Where do I start? My son booked a surprise short vacation to London for me and did all the arrangements himself. He booked us in at the Ormonde House Hotel for three nights. My son printed out directions from where our coach dropped us of etc. We arrived in London at 2:15 and according to ur directions would be at the hotel in 10 minutes via walking. Well it was pouring and the directions got soaked and unreadable so we asked someone where the street was where the hotel was located. Should have known they gave us the wrong directions. This happened time and time again So I eventually called the hotel to say that no one seems to know where Eaton Gate is. It did not help that I could not hear the woman properly on the phone due to the street noise and her heavy accent did not make things easier. After searching for over an hour on foot we finally took a taxi that took us to the hotel in minute. We were grateful that we had finally arrived because we had been up since the early morning and at £140 a night we wanted to get our money's worth. We rang the doorbell. This man in a butler suit answered and said, 'I see you are here'. Then he proceeded to berate us for not taking a taxi , and how we got everyone involved which was so unnecessary, etc. Plus he asked us if this was the first time we travelled anywhere and that he was not used to dealing with people like us!! He was so rude it was unbelievable! Needless to say, I was so angry and upset that we decided not to stay at this hotel for any price. Which caused us further hassle as every hotel seemed to be booked due to all sorts of events going on in London over the weekend. But that is another story. Stay at this place if you want to be insulted and treated like crap.

I wish I could reccommend this hotel, but I just can't, and it is a shame. The public areas and lift are lovely, I thought I may have found a gem at £125/night, and the proximity to Sloane Square is a big plus. Indeed I was quite excited in the lift that I may have found a new regular place for my semiregular London trips, but no.

I stayed in a double, top-floor room overlooking the main road. Not noisy though. It had polystyrene "fire trap" tiles on the ceiling, I can't believe it can even be possible to get a license if the fire chief saw those. They're the kind everyone removed 30 yrs back with reason - one small flame and they will drip burning plastic all over the room. And the flame would probably climb up the bed valance(?) thingy, which was cheesy and dusty.

Bathroom was a corner bitten out of an otherwise reasonably sized room by London standards. General repair was poor, peeling paper, etc., with high windows into the main room. It has sliding doors, a bath, sticky-backed plastic shelves, an electric shower (with not much water pressure of course) and a toiletries cabinet I elected not to use. It did contain a dozen or so mini soaps, though.

But those weren't the last soaps i'd find - 43 in all, in various drawers in cheap, dying furniture. Soaps I don't really mind so much. The drawer full of old carrier bags was odd, but could be seen as useful maybe. The old hair roller (with hair!) was less what I was hoping to find in my bedside drawer. Plenty of mirrors, though. 9, if I remember correctly, which is certainly enough for anyone.

Free bottle of water in the room is a nice idea, but it was a plastic bottle refilled from the tap. Not a problem in itself, tap water is certainly ecologically a good plan, but then why not use a bottle designed for refilling, not a used Volvic one which can breed nasties.

Breakfast was simple but enjoyable at the shared mirrored table downstairs, back in opulence after grottiness. And the pop-up dumb waiter was a great reminder of what this hotel could and should be right through. But it isn't, and it's a crying shame. Instead, I am back to staying in a tiny room in a spotlessly clean hotel in Holborn for £45 less per night with a great breakfast, at £80 instead of £125 I paid for this place. Maybe I got the dud room and the rest are lovely or something, but if so, it has been dud since the 1980's, so there is no rush to improve it.

I don't want an identikit chain hotel, I will forgive a LOT for character, but used hair rollers and fire-hazard ceiling coverings are a step too far. Ideosyncracities are fine, dirty lazy housekeeping and maintenance is another altogether. Get a real cleaner, spend £500 on sorting out the room, and this could be something so special.

I stayed at the Ormonde with a friend as we were attending a party in central London. It was competitively priced and I wanted to stay in an independent hotel rather than a faceless chain. The hotel is a beautiful building just off Sloane Square in Belgravia and has been lovingly dedicated to the 1920's, with chandeliers and beautiful furniture. Our room was on the 4th floor, reached through a period lift or a lot of stairs, and was full of antiques with a chandelier light. Despite the room overlooking the road, there was not much noise and our only complaint was how hot the room was - I suspect this would have been true of every property in central london during this last weekend. I would certainly stay at this hotel again, we felt that we had stumbled across a secret and were very looked after.

I was looking for a moderately-priced hotel a few months ago for my family to stay in when they came for a week to visit me in July. This is a great booking- 2 rooms at 7 nights each- any hotel would want this. I was still living in Battersea at this time so I wanted to find a place near Sloane Square and I have to say, this place does have an excellent location. I went IN PERSON in MARCH to speak with the hotel manager (Alan) to check out the hotel and make the booking. I was so impressed by the location and the downstairs facilities seemed to be just fine, so I went ahead with the booking and had my parents call him from the USA literally the same day to confirm the reservation with their credit card details. He did, however, tell me at the time of my visit that all the rooms were currently occupied and therefore I would be unable to see them. I found this a bit strange but let it slide.

I guess I would have thought that going in person, plus having my parents call immediately after, plus the fact that this all occurred several months in advance would be more than enough to ensure a reservation. Thankfully, my mother had the foresight to email them using the email address listed on their website to confirm the reservation about a week before arrival. After receiving no response for several days, she asked me to ring them to see what was going on. I did this and even though I was speaking directly to Alan, he asked me to spell my last name at least 5 times then asked if the reservation was for 1 night, etc. Basically just pretended he has no idea what I was talking about. Then, he told me he would check with his colleagues and call be back, and asked me to give him my mobile number. Then, as I started to do this, he finished the number for me and then admitted than he had my contact details written down and had remembered speaking to my mother. And even insisted they had a "lovely" conversation! So I told him that he needed to call me back within the hour or I would assume our reservation was null and void. To his credit, he did call me back rather promptly and said that his "colleague had erased the reservation and written in someone else instead." WHAT?!?!? I just don't even know what to think about a hotel that literally pencils in someone's reservation for 2 rooms for 7 nights made months in advance and then just scratches it out whenever convenient for them.

Luckily, I have since moved to Kensington and have found a significantly nicer place much nearer to my current location for my family to stay. It is beyond pathetic and frustrating that I have had to do all of this within only a few days' notice of their arrival, when I went to such lengths to ensure this was handled months ago. What a huge let-down.. Don't let this happen to you!!