If this was advertised as a simple bed and breakfast, I would have no issue with it. However, it ambitiously purports to be a four star hotel, which it simply is not. If you're just after a bed to lay your weary head and a breakfast then fine. If you want anything more glamorous, such as tea-making facilities or shower gel, go for somewhere else.

We stayed in this hotel after deciding on the day we wanted to spend the night in London and knew this area was 'hotel land'. The room served it's purpose really and gave us a comfortable bed and a breakfast (of sorts). The price was quite good for London, though this is no luxary hotel. The bathroom was tiny and the place could seriously do with a referb. The breakfast consisted of toast, 1 rasher of bacon, 2 fried eggs and a desert spoonfull of beans... pretty skimpy, but set us up til lunch. I would only stay here again if I was on a tight budget and wasn't bothered about staying somewhere nice. It is conveniently situated within walking distance from Paddington Station.

We arrived at the hotel and were quickly checked in and given our room key. As soon as we entered our room we were met by a strong scent of washing detergents. This was not surprising considering that outside one of the windows there was a clear view into the hotels laundry facilities. Moreover there was a pipe right outside the window that spewed out clouds of steam from the washing machines inside the washing facilities.

Since people in our family have allergies for these type of things, we asked for another room. The answer was that this was the best room in the hotel and was the only three man room at the time. As a result of that we ended up in a two man room, however there was none of the smell we had encountered in the other room. The only thing to complain about in this room was the view we had from the windows. There were huge stock piles of old mattresses laying on the floor outside. Sure we were living below ground floor, but I would like to expect something of a better view rather than seeing old mattresses and other rubbish outside my window.

The location of the hotel is the only good thing I can come up with now. We had good access to the tube and the National Rail service. It took about 3-4 minutes to walk to Paddington station. From Paddington you could take the Bakerloo, Circle or District line to were you needed to go. The Hotel is also located quite close to Hyde Park, but we did not have the time to pay a visit during our trip, unfortunately.

The food experience in the hotel was amongst the worse we have had. Every morning for breakfast you were given two strips of beacon, a fried egg and some baked beans, with little other choice. The portions that were served were also quite small.

To cut a long story short: the people are friendly, the traffic noise is terrible and goes on all night. The rooms are poor but clean. Breakfast is very simple but allright.