Melia White House, London > Reviews > Newsflash: Hotel Teleports from Madrid to London

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money
Quality of Rooms	Average
Standard of Service	Average
Quality of Food & Drink	Average
Cleanliness	Good

Advantages:	Excellent decor, great Regents Park location  -  within 2 mins walk of 2 tube stations
Disadvantages:	4 star decor not matched by corresponding room size

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

Last weekend we stayed at the 4 star Sol Melia White House in Regents Park, London after placing a winning bid of 74 pounds on the Priceline UK website (came to 91 pounds after taxes). Located in the deepest northern reaches of Priceline's Bloomsbury area of London it was further than we would have chosen from the center but this turned out not to be an issue.

The Melia White House is easy to find and very well connected. it is located 2 minutes walk from Regents Park tube station which is perfect for going west/east along the top of the circle line (e.g. if you're going to be travelling in/out of Paddington where the Heathrow express arrives in London, or Euston). Nearer still is Great Portland Street tube which is perfectly located on the Bakerloo line - this puts it one stop from Oxford Circus, otherwise known as the center of London.

One very good thing about the Melia White House is that it is marked on maps such as the London A to Z. Once you cross the major road from the tube stations it's very heard to miss, there are pedestrian crossings which make this easier.

The lobby to the Melia White House instantly says 4 star. Although it has a low roof the decor and panelling is impressive.

Checking in you suddenly realize that this hotel has teleported in from Madrid. The entire check in staff is Spanish, illustrating the hotel's ownership (the Spanish Sol Group). Finding a receptionist who speaks good English is a roll of the dice each visit. Generally service is good. We arrived at 1pm on a Saturday and no rooms were ready. When we got a room on our return around 4pm our bags took 20 minutes to follow us up and the porter immediately left without waiting to be tipped.

Then comes the lifts . The White House has a computer screen between the lifts where you enter your floor number. It then tells you which of the lifts, A-D, to use. While it must make excellent effectiveness of the lifts it can be a tad confusing.

Now to the rooms. Now it is said that the phrase "not enough room to swing a cat" originated from punishing sailors on British naval vessels in Elizabethan times, but I do believe, maybe in revenge for the sinking of the Spanish Armada, the Sol Melia has derived the ultimate compact 4 star hotel room where you should never bring a cat because it wouldn't fit. If you hold your arms out then a Sol Melia hotel room width is 1 foot longer than a typical armspan. This gives you just enough room to walk around your bed. For those hoping to fit a child into the room with them - if you have a cot or a third bed then abandon hope all ye who enter here of having any floorspace whatsoever.

The fittings are 4 star - the toilet is small but very well decorated in marble and granet. It is fully equipped with a placard seemingly advising to the terminally stupid not to overfill the bath as it might damage the bathroom. Similar tips from the British Viz comic can be found here:

http://www.cosc.brocku.ca/~bross/personal/vTT.html

In Spain and France there must be laws about the height of beds (Europe is forever inflicting on us how straight our bananas should be or the size of grocery containers). The Sol Melia is no exception and the beds were two singles pushed together attaining an altitude of no more than 18 inches. These are not especially comfortable - the springs made themselves evident.

Rooms are furnished with a nice 20" TV with many Spanish channels but all the main British channels.

Unfortunately the hotel does not overlook beautiful Regents Park - it is one street away. We did wake up in the night once to a car alarm but otherwise the area is fairly quiet.

A nice touch was that the rooms have prints of Victorian London. This was especially useful as if you relied on the surrounding hotel staff and guests you would think you were in Spain. Many of the guests we met were Spanish or German.

We did not have a chance to try the food but the restaurant did look good.

Overall if you can deal with European (e.g. not US or English) size hotel rooms then the Melia White House offers a compact 4 star room, not to be mistaken with a 4 star room. It is exceptionally well located but feels like a Spanish hotel that has teleported into a spot in central London.