Stayed with a friend for 2 nights at this hotel, and hotel was very good value! Very clean with good furnishing, a small complaint would be that the reception did not offer a late/curtesy room for my luggage.

Difficult to review as some good, some bad and some issues will be more important to some than others. This review is for St Martins Lane apartments and not Floral St but they don’t have a separate entry here. These apartments are in a great location right in Covent Garden, close to Leicester Sq, and Trafalgar Sq – in fact they are probably the only serviced apartments in Covent Garden with such a good location.

I’ve stayed in both Saco’s Floral St these ones (Slingsby Place/St Martins Lane) and the Floral St ones are very poor and dated with broken furniture, etc. The St Martins Lane ones are quite different (at the moment) as they are quite new. Whilst they ‘look’ impressive (lots of modern white shiny services, etc) there are some negatives. Beds are small – a small double. The beds are also cheap and uncomfortable with bad springs, and polyester covers like I used to buy when I was a student - the 9.99 ones from Asda. Given prices are equivalent to a 4/5 star hotel I’d have expected more comfortable beds.

Water pressure is terrible – they have a nice bath but there is no way you can fill it, and shower looks great but has poor pressure so comes out as a drizzle. We stayed in Spring but on hot days the flat was hot and there is no aircon, and due to the position of the flat it will get very hot I suspect. Some flats have nice balconies (ours did) although these are very overlooked by office blocks, etc (but this is central London!)

There is nothing wrong with these apartments but everything in them is ‘just ok’ and the only reason they can charge so much is the location and lack of alternatives close by. All the furnishings, fittings, etc are very cheap (look good but cheap) and we were only the second people to stay in the flat we had so most things worked well / were not damaged but I can see them going the same way as Floral Street within a few months as everything will break so easily. It seems false economy as they will just have to keep fixing things as they do at Floral St.

On both my stays (at Floral St and here) I have always had some problems with the apartments (in this one the oven was smoking heavily) so have needed to contact their office on several occasions. I’ve always found the office staff difficult to deal with and not that helpful (taking days to get back to you, no sense of urgency, and sometimes quite rude). That said, I’ve always found the staff you actually meet (the apartment managers) to be very nice and helpful.

We are long stayers so perhaps some of these issues become magnified. However, my advice would be that if you can find alternatives nearby try those. However, if you can’t then go for the St Martins Lane apartments and not the Floral St ones. Above all if you are just staying for a couple of nights go for a local hotel – you will get more comfortable beds. If you do stay try Bills Restaurant right by the entrance to the apartments – great breakie and other comfort style foods.

Booked this apartment at last minute for a long weekend in London.

We were very, very pleased with it. Great value and an excellent location. Less than a 5 minute walk to Leicester Square and the West End Theatre and Convent Garden is literally on your door step.

Highly recommended!!!

Having used SACO apartments for a few years, this one was a real disappointment. Tiny apartments, in need of maintenance, and then there is the entrance. Prepare to work your way through an old iron gate, into a dark alley, then through heaps of rubbish before you get to an obscure door that leads down to the apartments.... Even the taxi driver that dropped me off, said "good luck" when he saw the entrance. The location is good, but I will not be using this apartment again.