Nice hotel, great room, great service! Will come back!

First tip for staying in London that we pass along to all our friends is: If your going to purchase a London Travel Card (allowing you to use the buses, tubes etc.) only make the purchase for Zone 1. You can purchase a card that will cover the entire city or only certain sections, but as we’ve learned from previous trips, Zone 1 is where ALL the major tourist attractions are located. Don’t make the mistake of buying a more expensive travel card than what you really need.

We had no concerns in booking with this hotel. It is part of the Comfort/Quality Inn chain of hotels. It is very close to the Victoria Train/Tube station and within easy walking distance of Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Horse Guards, Thames, London Eye, Downing Street, Trafalgar Square etc. Last time we were in London we stayed at the Quality Inn Kensington. It was a wonderful facility but decided that this time, to be closer to the main attractions. Therefore we choose this hotel for location and price.

You get what you pay for in this expensive city.

Other then the lobby, which looks recently updated, the rest of the facility is in need of a major face lift. The lift was able to fit 3 – 4 people only at a time as long as none had luggage. The hotel was clean and quiet. A nice surprise considering how close we were to a train station and major roads. The air conditioning was feeble to put it mildly. We happen to be town during a very warm spell at the end of July beginning of August. The A/C was turned off or shut itself off (timer ?) every time we left the room. When we got back, the room was hot and the machine was barely able to cool it down after a couple of hours work. The bathroom was tiny but did the job. The tub/shower were raised so you had to watch your step when getting out/down from a shower. The room was small with two twin beds. The sheets didn’t really fit the bed. There was a small table and two chairs in addition to the beds. We are use to having a little entrance hall in a hotel room when you enter from the hallway. This room did not have such a feature. You open the door and it bumps one of the beds. You walk into the room and sidestep the closet. Anyone in the hallway is easily heard. We went to the front desk to request a second key so that we could go our separate ways if needed. No such system. Because of the age of the equipment, the ‘Key’ is not electronic and easily duplicated for multiple guests. The key is reminiscent of a computer punch card. One key per room only. We were offered the option of always dropping the key off when we left so if we did separate, one of us could get back into the room without the other being present. Because of the locking system, and occasional noise from the hallway, I didn’t feel as safe as I normally do when staying in a hotel.
As with many hotels in England, we had to beg for ice from the bar staff so that we could drink our pop/juice cold in our room.

We never ate in the restaurant at the hotel.

It was a great location. Victoria station and environs have some nice little pubs/restaurants. The station exit closest to the hotel has a Sainsbury Grocery Store which allowed us to easily pick up fresh fruit every day. It is less then a 10 minute walk from the station to the hotel. The station is also one of the many “hop on – hop off” double-decker city tour bus stops. Even coming home late after see one of the many London theatre shows we felt safe walking the streets/lanes around the hotel.

We stayed here for 4 or 5 nights at the end of our trip. I don’t think we would book here again. For shorter stays it might be a possibility. Keeping in the mind the minimal differences in cost for staying in hotels in this section of London, I don’t think we would mind spending slightly more to stay in a hotel with a higher star rating. (We had considered The Rubens at the Palace hotel. We went there for Sunday Brunch. It is well worth the cost.)

If cost is your only concern, then you won’t go wrong with staying here.

I booked this hotel as the majority of the better looking hotels were fully booked for the weekend 13/14 September. The main reason I chose this hotel over others was the close proximity, to the Apollo Victoria Theatre (Wicked is currently showing).

Sizing up the location on Google maps was difficult, but in reality it is quite near to Victoria Station, which made travelling connections very easy, about 7mins walk away.

The reception staff appeared to be of short temper, the only caring member of staff was the one with the badge stating “in training”. There was a lack of customer service generally.

The hotel, I felt looked quite run down from looking at the exterior, but inside faired similar merit. The interior paint work looked ready for an overhaul. The curtain was tinged with grubbiness either from London smog or bygone eras of smoking within the rooms.

The en-suite facilities were compact and felt slightly claustrophobic, the tightly packed amenities only added to this feeling. The bath had previous guest hairs in the bottom, which I found to be a little disturbing.

The comfort of the bed was like a worn in brick, the mattress was rock solid in the middle and floppy around the edges, also in need of replacement. The bed linen, the skirt around the bed looked it also could do with a wash, like the curtains- grubby. The top pillow, looked crisp white but on arranging the pillows the 2nd pillow looked as if it had never seen a washing machine. The duvet was so heavy also looked much worn.

The hotel is good for its location and price but other than these two factors I would not rate this hotel.

Great location, friendly staff, nice breakfast, clean room..... I would definitely stay here again if I needed a base in the centre of London. It's a 3-star and once you bare that in mind you won't be disappointed.