I booked this hotel for our stay in London. There were 2 couples so the place was nice in that it had a kitchen. The place was okay but the staff needs some work. They didn't tell us that we needed to put the key in a holder by the door in order to get lights. We did figure it out but... Also, I had called the hotel and specifically asked them what I needed to bring for the kitchen. I was told everything was provided. When we got there we found out that dish soap, dishwasher soap and tea towels and cloths were not provided. They told me I could go and buy some at the store and leave the rest.. I don't think so. Also they said to make sure you didn't leave anything in the room, but when asked about leaving some things in their safe we were told that they didn't have room. Also, the breakfast left a lot to be desired especially if you can't eat wheat as that was all they provided. Probably would not stay there again although we ended up liking the location.

I'm currently staying at the Hyde Park Suites in Bayswater, London, W2.

I booked a room on their website after lots of email communication with some of their staff regarding the suitability of the room for my purposes (business). After being reassured that the room would be big enough for two business people to work in, I booked a triple suite. Unfortunately I was informed that this was no longer available, but they provided me with a two person flat at a discount, which I was happy with.

When I arrived at the main reception desk, I was informed that I had to give them a copy of my passport (why?!) and had to pay £10 upfront for a key deposit. I was only given ONE key between myself and my partner, and when I asked if another was available, I was told that there wasn't. I also found out that the wireless internet was payable PER COMPUTER as they use a log-on system which is computer-specific.

We were placed in a room down the road at their new accommodation on the fourth floor, with a broken lift, which wasn't great when we had two huge suitcases with us.

The room itself was nicely decorated (Ikea), all clean, but very small (although I was expecting this). It had a small modern bathroom, a small kitchen/lounge and a bedroom.

The bathroom was very clean and looked great, however the shower was rather puny - it was like standing under a tap!

The room had cable TV and a flat-screen TV, but didn't actually have any English channels except BBC World. I rang up the desk and requested that we had some English ones, to which I was told that it would be sorted the next day, which it was.

The kitchen was good, and there were enough utensils to cook decent food.

I have stayed 5 nights and have had my towels changed, but nobody has been to change my bin (which I had to put outside the room in the hallway because it was smelling!) or clean the rooms. It's a good thing I bought some loo roll with me! Lol!

Another irritation was that being on the fourth floor, and only having one key, it would have been useful to have had a buzzer system which worked! It obviously hasn't been wired in properly.

These were all pretty minor concerns though. The one thing which did bother me though was the noise. Maybe because I am not used to staying in London it bothered me more than it might bother others, but when laying in bed, it sounded like the windows were wide open and there was a lot of street noise. The first night I didn't sleep until 3am! The people above me were also very noisy at night, and you can hear people moving around all the time.

All in all, it is good value for money if you are happy to make a few minor concessions. The location is great and it is literally 5 minutes from the tube.

The front desk at Aspen Suites have the worst possible attitudes that I have ever encountered. The male trainee that attended to me at check in was cold and rude.

My room wasn't ready on arrival, though I was told to check in at 1pm. I had a one bedroom apartment which was pretty small but neat and clean.

I was actually considering staying here again but such terrible service made me change my mind. The front desk's attitude makes it seem like they don't really care whether you stay with them or not.

Parking at this hotel is not free. It's a ridiculous £10 a day even for hotel guests. And you have to leave your car keys with them.

When my friend asked for his car keys the next day, the girl at the front desk was rude and asked him loads of questions before handing him his keys. No 'Hello' or 'Good Morning'. Just a sour face for you.

After checking out, I realised that I'd left something in the room so we went back to get it. The same female trainee said that because we'd already checked out, we had to wait in the lobby while she called the housekeeper.

After a 20 minute wait, there was still no news so I asked if we could go up and look for it ourselves. It took her 10mins to get back to us and another 5 mins for the housekeeper to take us to our room.

We found what we were looking for immediately. What could have taken us less than 5 minutes, took more than half an hour and as a result, we were very late for an appointment we had that afternoon. None of the hotel staff were the least bit apologetic.

TERRIBLE!

We stayed here for 10 nights in July 2006. For a family of 4 this proved to be an excellent choice of accomodation. Two separate bedrooms, living room, fully equipped kitchen and 3 piece bathroom. Very comfortable. The hotel itself is probably 100+ years old but the interior has been totally rebuilt and modernized. The desk staff were quite helpful and exceptionally polite. There is a dining room downstairs serving breakfast but we preferred to make use of our kitchen for light meals and snacking. Paddington Railway Station - with its Underground Station - is a mere 5 minute walk away. There is grocery store at the station as well which we found quite useful. A good range of restaurants, pubs and shops are all located nearby. A very safe neighbourhood -- we were out quite late many nights and never felt or encountered any threat to personal safety. The only real negative is that Sussex Gardens is a much busier and noisier thoroughfare than anticipated - traffic was pretty intense - even until quite late at night. The Brits make fairly liberal use of the car horn which can be annoying. On the whole though I'd gladly stay here again.