Blueprint Living 66 Turnmill Street

The apartment was clean, spacious, modern and quiet, and the location is handy, just 100 metres from Farringdon Station. I’d stay again, though I’d complain about the service not matching what the website promises. There’s no concierge and no proper daily breakfast. What arrived each day was a stale croissant with lukewarm milk. The housemaid spoke little or no English, the bedding was changed every five days, and the shower didn’t drain properly. Also, if they mention a key to the apartment, it’s a card.

The apartment and location were excellent, but there were a couple of things I wish I’d known before arriving. The luggage storage is at another location, a 20-minute cab ride away from where you stay. Blueprint should make that clear on the booking page. We only learned this after reaching Turnmill Street with all our luggage. We weren’t familiar with the area, so I asked for help. The concierge kindly suggested leaving the bags in the little lobby’s common area if we were comfortable with that. I appreciated her help, but the housekeeper just stared at us and refused to assist, insisting there was nowhere to leave the luggage and that it would get in the way of cleaning. I ended up loading everything into a taxi and taking it to the other storage site. Please also tell guests that checkout is at 10 am. The booking page didn’t say so, and when the same maid arrived at 9 am, she wasn’t courteous in letting us know.

Room Apt8 was at the back of the block, so it stayed quiet. The apartment was spacious, with a comfortable bed and a nice bathroom. But the cleanliness needed work: the sofa seemed to have lipstick marks, the bathroom walls were dirty with what looked like hair dye, and the place needed a proper vacuum and wipe down. Reception acknowledged my concerns but didn’t act on them. Towels apparently only get changed every four days, and the oven had an odd smell, as if it hadn’t been cleaned well after someone used it. The daily croissants and milk are a cute gesture, but I’d much rather have a clean apartment. The floor was excessively warm, ventilation was poor and the door buzzer didn’t work. Wi-Fi was also rubbish, with frequent dropouts or no signal at all, which isn’t practical for an executive stay.

Modern, clean and well equipped, with an excellent location. The apartment was fantastic until our last night, when the whole building lost hot water. The service center said there was nothing they could do. We were lucky it was our final night, but I can’t imagine how long the fix might have taken if we’d still had more of our stay left, or how many cold showers we’d have had to endure.