The Dome Hyde Park

The main drawback for me was the cold. There was a strong draft, and the heating was off in early February, so the room got pretty chilly. Still, for the price and excellent location, I'd consider coming back. I don't share all the very negative reviews. Yes, the rooms are tiny, and I was in No. 9, but space is scarce in London and even much pricier hotels can have small rooms. Let them know your arrival time in advance, and, as happened for me, getting the key may go smoothly. There were some odd little omissions. My apartment for one had exactly one knife, one fork, one spoon and one coat hanger, and the standard wasn't superb. I was glad to find an iron and ironing board, though.

The pictures make the place look much better than it is. The decor is shabby and the room was dirty. The bed was okay, but the toilet smelled bad and the floor was gross. I complained at reception, and they apologised and promised to clean the floor the next day. They didn't. The same dead insect was still in the middle of the room. The extraction and pipe system was extremely noisy and kept droning on. On Sunday, reception was closed, though they hadn't told us and there was no notice saying so. Nobody answered the emergency numbers, so we had to pay £25 to store our luggage at the train station.

The location is great, and the studio was convenient for a work trip, even though it felt a bit old. The problem was garbage left behind my window by someone. It stank and attracted pigeons, so I couldn't open the window once during my stay, and it spoiled the view. I emailed the address The Dome Apartments Hyde Park provided twice and never got a reply.

The fire alarm went off four times in one night and kept us from sleeping. We didn't know whether we were supposed to evacuate, though it was clearly malfunctioning. Nobody from the hotel came to turn it off, so we had to endure it for a long time. The next day they told us it didn't happen “that often” and that we'd just been unlucky. It made me wonder what would happen if there were a real fire. We'd asked ahead of time and they'd agreed, but when we arrived nobody was at reception to let us in or take our luggage. Room 21 was much smaller than the photos suggested and up four flights of stairs. The toilet door was a joke, it was transparent, so you could see the bed from the WC. There was a missing glass, no tea towel or sponge for washing up, the kettle didn't work, and neither did the kitchen extractor or toilet heater.