The Strand Palace Hotel, London > Reviews > Stranded in London!

Author's product rating:   

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

Advantages:	Excellent central location; good bars and restaurants
Disadvantages:	Rooms a bit old fashioned; a little pricey

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

Two nights at the Strand Palace and a visit to see the new Dirty Dancing stage show - bought for my wife's birthday. I even paid the extra £20 pppn for a superior "club" room. We were really looking forward to it. Total price was around £240 for the two of us for two nights (no breakfast).

We arrived at Covent Garden tube station (the nearest one to the hotel), and after a little finger-in-the-air direction finding, got to the hotel on foot in under 10 minutes at a leisurely pace.

Check-in was a little busy when we got there at 2:30 - we waited in the queue for around 20 minutes, but it was fairly quick when we were seen to. We were checked-in to a room on the 7th floor (there are 9 in the hotel), but we were *so* disappointed when we walked in. The room was tiny - smaller than our bedroom at home. It also overlooked the "well" - the inner courtyard of the hotel with the humming air conditioners at the bottom. I can live (or sleep) with that, but there was also an awful rattling, like pipes, coming from somewhere in the ceiling. We went back downstairs to complain, and were told there were no other rooms. After standing our ground they eventually checked us in to an alternative room on the 4th floor. A little bigger, but still not brilliant - probably "average", from past business stays down in London hotels. The reception staff weren't particularly friendly, as other reviews have mentioned.

Despite being "club" rooms, all that appeared to be different was the decor. Instead of old-fashioned wall-to-wall flowerey decor and furnishings, it was plain duck-egg walls, and a "modern" bed (faux-leather headboard and plain brown and green blankets). Not worth the extra money!

The plus side: the room and bathroom was clean, and the maids seemed to do an excellent job.

Despite being negative about the room, at the end of the day the hotel is just a "base of operations", and we did little but sleep there. Breakfast was not included, but at £14 each we decided to nip down to McDonalds, which is 5 minutes along the Strand. Mmm - bacon, egg & cheese muffins! (There was also some kind of coffee/breakfast bar just a couple of minutes from the hotel that did delicious McDonalds-style muffins, but I forget its name!). Other guests in the lifts had warned us of the horrendous queues forming in the breakfast restaurant, but again this is no real suprise in an 800-bedroom tourist hotel.

One night we ate in at one of the hotel's restaurants - "372 The Strand" carvery. Very nice indeed, and only £7.95 to have your plate stacked high with a traditional beef or lamb or turkey (or all three!) roast, carved by a very friendly and funny chef who served us.

As mentioned earlier, Covent Garden is less than 5 minutes walk away (the tube station a couple of minutes more), and most of the theatres are within 5 minutes walk. It was an ideal place to stay. During the day we did the cheesy tourist thing and got on one of the tour buses (a stop is just around the corner from the hotel). We also went on the London eye, but got to this using the tour bus, but I believe it is around 15 minutes walk from the hotel.

All in all a good central location for siteseeing and theatre breaks, hence giving it a recommendation, but a little disappointed in the room (especially after paying for a "club" upgrade). If you've stayed in a typical London hotel before then the style of room will be familiar to you. If you prefer to stay somewhere more "modern" then stick to the likes of Novotel, Travelodge, Travelinn, some Holiday Inns, etc.

Enjoy your trip!