedroom furniture was fairly standard, comprising bed, wardrobe, desk and chair, with an en-suite bathroom as standard. Some of my colleagues had larger executive rooms, which had more floor space, bigger bathrooms and a sofa as well. All the rooms feature satellite television, pay per view movies (£7.95 a throw) and most have a mini bar too.
The location of the rooms is REALLY important with this hotel, and I should warn you that there are some real problem spots. Some of the rooms have air-conditioning but some don’t, and in a large building like that, good air-conditioning is vital. Many of the rooms face other rooms, which offer a rather bleak outlook, and rooms at the front of the hotel with views over the square are sought after and more expensive. Worse still, the rooms at the back that face each other around a courtyard suffer terribly with the noise from an air vent that runs the length off about five floors. Even with my windows closed, the noise kept me awake.
New to the Meridien Russell are a range of designer rooms that feature contemporary furniture and décor (e.g. laminate floors and trendy pictures.) The pictures of the rooms look quite groovy, but I noticed on the tariff of room rates advertised on their web site that you have to pay a fair bit more for the privilege. I’m not sure that this is something that I agree with. If they are going to upgrade or redecorate rooms then this is something that should be done throughout the hotel. Decent décor and furniture should NOT come at a premium rate.
EATING AND DRINKING
I haven’t eaten a main meal in the restaurant, but the menu seemed fairly unusual and the prices were typical of any London hotel. The dining room itself is a well-presented, traditionally set out room and was also where breakfast was served. The main bar is generally open until 1 a.m. but isn’t particularly intimate and never seems that popular with residents. I’ve tried the cooked breakfast once (it cost just under £20!) and I wouldn’t have it again. Everything tasted very strange to me and it didn’t seem particularly fresh either. There is a limited 24-hour room service menu, but having seen a couple of discarded trays in the corridors complete with uneaten meals, I’ve never decided to take them up on this.
SERVICE AND COSTS
To be fair, every member of staff to whom I spoke was polite enough, but I wouldn’t say that a warm welcome was extended. This is another thing that most London hotels suffer from, and the Russell is certainly no worse than the competition. I asked the concierge a couple of different questions, and although he smiled and tried to be helpful he didn’t really know the answer. It was really the little touches that were missing. There were no directions to the lift at check in. There was no offer to call a taxi after I had checked out. There was no enquiry to ask if everything was OK. These are the things that make reasonable service good – and they were sorely lacking here.
I obtained a discounted rate of £89 room only – the web site said that the standard room rate was £220. Whilst this might technically be true, I would suggest that you should never pay more than this for a normal room. If you take a quick glance at the Le Meridien web site, you’ll quickly see that £89 - £100 is offered almost as standard.
LIKES
The location is superb, from a public transport perspective and would be ideal for either business travellers or tourists. The hotel is quite large, and is therefore likely to have rooms whenever they are needed. The Victorian décor is generally well kept and makes a nice change from the faceless modern motels that you get more often than not these days.
DISLIKES
The quality of the rooms varies wildly and not just between one room type and another. It’s worth pointing out that two guests can pay the same room rate and end up with completely different standards. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep here at all. If it wasn’t the noise of the air conditioning units inside or outside the room, it was the slamming of the bedroom doors that kept me awake. It seems a bit silly to me that a Travel Inn will have better facilities to secure a good night’s sleep than a big established hotel like this one. The sound-proofing was really awful. Also, the quality of the food wasn’t up to much.
OVERALL VERDICT
This isn’t a hotel I’d be in a tearing hurry to come back to. Although it is very well positioned, it isn’t of a standard that would make me return – I like to get some sleep, for God’s sake!
Not recommended.
BOOKING INFORMATION
Address: Russell Square, London, WC1B 5BE
Tel: +44 20 7837 6470
Fax: +44 20 7837 2857
Web: www.lemeridien.com
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Must say that when I stayed here I found it very good. The room I was in wasone of the upgraded contemporary style, and was large with plasmascreen TV and nice modern bathroom. The air conditioning didn't keep me awake, even though I had a courtyard view room. However I did take a wander onto lower floors,which looked like a different hotel they were quite shabby. So I reckon that your experience of this hotel depends upon the type of room you end up in. Good review though - pity you didn't like the hotel. Rach x
Chrissy792 26.10.2004 19:23
This review in my eyes would seem dramatised and untrue in many respects. I stayed at this hotel for two nights about 8 months back and I thought the hotel was spectacular. The decor is extremely plush and victorian set. The room I stayed in was extremely large with possibly the largest bed I have ever seen. The hotel was immaculate in respect to cleanliness from the front entrance to the bathrooms in the bedrooms.
I have just returned yesterday from a hotel in London which I chose because the cheapest I was able to get a room in the meridien for 1 night was £160.00 so I am afraid that I will have to disagree with the fact that you say the rooms on average are generally between £89 - £100. I personally feel that you expected too much for your money. The hotel location in itself make the rooms more costly and I also suggest that you compare the prices to other hotels in this class in the area, I think you will be surprised.
Best Wishes Chris
Freespirit 29.07.2003 21:43
Doesn't say much for laterooms.com either does it?
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