Great, clean, modern, good value hotel if you’re a single person travelling on business in London, not so perfect if you’re a couple on a tourist trip.

I love the idea of this hotel. Relaxed atmosphere, modern, basic facilities, charged by room rate rather than number of guests, free WiFi, all at reasonable rates for London. Our 3 night stay cost £437. This included breakfast. I love their breakfast idea.

Basically a “Lite Pret” breakfast is left in a brown paper bag outside your room each morning at whatever hour you specify from Pret a Manger. It consists of a layered yoghurt topped with granola, a banana and a bottle of orange juice. This suits me down to the ground.

Each room has a fridge which contains complementary bottled water and carton of milk. There is tea and coffee making facilities in the room also, with big mugs rather than small cups.

The room is spacious if you’re on your own, a double bed, flat screen tv and a small couch and one chair and desk. But I found it a bit cramped for two. It looks good. Bathroom contains a large walk-in power shower, no bath. The shower is great. One minor moan here was that only shampoo and a bar of soap was left, no shower gel.

We were on the fifth floor and the WiFi was brutal, very slow and intermittent connection.

Customer service was very casual. Check in and check out very straightforward as the room charge is applied to your credit card at the time of booking. There is no cancellation refund. Repeated requests for additional teabags for our room were made and acknowledged and promises were made by reception staff to replenish these, but none materialised.

The foyer and bar/restaurant area was busy at any time when we passed through it. Plenty of people hanging out, a good friendly atmosphere. It was pleasant to have a coffee there and relax.

We didn’t eat in the hotel restaurant but it seemed busy.

The hotel is a good location if you’re heading to London’s financial district. Its just a short walk. The nearest tube station is Old Street which is about a 5-10 minute walk away and is on the Northern line. The area around the hotel isn’t great, a bit dirty and rundown, but we never felt uneasy or had any  hassle in getting to and from the tube. It may have been handier for us though to stay somewhere nearer the city centre or touristy spots, or near a Piccadilly line tube station.

Overall, this is definitely a great value for money hotel, and you can be lucky and get one of their brilliant promotional £1 per room per night deals. The earlier you book the cheaper. We had only a few minor quibbles and I would stay there again if its location suited.

Rated 3/5 on Oct 15 2007 by ManicMammy
Review Tags: accomodation, city, hotel, london, shoreditch, where to stay
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