Tired, Limited, Functional, without the Fun
29 June 2008
This hotel is in a brilliant position for Hyde Park, which was just what we wanted for the Nelson Mandela Concert, but I wish now I'd looked closer at the many others which were just as close.
I booked this one in the end because Best Western Hotels are normally pretty good, but they could do with having another look at this one!
The room was sort of adequate for people under 5'2" tall as to get around the bed was a squeeze & the TV stuck out in the corner. So, decidedly cramped & very hot, even with the window open. Good powerful shower is the best I can come up with on the positive side. Luckily, we were so tired when we went to bed that we slept well, despite the heat, so i suppose it served it's purpose.
Service was non-existant. We got back from the concert at about 11.10pm hoping for a night cap before retiring, but the bar was closed, which for a hotel is ridiculous. I asked the Night Porter if we could get a drink via him & got a very emphatic no in reply. Most hotels serve residents well beyond 11pm, which is why we headed over the road to another hotel, where they seemed to believe in good customer service.
Breakfast wasn't bad; with quite a decent choice, though the breakfast room was unbearably hot, being in the basement with no ventilation. Breakfast was advertised as continental, so it was good to find hot items, such as sausages, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, beans, etc. They do need to keep an eye on their 'use by dates' though as the milk was on the verge of going off. No bad smell to it, but you could taste it.
So, were I booking this hotel as a 2 star one, I guess I wouldn't have been disappointed, which is why I've marked it as 2 out of 5, to relect it's true rating.
Paul Bodkin, Berkshire
Mature Couple (36+)