I have chosen this hotel because of 3 things: 1) good transport connection, 2) free wifi, 3) breakfast included.

However, now I realize that: 1) it was still about half an hour by tube from all the main places in London, 2) if you have a 3G phone, you can get yourself a free local SIM card and get unlimited traffic for £15/month, and 3) you can always have a better breakfast elsewhere for £7-8.

There are many cheaper hotels of the same or better quality but maybe located at a more distant tube station, or not offering Wifi etc. And for the same price you can find a much better hotel.


What I liked about the ABC Hyde Park Hotel were:

- Just a few minutes walk from Paddington underground & rail station (but still 25-30 minutes to Victoria or Westminster by the tube or a bus).

- Free Wifi, and connection was good enough (I was in room 11 on 3rd floor). There was one time Wifi was down, but the receptionist fixed it quickly once I asked him (the router hung up, so he rebooted it). And the receptionist told me that he would provide a 3G dongle free of charge if the signal quality in the woom would be not good enough.

- There was only 2 teabags in the room, but I asked the receptionist if they could bring more, and then I always had enough tea, coffee, sugar and milk (they was brining every day).



And what annoyed me:

- They charge 5% commission for credit card payments (never announced neither on booking.com nor on their own website) so you better have enough cash ready.

- Stinky bathroom (room 11).

- Stains on bed linen.

- Bugs in the plates with food in the breakfast room (looked like small cockroaches or something like that).

- Heating was off in late November making the room quite cold at nights.

- Old windows provided no isolation neither from noise nor from the cold outside.

- The hot water tap in my shower was broken (room 11). I asked the receptionist to fix it but the handyman never came, so I was unable to use the shower for all 3 days I was there.



What was ok with me but could annoy other people:

- Steep and narrow stairways and no lift. Might be quite a problem for elderly people or those who have heavy luggage, and almost impossible for the disabled.

- Tiny room with no desk. Okay for someone who only needs a place to sleep, but can be annoying if you're in London in business and need to work in your room (just for example).

- The kettle's power cord was too short to reach the wall outlet, so I had to put it on the floor to boil me some water for tea or coffee.

Good location for easy access to central London. Room was spotless. Only problem was not being able to access bed from both sides and having a camp bed in the room limited space.

Very good value for a clean, well-kept hotel in a pleasant, convenient and fairly central location. Rooms are rather small but that's to be expected in this price range. The breakfast was much better than expected - advertised as 'continental breakfast', but in fact included eggs, scrambled or boiled, and baked beans as well as the usual cereals, toast, fruit etc.

We had the best experience with the ABC Hyde Park Hotel. My 85 year old parents came to visit me in London this summer, and the staff at the hotel was so caring and really went out of their way to make sure my parents had what they needed. They switched rooms so they could be on the ground floor, and checked in to make sure they were okay. (My mother became quite ill). They also took down my phone number and said they would notify me if anything happened, and they helped my parents make phone calls. I have never had such personalized service from a hotel. And even with all our requests, they were always friendly and helpful. The rooms are small but clean, and they have a good breakfast. They location is excellent.