Hotel Nelson

The location is excellent, the place is clean, and the interior has been beautifully renovated. There are quality Rituals products, good water pressure, and the bath fills quickly. The shower has both hand-held and overhead options. The mattress is firm and the bed linens are pleasant. Breakfast has a wide selection and is regularly topped up, and the room was cleaned every day. Reception changed my room quickly to match my booking and gave me cardboard to cover the gap beside the curtain, as shown in photo 2. Noise was the main problem. Even with the new windows and ventilation grilles shut, I could hear the street. The first night I woke up startled, thinking someone beside my bed had shouted “Hé Chéri,,,”, but it was someone in the hallway outside my door. Talking guests and slamming doors sometimes made it feel as if I were sleeping in the corridor. I bought earplugs the next day. Upgraded rooms had the same hallway noise issue, though some face the inner courtyard and avoid street noise. There was also a privacy issue in rooms at the end of the corridor, where the building sticks out. A narrow side window sits in a recess, and the closed curtains hang 15 cm from the wall, leaving a vertical gap, shown in photo 1. Neighbors across can look straight into the room, and bright sunlight falls on the bed. The bathroom layout was awkward. The toilet paper holder is behind the toilet, so I put a spare roll on the towel radiator within reach. The bathtub stopper control is behind the fixed shower screen. When standing under the main shower, you step on the stopper, and water sprays partly past the screen into the bathroom. Sitting on the flat part of the tub with the hand shower splashes water onto the floor and sink, including anything left there. The setup would have worked well if the fixed screen and shower head were on the other side.