Charlotte Rooms by EveryWhere to Sleep London

We could hear the owner watching Friends in the kitchen, and that pretty much sums up how uncomfortable the place felt. The bed was disgusting, everything creaked, and I couldn’t sleep. It was also overpriced and overrated. Finding the hotel was difficult too, as it was tucked into a tiny space. The moment we walked in, the atmosphere felt off, like being in the backrooms. I’d tell anyone visiting London to skip it. It really ruined our trip.

The room was about 4m2, and the photos seem to show a different place: where I stayed there was no shared living room or terrace. It was fine for two nights as a place to leave luggage, but don’t expect to get much rest. The worst of the noise came from the cleaners, shouting to each other in Russian or Polish at 7:45, then banging the vacuum into every wall and door around 8:30. I could hear the person next door as if we were sharing a room, and the room was between the kitchen and the street. Street noise itself wasn’t too bad. The bathroom floor was gross, and one bathroom was out of order. There are two bathrooms for four rooms, so that part is more than okay, and the bed was comfortable. The room was lovely, tiny, tiny, tiny, and the price was okay. The kitchen had all the appliances but no forks. It’s well located, but getting the keys was a hassle. This isn’t a hotel or a B&B, just a bed. After all the emails, nobody told me I had to collect the keys from the newsagent on the next road. Don’t count on getting proper sleep here; pack earplugs and a sleep mask.

The smell of gasoline was everywhere, since the apartment is above a motorbike shop. The only thing going for this place is the location. There’s no lift to the fourth or fifth floor, which I didn’t know when I booked less than two days before arriving. I was travelling with my mother, who is over 67 and had knee surgery in the past year. They wouldn’t move us to a lower floor or cancel the rest of our booking. The beds were uncomfortable, and the apartment had been renovated very cheaply. Mold was already growing around the shower tiles. During our stay the shower faucet broke, and it took hours to reach them and more hours for someone to come repair it. Their replies were always more than a day late. Breakfast was supposedly included, but all I found downstairs was a bag of sausages dripping in the fridge, so we never ate breakfast there. I wouldn’t return and would warn friends travelling to London to stay elsewhere.

The street noise made it impossible to rest. We ended up sleeping with earphones and music because even earplugs didn’t block it out, and the poorly insulated windows let in wind as well. The blinds wouldn’t close all the way either, so we were awake at 6am with the light coming in. For what I paid, I felt ripped off. The double room was tiny, and its Murphy bed was only accessible from one side. The place is centrally located, which is the only reason I’m giving it two stars. Avoid it, it feels like a tourist trap.