We booked into The Lancaster but were moved across the road to the Portland(part of the same chain) I was not suprised by this as a friend had a similar experience with the Grange chain previously. We had been upgraded and I must say had a fabulous room. A very large room with a seating area, very roomy bathroom and a small kitchen area which although we did not use could have been very useful had we been staying longer. The staff were very friendly and helpful. We made enquiries about buses and tubes and when we came back in after taking a walk the young receptionist had run off from the computer maps of routes etc, Later on that night I discovered that there was no hot water. I informed the staff and it was discovered that there was a fault throughout the hotel. The staff were very apologetic and offered to relocate us at their expense to a five star hotel near St Paul's. At the time we were really tired so declined. Emergency maintenance was called out and the fault repaired within the hour. These things can happen in hotels but we were very pleased at the way the company dealt with us and the problem They insisted we had a complimentary "full English breakfast" which we can honestly say was excellent. We were in a room at the front of the hotel and a couple of times we heard the noise of people probably going home after a night out. There was no traffic noise at all. We thought that The Portland was excellent value for money. It is well located for buses, metro and trains as well as being near many of the main attractions. We will definitely stay there again.
