I'm a little surprised to read all these negative reviews as we had a good stay at the Roland House. The staff was always really friendly and helpful and the room was clean, comfortable, and had plenty of space for three people (We got a room with a queen bed for 2 people and then a fold out couch for the third person). We were checked in pretty much right away without any wait and were even able to borrow travel adapters for free as we did not bring any with us. The room came fully furnished including a small kitchen. There was no AC in the room, only a ceiling fan, but it was not too warm when we were there so it wasn't really a problem for us.

The location is great, it is in a fairly quiet area but is still close to the train station so it was not hard to get around. There are also a few restaurants and markets close by to get food from.

I would definitely recommend staying at this hotel for anyone visiting London.

I stayed here with my girlfriend and two of our friends, and it was an OK experience. The place was clean, and furnished nicely, but it was very tight for 4 adults, the main bed and pull-out sofa were in one room, and the lack of AC and proper ventilation made it pretty uncomfortable for sleeping. Some details were lacking, like broken window latches, refrigerator door that wouldn't quite shut, but it was a good value.
The staff was friendly, and responsive to our requests for more sheets and towels.
The hotel is located in Kensington, a very posh area (Maserati and Ferrari dealer right around the corner, and saw several expensive sports cars roll by and parked alongside the road), and two subway stations are within walking distance, both with direct lines to the major train stations and attractions.

Our experience would suggest that they are enticing people to make bookings and advance payments in full for their SW7 apartments, and then on arrival telling them there are no apartments available, and trying to palm them off with alternative accommodation in Bayswater, ie miles away from the museums, the Albert Hall and other SW7 attractions. We stood our ground, reminded them that they had entered into a contract, and eventually after an hour of unpleasantness they reluctantly gave our party of 3 adults and 3 children/teenagers our apartment. However, several overseas guests with limited English who tried booking in at the same time were given the same story and then shuttled by taxi to Bayswater. This seems to be a systematic and dishonest, or at best dubious business practice that needs stamping out to protect London's reputation as a tourist location.

The rooms were shabby, and the window fasteners were broken. We also experienced problems in trying to use the gym. We were first told that young teenagers could use it only if supervised by an adult. Then, we were told they couldn't use it even with adult supervision. The advertising we had seen makes a big thing of the gym, and it was one of the factors in choosing the apartment hotel. We offered to take the matter up with the manager, but was told he/she wasn't there. We used the gym with the teenagers supervised, but the episode left a bad taste.

We booked at the Roland House after a considerable amount of time searching for well priced and highly rated (tripadvisor) short-term accommodation for our move to London. We booked in September for our December 2009 arrival. The reservation was made for Dec 16- Jan 2 with a credit card number given at the time of booking for £550/week (decent price for the area and time of year).

The hotel is in a great area (South Kensington), walking distance to 2 tube stations and 3 tube lines (including the Piccadilly line to Heathrow). It also includes a small gym and sauna area that are free for guests.
Issues:
1) On arrival, we were told that payment was required before we could see the room. Fine – it was a long tripWe were then told that a payment by credit card would take 20 minutes to process (as they don’t have a machine on site -who doesn’t have a machine on site in 2010?) and we’d have to fill out another form with the required information even though the same information was given at the time of booking. Our other option was to pay by cash. , but who carries that much cash? We opted to wait it out in the lobby.
2) I have to say that the staff was not friendly at all - no apologies were made for having to wait 20 minutes to pay (as if this should be expected and not out of the ordinary). I was surprised to see other tripadvisor posting note how friendly the staff was. We didn’t find ANY of the staff friendly in our time there.
3) The room was modern and clean, and included a small kitchen area with 2 burners and enough dishes and cutlery. The room did not include dish soap or dish cloths, which I find standard in other short-term accommodations. Per our booking, the room included wi-fi internet, but we later found out wi-fi was not available (only wired) – a bit of an inconvenience with 2 people in the room sharing one line.
4) After a few nights we decided we could no longer stay at Roland House due to lack of sleep. The mattress and pillows were horrible (see attached pictures – if you need more than a few inches of depth in your mattress and pillow, don’t count on sleeping… think of sleeping on the floor with a book under your head). We even tried the pull-out couch, which was no better.

We reviewed the Roland House website and found the cancellation policy (refund pro-rated for length of stay less a £25 administration free + 3% of original booking). We notified the front desk that we intended to leave early but were informed that there was no policy for this. I was forced to prove it to management (including completing the calculation for them). Throughout this process, the front desk staff was rude and unhelpful – like leaving was a personal affront. We finally signed the papers and left for better accommodation on December 21. We waited until January 23 for the refund cheque and even then I had to call 3 times when I was told it would be mailed the first week of January.

Great location, decent cost but the negatives far outweighed any positives (and the major positive – location – is unrelated to any service provided by the hotel) and we won’t be back.