Buckle Street Studios by Locke, Aldgate

We paid extra for a particular room category at Buckle Street Studios by Locke because the booking photos showed a sofa, but the room we got had no sofa. It was also much more cramped than we'd expected, so it felt like poor value for the added cost. The broken curtain rods made it look poorly maintained too. We came away feeling the room had been advertised inaccurately and the description was misleading. It was extremely disappointing to pay more for features and space that weren't there. The stay didn't meet our expectations, and we wouldn't call it good value for money.

Hmm. The shower floods the room if you use it for more than two minutes, and the towel rail doesn't work. There's no air con here either, oddly, almost like it's been turned off. I stayed opposite at the sister hotel and changed rooms twice because there was no air con there too. As at the sister hotel, only one lift is working again. It's fine if you can open the window. In 20 years of hotel stays, I've understood Suite to mean lounge space, not a cramped galley kitchen. Avoid unless it's cheap.

It's in a nice neighborhood, very close to the underground. The room was clean and looked good, though nothing luxurious, and the free Wi-Fi in the room was handy. We only got one towel, so we had to ask for another. We didn't realize at first, and went out before asking the night receptionist for a second towel around 11 pm. That was no problem at all.

The lobby at Buckle Street Studios by Locke looks stylish, the area is handy for getting around London, and it was quiet enough at night to sleep well. The room, though, was so cramped that moving around the bed was difficult. It sat very low, and the duvet kept slipping out of its cover, which made things feel unfinished. A few basics had been missed: the shower gel bottle was empty, there was just one towel for two guests, and old Valentine’s decorations were still there. The heating also wouldn’t go above 20.5°C, so the room felt cooler than I expected. Reception staff seemed unbothered and weren’t especially welcoming. I’d expected more after seeing the photos online. The location and lobby are nice, but the room and attention to detail fell short, and I wouldn’t be in a hurry to come back.