easyHotel South Kensington

The room was hot and stuffy or cold, with no individual temperature control, so it was entirely up to the building manager. Mine was an interior room without a window, and it felt small and claustrophobic. Sharing a double between two people would be difficult. The bathroom was tiny, and the dirty shower curtain kept sticking to me. There was one soap dispenser over the sink, but it didn’t work. A single outlet by the front door meant anything I charged had to sit on the dirty floor, too far from the bed to use while lying down. The mattress and topper were badly stained, and the thin sheets wouldn’t stay tucked in to cover them. The pillows were so thin I needed three to make a normal-sized one. The steel wall panels were dented and broken, and the place felt worn and dirty. It’s a rundown Victorian conversion terrace house, despite the easyhotel idea of small, simple, clean rooms. The area is quieter and away from crowds of tourists, but close to several underground stops and supermarkets. Some employees were nice and friendly, while others were downright nasty and rude. I never saw more than three staff in the building, usually just one at the front door.

You’re just a 3 minutes walk from the tube and 2 min from sainsbury, with some very nice pubs close by. It’s good for one night, but I wouldn’t want to stay longer. We had two large suitcases, and opening one took up the whole floor. The room was small but about what you’d expect in a budget hotel. With the window unable to open, there wasn’t much airflow, and it got stuffy and damp quickly with two people inside.

Staff were very nice and helped where they could, but I wouldn’t recommend staying more than one night. We were there for 4 nights and 5 days, and didn’t sleep well in the hot room. There were no windows and the extractor wasn’t very good. They also wouldn’t give us more towels later in the stay. I knew it was a budget hotel and expected no windows and a small bed, but the shower had no pressure and swung between very cold and almost boiling. There was no little table or anywhere to put things, and the toilet button was broken. The bathroom door seemed to have broken wheels, so it was heavy and hard to open and close. The toilet paper holder was broken, and the ceiling didn’t look good. The room wasn’t clean: the partly broken shower curtain was brown at the ends, and our blanket had a blood stain, among other things. Maybe I should have reported things sooner, but a broken toilet or shower didn’t seem like a quick fix. I mentioned the shower when we checked out. I booked via trip.com and used this same review there when they asked me to write one, this was my experience!!!

The location is convenient, right on the edge of Zone 1, and from Earl's Court you can get the underground to most places without changing. The neighbourhood is nice and felt fine to walk around at night. My Lower Ground room had a prison cell feel. It was just a bed in a room, though the bed itself was very comfy. The vinyl plastic floor was stained and cracked, and the shower water kept going hot and cold. There’s a small TV above the pillows, so I had to pile them at the bottom of the bed to watch it. With no table or shelf, things had to go on the floor. There’s no temperature control, and unlike some budget hotels, there wasn’t even a daylight panel or a picture on the wall. The only plug socket was near the floor, away from the bed. Budget travellers still deserve a shelf, a socket beside the bed, a picture, and maybe a small bedside light.