Park Hotel Ilford

We arrived at Park Hotel Ilford around 2:00 a.m. on 26 January after a long journey, and the place already felt unsafe. There was shouting and aggressive behaviour in a violent altercation outside, with nobody seeming to have control of the situation. Inside, the corridors smelled strongly and unpleasantly. Before we had even been properly accommodated, they charged us a £100 deposit without a clear explanation. The rooms were in no state to stay in. The first one had stained, dirty walls and wallpaper, and the bedding smelled repulsive. It was so bad I couldn’t even sit on the bed. Staff showed us two other rooms and said they were better, but they were just as unacceptable and far below a reasonable hotel standard. This wasn’t about personal taste, these were basic hygiene and safety failures. I was extremely distressed by the atmosphere and the room condition, and told staff immediately that we couldn’t stay under any circumstances. We left right away and didn’t spend a minute there. Yet Booking.com refunded only £10, and the hotel still hasn’t returned the £100 deposit, charging us for a place we never used and considered dangerous and unhygienic. The whole ordeal caused serious emotional distress and ruined our trip. Keeping the deposit in these circumstances is irresponsible, unethical and unacceptable. I warn other travellers, especially anyone arriving late at night, and will pursue formal complaints and financial dispute procedures.

For nearly £50 a night, I expected at least a clean room, not mouse poison boxes. There were several in the second family room they moved us to. It looked brighter at first, but finding those boxes was alarming. Thankfully, our autistic son was staying with his grandparent that night. The first family room was spacious, with a double bed and two singles, but the double was broken. There were dirty rags on top of the wardrobe, the carpet was filthy, and the mirror had splatter marks. We paid the security deposit after booking through booking.com, then went to reception when we found the broken bed and were helped to another room. We were also bitten by bugs on our legs during the short time we were there. At reception they said they couldn’t refund us immediately and that we’d have to go through booking.com. They said the deposit would take 7 days to come back, even though we’d arrived only 20 minutes earlier. They offered a free move to their sister hotel, which is 1 star higher, but we turned it down. It was already 9pm and we couldn’t be sure the same problems wouldn’t be there. If zero stars were an option, that’s what I’d give it.

The room and lobby both felt dirty, and even the sheets had marks on them. Then, around 2 a.m., my partner woke me after hearing a noise. We heard rustling too, and when I switched on the light, a mouse ran under the bed. We screamed, but no staff came to check on us, even though we were loud. We started packing straight away and saw the mouse again while collecting our things. Asking for a refund got us an offer of another room, which we declined. When we asked again, they said we had to deal with lastminute.com rather than the hotel taking responsibility. We’d booked for one night and arrived in the evening, but the whole thing was frightening and ruined our weekend. I’m extremely disappointed and wouldn’t recommend staying here.

It’s cheap and the location is wonderful, but the smell is pretty strong. A second-floor room is fine. On the first floor near the entrance, though, the door slamming is really annoying. The hotel still hadn’t returned my £100 deposit after 14 days. Update: it finally came back after more than a month.