The Academy - Small Luxury Hotels of the World

Bloomsbury is a great location, and my single room at The Academy was smart and perfectly fine for a solo traveller, even with its tiny bathroom. The hotel is made up of several townhouses, so it’s a bit of a maze and could be tricky for accessibility, though it wasn’t an issue for me. At arrival, the service was impeccable and one of the lovely reception staff carried my bags up. Breakfast was included, with barista-made drinks, and you could pay extra for items from the kitchen. It was continental. I didn’t get to try the bar, but it looked lovely. I’d stay again.

Getting around the hotel was a real problem for us. Our Bloomsbury Suite was up two floors, reached by four steep flights of stairs, and there was no lift. My wife has mobility problems, so this was serious, and there wasn’t anything we could do about it. Breakfast was down yet more steep stairs in the basement. We’d paid for it, but by then we’d had enough and just left to go home. The room itself was very nice, but far too warm. We left the window open while we were out for the night, and it was still hot when we got back. The AC made no difference. We arrived around 3.30pm midweek, after the 3pm check-in time, and were told the room wasn’t ready but would be soon. They offered drinks as compensation. We waited 15 minutes, accepted gin and tonics, and got the key around 4pm. With the access problems, there’s no chance we’d return.

The bed and pillows were comfortable, and my small single room was laid out well to make good use of the space. It was really convenient to walk from St Pancras, and Covent Garden is also within walking distance. I’d stay again.

Good spot and a nice little hotel, but our basement room was below street level and the online booking hadn’t mentioned that. I could have accepted it if the price had reflected it, but it didn’t. There was also a mouldy smell whenever the air conditioning was off.