I hope to offer a fair, rather than emotive review, of our experiences of this hotel. After getting stuck in London due to half a centimetre of snow we were forced to find a place to stay for the night. This hotel was not our first choice but by this time in the middle of the night we reluctantly approached the door. After waiting several minutes for somebody to appear we were finally let into the hotel. It is quite unlike any hotel I have ever been to. There is no reception. Rather, a reasonably polite man informed us that he only had one room left, that it was a twin budget room and that the cost would be £55 for the night including breakfast. At least point we should have appreciated the literal nature of his statement. To be fair to the manageress, who by this time had appeared, she did offer to show us the room prior to our commiting. Rejecting this offer was a major error on our part, for if we had seen the room we simply would have left post haste. They took our money, and rather than being shown to our room were simply told it is 'up the stairs'. We negotiated the frankly unstable staircase without any help with our luggage and unlocked room 9. At this point it is worth noting that we are not unrealistic with what we expect a budget hotel to offer; there are however certain things that should be taken as given:
1. the hotel and room are clean
2. the hotel and room are well maintained
3. the hotel and room should be bug free
We entered into the room which was like walking back in time 50 years - fine if clean! The carpet was filthy, the furnature was ready to collapse, the ceiling had damp and had started to fall in on the room. In the corner there were holes and damp which I assume are the reason for the myriad of bugs, beetles and other disgusting creatures crawling over every surface in the room. All over the sink, the wardrobe, the bed, the walls, the ceiling, were large beetles scampering. At this point I decided, for my myself and by this point a very distraught fiancee, that this was not going to be conducive to an even reasonable nights sleep and so took all our luggage back downstairs and rang the front door bell eagerly waiting assistance.
I explained to the man that we had entered the room to find it infested with pests, that it was unacceptable and that I demanded a full refund immediately. He went to find the manageress who seemed genuinely quite surprised and concerend, and said that we could indeed obtain the refund we sought. They then went upstairs to check the room, at which point another older man who I can only assume was the owner appeared and started to apologise profusely. He informed us that the hotel normally maintains very high standards of cleanliness, as demonstrated by the fact that their entrance had been cleared of snow! I informed him that the cleanliness of the hotel, and any staffing issues they may be currently be having were his problem and not mine, and that all I was interested in at that point was obtaining a refund. The whole (I assume family) were very polite about the ordeal and indeed gave us the refund. They insisted that they are having issues with the cleaner and that this is contrary to their usual standard, indeed their was an advert in the window for a chambermaid!
So to offer something of a summary - the hotel was in a disgusting state. From a budget hotel I do not expect luxurary but I do expect it to be clean. To be fair to the management they dealt with it considerately, however I would not recommend that anyone stay here. In line with previous reviews on this site that go back to as early as 2004, the hotel seems far from being fit for purpose. I have noticed that the manageress is keen to put down any criticism of the hotel, but with so many bad reviews this seems to only make her efforts appear unjustified. The management clearly have not taken notice of reviews. The response 'we do all we can to keep the hotel clean' is not good enough. It should rather read 'we do keep the hotel clean'.
This was definatly the worst hotel I have come across.
- Limegrove Hotel London
