Smart City - City Road

I often come to London for business, but this was my first time staying here. I was there for four days with my business partner and really enjoyed it. The location was excellent, everything was clean, and the hotel staff were very helpful. There's no restaurant in the building, but plenty nearby, so that wasn't a problem for me. I'd stay here again.

I needed somewhere in London at the last minute for work. Hotels were either booked, as expected, or ridiculously expensive, so I tried other options and found this City Road apartment. I assumed it would be drab and dirty, but it was airy, colourful, nicely furnished, clean, and had all the kitchen mod-cons. I was glad my expectations were wrong. I'd consider staying again when I'm next passing through London.

The building site right next door was huge and so noisy and dusty that we couldn't open the windows. Work began at 7.30 in the morning, and it was loud enough that we had to shout to hear each other. We emailed on Saturday and got no reply, then called on Monday and were moved to another flat. It was quieter there, but just as dirty and poorly equipped, and things still didn't work. I've raised all of this in a feedback email and, unsurprisingly, Smart City Apartments haven't contacted me.

Booking the apartment months ahead got us a real bargain, which surprised me since we were on a budget. I expected it might be pretty yuck and was prepared for the worst, but it turned out clean, spacious, and well located. I'd recommend it.