Thistle Express London Luton

The staff were friendly, the WiFi was good, and the train station is just round the corner. Hot drinks are free around the clock, though the coffee wasn’t great. Breakfast was a struggle both mornings. At 7, there was only one breakfast available and it was just okay, with scrambled eggs but no fried ones. They ran out of clean glasses and pastries. When we went at 9:30 the next day, there were no seats, so we ate with the food on our laps in the foyer chairs. There were no clean cups, mugs, plates or cutlery, and the pastries, bagels and juice were gone. Staff were busy, but there clearly weren’t enough dishes, food or tables for the number of guests. The room looked like the pictures online, though it was a bit tatty and the vents weren’t clean. Our bathroom door had no latch, so the only way to keep it shut was to lock it. The light kept cutting out, meaning you could suddenly be left in pitch darkness in the shower. The hotel felt colder than you’d expect from a chain, with no way to adjust the temperature in the room, and we could hear noisy guests in other rooms.

The breakfast buffet had plenty of choice. One guest of African descent kept cutting the queue, darting between stations, biting into food and throwing it away. She paced around frantically, and at one point mistook my husband for a staff member. When he said he wasn’t, she asked why he wasn’t. We don’t know if the staff saw what was happening. We were in a hurry, so we didn’t report it and moved to another table. We had trouble finding the hotel by taxi and drove in circles for a while. We later realized the entrance was inside the mall, and vehicle access had already closed for the evening. The first room smelled strongly of cigarette smoke. Its window was open, so we thought someone nearby might be smoking, but closing it didn’t help. Staff promptly moved us to another room. It was farther from my mother-in-law’s room, which had been right next to ours, but the service was good. For a one-night stay, it was good.

The free breakfast was great. I expected a continental spread, but there was cooked food too. The staff were friendly, and the clean rooms were very decent, if a bit small. The hotel was busy but still well maintained, which you don’t often get at this price in a city centre. Having lived in Luton for over 20 years, I was pleasantly surprised. Just be ready to pay for parking nearby.

My single room was tiny, but the TV had problems, so the staff kindly moved me and upgraded me to a double. The place was very clean, noise was low, and the staff were attentive. Breakfast had fresh fruit with yoghurt and a cooked buffet, and they provided gluten-free bread every morning. I’d still rather have a kettle with tea and coffee in the room than use the machine in reception.