Mary Rose Inn Hotel

Free, easy-to-use parking is a huge plus, and the low price makes this good value if you need somewhere affordable near London. We spent four nights in a family room. It was clean, though the bathroom wasn't spotless, and the beds and linen were okay and clean. The Hilton it certainly isn't. If you want a pleasant space to relax, look elsewhere and expect to pay more. But if parking and affordability matter more and you're willing to compromise on the surroundings, this is a good option.

The room was a very poor standard, and we were disappointed after our stay. There wasn't any soap in the bathroom, and the pipes made a loud noise whenever water was used. When we tried the shower, it fell apart. Sometimes the water would suddenly go very hot, then cold, when other rooms were using it. In our opinion, the shower and mixer taps need replacing.

At 5am the fire alarm went off, and I took the chance to leave early for coffee and somewhere that felt safer. This was meant to be a two-night stay, but I found another hotel for the second night. I'd never stayed anywhere worse. I felt so unsafe I considered sleeping in my car. The hotel and rooms smelled of illegal drugs being smoked, which left my family and me worried about what kind of place we were in. At night there was bar noise well into the early hours, people shouting in the hallways and outside, attempts to get into our room, and the sound of adult activities next door. The room was missing 4/5 light bulbs, with cracked tiles and broken bathroom flooring. The shower screen had been ripped off, and there was mold and damp on the walls. Star rating: 3.

The bedding was nicely laundered, but very little else looked or felt clean when I visited in 2016. Maybe things have improved since. The sofa was so grubby-looking that I didn't sit on it, and the kettle was old, 2.5 years past its electrical expiry date. It was quirky and cheap, and I guess you get what you pay for. In short, it all seemed like it should've been replaced 10 years earlier.