I recently stayed for a night at this well known hotel - I had always wanted to stay there, as it was so close to Oxford Street - a mecca for a shopoholic such as myself! - but am sad to say that I was very disappointed in general with the hotel.
I arranged to stay on a Friday night, as I had theatre tickets & did not want to travel home again late that same night. I prebooked the hotel, requesting a double room for myself & my partner, with breakfast included.
On arrival, the reception staff were uncourteous and unfriendly. They said as few as probably 5 words to me on checking in, handed me the key and turned away. When I asked where the lifts were, I was tutted at and pointed in the general direction, still with no words spoken.
On arriving at my room, it turned out to be a twin room - not very romantic for a London treat! On asking the reception staff why this was when I had prebooked a double room, I was told there were no doubles available. When I asked why I had not been told this at check in, I was given a shrug - that was it.
The room itself was not clean at all. When I pulled the curtains, in order to get to close what turned out to be an uncloseable window, I was left with a cloud of dirt in the air and also on my hands. The room itself was tiny, very little rooms around the beds and very dark, the lighting available was not enough to light the room. The room did have air conditioning, but this did not work - we were supplied with a single fan which we needed to keep on all night, even though it was by no means warm outside that night. The bathroom was also tiny, although clean.
With very little time before needing to be at the theatre to complain further, we decided to make the best of it.
Breakfast: The food was reheated and stale and although there was enough of it, the queues to get it were huge, and the quality of it was poor. The tables were still laden with plates from previous diners, and had spilt juice etc on them.
What disappointed me more than anything concerning this hotel was that it has this very impressive name, yet the staff totally let it down. Also the standard of our room left a lot to be desired and sadly, it has put me off revisiting London for a while {:o(
The price I paid was through an internet hotel booking site - (although I booked it well in advance!) - and was £60 for the room and breakfast - seemed a great price for a well known hotel, turned out not to be quite that!
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I've heard very bad reports regarding this hotel, so I doubt things have improved since you stayed there. It's hard to credit that this hotel is owned by the same company as the Thistle at Marble Arch (just up the road, really), which is well run. I'm sorry you had a bad stay - there is nothing worse than a grotty London Hotel :-(
kollarosie 24.09.2005 17:17
Really good review. I've always wondered about the hotels around Oxford Street - they all look so dirty from the outside and a bit run down.
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