What was your hotel Like?

[Drebble Darkwing]

Just trying to get a feel about the local hotels.

 

Would be grateful if people could give their opinions about the hotels they used please.

 

Cost, Clean, Food, Quiet / Noisy etc.

 

Many thanks

[DavidB]

I stayed at the Ibis, which is only a few minutes walk away from the event itself.

 

Not the first time I've stayed there either. I've always been happy with the rooms and the service. There's a bar/restaurant in there, Internet access etc. And close to shops and the supermarket and local takeaways, as well as West Brompton tube just down the road.

 

Never been too noisy but I'm usually asleep anyway.

 

Cost is reasonable for a London hotel I think. Around £100 a night or less if you catch a sale etc.

[Cyberman]

Just trying to get a feel about the local hotels.

 

Would be grateful if people could give their opinions about the hotels they used please.

 

Cost, Clean, Food, Quiet / Noisy etc.

 

Many thanks

 

 

We stayed at the Thistle Kensington Gardens , Bayswater Road , sounds posh as we thought, not really Hotel sits on to of a Petrol Station we would not stay here again we tried to cost Hotels near Earls Court but had to remember we had to travel from Glasgow so we managed to get a 3 day trip to London through the national press which to we embedded in this event, For the next event on London we shall put a request into the forum to ask where is the cheapest hotel to stay in.

[Marky242]

Stayed at the Boka hotel just around the corner from the event. Was ok for what it was but if I had not been travelling alone and on a tight budget (needed all my money for all the SW guests!) then I would not have stayed there! I think 'tired' would be a polite expression.

[Queen_Sindel]

I stayed at the Ibis, which is only a few minutes walk away from the event itself.

 

Not the first time I've stayed there either. I've always been happy with the rooms and the service. There's a bar/restaurant in there, Internet access etc. And close to shops and the supermarket and local takeaways, as well as West Brompton tube just down the road.

 

Never been too noisy but I'm usually asleep anyway.

 

Cost is reasonable for a London hotel I think. Around £100 a night or less if you catch a sale etc.

 

*nods in agreement*

I've stayed there ever since the event moved to Earls Court.

 

We've had a couple of problems there, once a lost reservation and then another year dirty sheets. But overall I've stayed at way worse places, and they solved the problems quite quickly. The location is pretty much ideal for the event.

 

We got a deal this year and paid 65 quid per night. If you give enough advance notice for booking I've seen other deals below 100.

Edited July 23, 2010 by Queen_Sindel

[bondy25]

Well I stayed at the Court Hotel on Earls Court Road.. No way is it a hotel.. More of a cheap hostel/B&B..

 

The room was really small and me n my freind were climbing over each other.. I say stay away from thato ne as even in the night it was noisy and some couple in the room next door was getting the jiggy with it!!

[dwarfbabe]

I stayed at the Ibis and was very happy with it.

 

I paid just under £90 a night and that included breakfast (which included some very nice bits that I was able to sneak into my bag and take with me to eat during the day ).

[Queen_Sindel]

So you stole the last apple from under my nose Saturday morning?

[madmilburn]

Youth Hostel on bolton gardens. Think it was bout 50quid altogether for 2nights and saved myself little bit of money by not bothering with breakfast as had sonme sarnies which hadn't eaten on way down and bought some on the sunday as well. Very clean n friendly staff. Only time was 'noisy was when the 3 spanish lads came back into the room and stood bout gassing on for good 20mins whilst gettin ready for bed with main light on. Happy stay there again if come down nxt yr as its only off earls court road so easy walk to venue, plus Kings Head Pub is less than 10mins away

[XLcatloveress]

I stayed at the Imperial College (Beit Hall). While this place is not a hotel (instead, dorm rooms used as accommodations), they make every effort to make it more hotel-like. There was a shampoo/shower gel, soap, towels, a bottle of water and tea/coffee bags (with sugar and milk) provided as well as a water heater, a ventilator and an alarm clock.

 

The room was small but adequate (built-in closet, bed, desk, cupboard, sink) and while the toilets/showers were shared between 5 rooms, I never even MET any other occupant much less had to compete for shower stalls. As far as I'm aware, there are other rooms available that have their own shower or share only between 2 rooms (?) but I went for the cheapest option. As it is, 2 nights cost me 74 GBPs altogether, and that included a huge and varied buffet-style breakfast with scrambled eggs, breakfast sausages, hashbrowns, beans, tomatoes, fruit salad, cereal, toast etc. Breakfast is served between 7.30 and 10.30, but apparently, a whole lot of staff was staying there as well and for them, breakfast was opened early (around 6ish? Or 6.30?).

 

The room I slept in was quiet though the rooms on the other side of the hallway were facing towards the Beit quadrangle where young folks (LOL I feel so old typing that!) gather at night and there is a little pub so those do get noisy.

 

I walked from the 'hotel' to Earl's Court and it took me about 25 minutes walking through some very nice areas that were safe and pleasant to navigate. The closest tube station is Gloucester Rd. which is 1 stop (or was it 2?) from Earl's Court and there is also a bus line that leaves right outside the 'hotel' that would get you to Earl's Court (I simply decided to skimp on the transport). Arriving at London Heathrow, it took me about 40 minutes by tube to get to South Kensington (which is still close, as far as tubes go, but slightly further than Gloucester) and then another 10 minutes on foot to walk to the reception.

 

There are grocery stores, restaurants and pubs within walking distance (less than 10 minutes) and, like I said earlier, it is in a very nice area (in very close vicinity to Albert Hall, basically next door to it).

 

For couples traveling together it might be noted that even if you get a double for your room, there will always be 2 separate beds since they are, in fact, a dorm facility which doesn't make people sharing a room sleep in the same bed

 

All in all, I was very happy, found the price phenomenal for London and would recommend it to any friend of mine going to London for a quick city trip. :)

[dwarfbabe]

So you stole the last apple from under my nose Saturday morning?

 

And all the croissants and petit pains 'cos I couldn't resist those chocolatey bits. I did think about taking the scrambled eggs too but decided they'd be too messy.

[Queen_Sindel]

And all the croissants and petit pains 'cos I couldn't resist those chocolatey bits.

 

Those I had saved before.

 

Maybe we should bring boxes next time to avoid the mess.

[dwarfbabe]

And all the croissants and petit pains 'cos I couldn't resist those chocolatey bits.

 

Those I had saved before.

 

Maybe we should bring boxes next time to avoid the mess.

 

[inuyoku]

I stayed at the Oliva Plaza hotel it was only a couple minutes walk away. Was clean, quiet and the staff were always up for a laugh when I came out in my costumes!

 

I paid 109 for 1 night for 2 people. The room was quite spacious, as long as you didnt have too much luggage. Would defo stop there again, but I think I will try the Ibis next time, I ended up there most nights anyway at the bar! :)

[malc75]

i stayed at the ibis as well its a good location,rooms are reasonable and the service is good when they get it right,pass on the breakfast though,starve yourself and have a liquid lunch! we were going to stay at the oxford but that went t*** up!!

just diverting away from the hotel scene,well impressed with the pubs,il give them a mention prince of wales,and the blackbird to name but a few.

i

[Macleod]

We stayed at the Sara Hotel right around the corner. Great place, nice people basic yet good room, i mean what do you really need for like 2 days anyway? great stuff.

[dwarfbabe]

One thing I forgot to mention about the Ibis is that they have a car park. If you're staying over and prefer to drive than use public transport, it's worth bearing in mind. They do charge (I paid £14 a day) but the car park is secure and it's much more convenient (and probably cheaper!) than having to leave your car in an NCP.

[ops12]

I stayed at the Ibis, which is only a few minutes walk away from the event itself.

 

Not the first time I've stayed there either. I've always been happy with the rooms and the service. There's a bar/restaurant in there, Internet access etc. And close to shops and the supermarket and local takeaways, as well as West Brompton tube just down the road.

 

Never been too noisy but I'm usually asleep anyway.

 

Cost is reasonable for a London hotel I think. Around £100 a night or less if you catch a sale etc.

 

I was in the same hotel, we probably passed without knowing.

A friend and I were on the 11th floor as he's a smoker,( and me with my hatred of heights) we had a great view of Earl's Court, and could watch the queue as it formed. No probs with the Ibis, I heard about it last year, when I almost booked the Hotel Lily, a door or two down the road, I cancelled that one after reviews from here.

Food at the Ibis was a good standard, rooms were very clean and staff were very friendly. If you're here just for the Con, it's a great base, particularly if you can book early. we were able to store bags after checkout on Sunday, to attend the Convention with free hands.....which was nice.

[ogotu]

I stayed at the Oxford and it was £70 a night there, it was clean, if a bit pokey and the breakfast was a little sparse, however, it did the job really, which was a place for me to put my head down, a shower and a little bit of space to hang my armour.

 

My only issue was that my room was right under the 24 hour reception, so on the friday night I was woken up by the guy at the desk tramping around a lot, though I must admit, I'm sure it was partial excitement as well.

[cyberem78]

Stayed at Hotel Lily - never will again.

 

The staff shouted at me when I was checking in. I was charged for breakfast even though I'd already paid - had to ask for a refund. There were rusty pipes/broken furniture in room. TV didn't work; shower didn't work, burned my hand on faulty remote control Dirty cups and smelly bedsheets too.

Staff are very complacent - they were also arguing with guests a couple of times when I passed by reception.

 

It was £75 a night and I'm never going back.

[Queen_Sindel]

Oh my god.

I can't believe that the Lily got even worse.

 

Let me go dig through the old posts... I think when it was used as a crew hotel there were plans to contact the health and safety department over it. I'll see if I can find the old contact details.

Edited July 24, 2010 by Queen_Sindel

[XLcatloveress]

Stayed at Hotel Lily - never will again.

 

The staff shouted at me when I was checking in. I was charged for breakfast even though I'd already paid - had to ask for a refund. There were rusty pipes/broken furniture in room. TV didn't work; shower didn't work, burned my hand on faulty remote control Dirty cups and smelly bedsheets too.

Staff are very complacent - they were also arguing with guests a couple of times when I passed by reception.

 

It was £75 a night and I'm never going back.

 

Holy crap, that sounds gawd-awful! I paid that for 2 nights and even though mine wasn't calling itself a hotel, it was definitely better in leaps and bounds than the so-called hotel you are describing!

[kinkbunny]

here's another vote for Ibis it was clean, apart from the random fishermans friend under the unit with the tv on lol good view from 11th floor easy to find from earls court and west brompton station and a few minutes stroll from shops :) including one that had a 3ltr bottle of jack daniels in the window have booked for next year

[heroes]

I stayed at the Boka, i didn't have any problems, you get what what you pay for. Cheap and cheerful.

 

I always say you only sleep in the room when you go to cons as you eat out, even though my room had a fridge, microwave and cooker hobs. will stay there again.

[SlippDigby]

This year we stayed at the Premiere Earls Court Kensington, without any hesitation. They really bailed us out last year whilst we were at the con. Let me explain...

 

Last year, as we had never really seen the city of London, we decided to do the whole tourist bit and Incorporated the Con weekend into the middle of a week in the city, seeing all the sights, museums and landmarks. We stayed at the Earls Court Hotel No:3, on Earls Court Road. To say that it was an unmitigated disaster is an understatement.

 

The room was tiny and not very clean. It was supposed to be a family room but was not bigger than a standard room but with now 2 beds in it. The beds were placed with no pre thought in that the small single was free standing and our double was pushed up against the wall, which meant that my wife, if answering the call of nature in the night, had to climb over me to get off the one free side of the bed...the other side was blocked.

 

The toilet/bathroom did not have a door proper. It had a concertina-blind style partition door. which would not shut properly. The bath room was sort of OK to begin with, but as the holiday progressed and it got hotter...things became less pleasant as horrible smells wafted up through the drainage system. The WC was one of the Saniflow type macerating units, not in itself a problem as thousands of folks have these with no problems at all. None of this really registered as on our arrival day, we were so tired that dropped our bags in the room, went out to eat and on returning, more-or-less fell into the lumpy and uncomfortable beds. The very next morning, I knew things were going to change for the worse.

 

We went down to breakfast, a supposed choice of English or continental. What was on offer...well I cannot imagine which continent these jokers thought this represented. There was sliced ham on a plate, that really cheap, meat packing plant floor sweepings stuff that you'd get if you bought it ultra budget. It was out on a plate. How long had it been there...all night? It was at room temperature though. There was sliced cheese on a plate. Boiled eggs but still in the shell, there was "make your own toast" bread, there was room temperature cheap 90% acid OJ, and some room temp yoghurts. Of course I have no problem with these as food options in themselves, but the point is that every single thing that should have looked cool looked waxy and sweating, who knows how long it had been out. There was no bacon, egg, bangers, tommies, beans, mushrooms or anything that even remotely represented an English breakfast. We left and had breakfast at a local café, and went about our planned day. Again, due to a full time, we crashed straight after eating.

 

But the absolute worst was to come.

 

On the morning of the third day we got up and prepared to go out for breakfast, we'd learnt our lesson on day one about the food on offer there. As my wife was brushing her hair, water began to drip from the ceiling and onto her hair, clothes and make up, and onto our camcorder. From where? Who knows. I was NOT happy!!

 

After such a crappy, grubby and unpleasant place, we were getting possibly toilet water (but not the nice sort) dripped on us! I complained to the reception and asked for the manager. He told me he would call the manager. When he realised that I was serious and demanding a refund for the rest of our stay and also for the horror of getting doused in sewage he got very shirty and non responsive and said that if we were not happy that we could find somewhere else, he then decided that he was infact the manager and that a refund for our remaining days was all we were getting. On explaining one more time that we may have just had faecal and urinal fluids dripped over us and still getting the hard faced "no" I demanded the remaining days reimbursement in front of a growing audience. I then cast wide doubt as to exactly which continent the breakfast was supposed to come from and (I am afraid) rather place a huge amount of question marks as to the validity of his parent's marriage certificate. But I did get a cheer from the crowd as we left.

 

We walked straight around the corner to the nearest Premiere and asked to book in. That one was not quite ready so we went to the other one just up the road.

 

The old adage of showbiz is true....I shall happily tell all my friends!

 

Done !