Britannia Hyde Park Hotel By PLI

At Britannia Hyde Park Hotel, the room still had leftover food and a full rubbish bin, so it didn’t look as if it had been cleaned after the previous guest. The strong smell of cigarettes throughout the property made an already unacceptable stay even worse.

Only two lights worked, one in the main room and one in the toilet. The walls were water-damaged and unpainted. The entryway door had no handle, and once we closed it to get to the closet, we couldn’t get back out. We had to force it open with a kitchen knife, which is unsafe if there’s an emergency or fire. The building code sent by email was wrong too. Luckily, someone happened to come out, so we could get in.

The building is in an ideal location, but the experience was dreadful. There’s no front desk to help, and you’re left to check yourself in using separate codes for the front door and the room. There’s no room service to bring clean towels or fresh bed linen. My room was incredibly small, with the shower in the same cramped section as the toilet. A leak from the hot water system at the bottom left the water pressure so poor that I barely felt clean afterwards. With all this, it comes across as a way for the owners to make money without much interest in giving guests a decent hotel experience.

The room was decent for the price and the location was good. It had the basics, plus a small kitchen with a fridge, and the front door used a five-digit code. But with three of us, one person had to use the sofa bed, which was more like a lopsided recliner: one side wouldn't lie flat and the other sagged down. The bigger problem was the lack of service. There was no front desk, just an email with the entry code, and we spent a good part of the morning trying to work out how to get inside. That's partly on us, since we hadn't checked the message, but hotel emails often just confirm a booking and don't include every detail you need. A male representative had agreed to store our three suitcases for five hours after checkout. When we came to leave them, a female cleaner refused, saying luggage storage was only for guests still checked in. That disrupted our museum plans and meant we paid an extra £15 at our next hotel for early check-in. It also made little sense, since checked-in guests already have their room. For a two-star experience, management should put more effort into service instead of little corner kitchens and fancy water controls.