This reminds me of a “budget hotel” I stayed at near Victoria station. It was £50 a night and was easily the worst hotel i’ve ever stayed at (and i’ve been to a lot of countries!). The room was an odd shape thanks to the tiny bathroom they tried to squeeze into the room. The radiator was blasting heat all night and was next to a sash window that you couldn’t close (not that you’d want to because of the heat from the radiator!) You could hear planes coming in to land at Heathrow every 2 minutes, ALL NIGHT!

That and the sound of people using toilets of course, coupled with the world’s worst mattress, a dirty room and staff that didn’t care. All in all a fun night!

So if you’re staying in London don’t try and save money on a budget hotel. Stay in a cheap hostel if you are on a tight budget. You may share a room but they actually care about your experience! (and the windows usually shut).

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While there is no question that room was awful, you are going to do well to find anything cheaper in London, especially with a location like that and that is the real problem.

The prices of hotels in London are shocking but regardless of price, I think customers have the right to expect it to be clean.

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This is why chains like Premier Inns and Travelodge are booming and doing so well. They are trying to offer clean, reliable rooms and seem to treat us with more respect than hotels like this. But not sure they are as cheap as the place you stayed in Central London.

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Darren – did you ask for another room? That’s the first thing I would have done. Shouldn’t matter if you paid £55 or £5, there’s no excuse for that!
And you should have filmed the manager’s response.

By the way, loved how you started the blog post: “Armed with my iPhone, £55 and anti-bacterial hand gel …” – you could take that intro in so many directions!

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Wow! I didn’t realise that there are any hotels left in London that feature a gmail or other free email service address as their main contact email on their website.
I guess the figure that the money they save from not signing up for emails via their domain can be used to improve the operation of their windows and the cleanliness of their rooms. Obviously not…
I worked in London hotels for many years and I know for a fact that there are better options for 55 Pounds per night available…

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Yep, 55 notes is dirt cheap in the big smoke, dirt being the operative word here clearly..

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Darren, when you mentioned you little problem (overbooking) I had a quick look to see what a travel agent could do. OK you where sorted but I though to myself what’s possible? Answer

County Hotel, Euston @ £28.50 a night.

The trick in getting a cheap room in London is not to book last minute. Out of interest did you try Travelodge and Premier Inn sites? (I expect they where more money).

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I don’t mean to play devil’s advocate here – but WHY should the room be clean? For £55 **in that location** (key issue; a hotel further out would deliver much better quality for the same money) I wouldn’t expect the room to be clean – I’d be very surprised if it was. I’d expect filthy carpet, threadbare curtains, dodgy bed, knackered wardrobe – pretty much what you got!

If you paid (I’m guessing) twenty quid for a hotel in London, you’d get a brothel. But if you paid twenty quid in (I’m guessing) Darlington, you might possibly get an adequate B&B – but would you still expect the room to be clean? Maybe; maybe not. Then again, if you paid twenty quid in Delhi, you could probably get a really nice hotel – but if you paid two quid, would the room be clean? Doubt it. I’m just not surprised you got a dirty room, at £55 on the Strand.

If this bloke charged £75 or £95, then he could probably afford to hire someone at slavery wages to push a filthy cloth around a bit, and maybe do some hoovering. But then, he’d get fewer people staying there, because there’d be someone else offering £55 rooms instead…

The main issue, it seems to me, is the discrepancy between the website and the reality. I wouldn’t bother pursuing the dirt issue – it’s really all about Trades Descriptions…

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Darren, From my own experience I would guess that there are a lot of hotel rooms in London like that one. Of course if that was the last room then it is probable that it is the worst in the hotel. However a good clean, new carpet and paint job would cost peanuts for a room that size.

It’s why I would go for either a Travelodge, an Etap or if I wanted some more comfort a Premier Inn (a lot more expensive though). With chains you do get more consistency in room sizes, furnishings etc.

Anyone travelling to London is best advised to book a 2 or 3 months in advance. Travelodge rooms can be found in January starting at £25 a night.
I have also found the YHA hostels to be good value, friendly and clean, but again book in advance.

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Thanks for your honest review Darren. I agree with you and the consensus here that for a £50 hotel in London you need a deal in advance with one of the budget chains namely: Tune Hotels, Travelodge, YOTEL (if you’re OK being at the airport and commuting) or one of the great-value B&Bs or hostels you can find via TripAdvisor.

There are a few independent, family-run hotels offering great value (e.g. Luna & Simone Hotel near Victoria) but they’ll cost closer to £100 than £50. The best deal of all is probably the Hoxton during its regular £1 room sales (almost impossible to grab but you might still get a fantastically cheap £29 room).

Don’t rule out staying in distant London suburbs like Croydon or Watford – you can get into the centre within 30 minutes or less using overground trains (sometimes faster than being in zones 2 or 3 on the London underground).

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Darren

Gave you the name so you could view the reviews TA gives it 50/50 out of 95 reviews. As 4 of the reviews say on the first page Great Value for money. Yes some people knock it but not for what you expect. One reviewer put down a hotel comment of what do you expect for £40….. That’s the crunch, what do you expect for £40…. in Leeds a very nice Travelodge etc. In London next to nothing.

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Darren,
I’m totally with you on this one. I realize that this was a really cheap price, but cleanliness to me is a pretty essential need. There is a reason that hotels don’t advertise things like “our floor isn’t covered in dirt and unused condoms” on their website – because that’s kind of a basic assumption when one’s trying to book a hotel! While I work with high-end customers, I also feel that just because someone doesn’t have a ton of money doesn’t mean they deserve to sleep in filth. I love to promote travel to anyone and hotels like this make travelers feel like they have to have a lot of money to travel without feeling uncomfortable. If they really wanted a cheap, dirty place to sleep, they’d go camping!

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Cleanliness and health is a minimum standard for any hotel irrespective of the cost.

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Cheap does not mean you have to accept dirty. I would have checked out or at least asked to speak to management.

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Hehe, I agree, that intro made me chuckle too!

Maybe a ‘top tip’ for travellers booking budget hotels in London should be ‘Arm yourself with anti-bac gel (and maybe even anti-back wipes!)’ At least then you’ll be equipped to give the room a quick wipe over, and then clean off your hands too should you need to dispose of any ‘umentionable’ items!

Joking aside though, Darren I must agree with you, for £55 I would expect maybe an extremely basic, outdated or ‘questionable’ decor, but most definitely NOT filth and dirt!

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Well, I’ve booked myself into a £45 room in King’s Cross for a couple of weeks’ time. I’m sure it’ll be either awful or just about tolerable for one night where I’ll be sleeping with the aid of wine anyway. But part of me is a sucker for trying to find out whether it is possible to get a decent room in London for £50 a night – I’m sure there are some passable options, but they probably take a lot of finding…

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Actually, I’ve stayed in the Alhambra before as well. I’d not exactly recommend it in general terms, but for my purposes (ie. dumping the bags, then running out before coming in, sleeping and going again) it was perfectly adequate.

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Darren, I’m so pleased I’ve found your blog. Thankyou for sharing your experiences and those of your readers. How I wish I’d known a lot of this 2 months ago when I was planning a trip to London, it would have saved a lot of stress, heartache and additional financial outlay.

I’ve written about my recent experience of the hotel in London which sounds very similar to the one you videod above.

http://traverselife.blogspot.com/2010/10/burnt-fingers-but-ok-now.html

I’ve referenced your blog so could please you let me know if that’s ok by you – if it’s not I’ll remove the link. (If there’s anything you think should be edited out, would you be good enough to let me know) … thanks

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At first I was a little dubious. I thought, hey, it’s just one night? What’s the big deal if the hotel’s dirty? Well, that was before I saw the video…and then when you panned to show the carpet, I almost fell off my couch laughing so hard because of how shockingly dirty it was. Nasty! I can’t believe they’d actually sell a room in that condition to someone.

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Next time – check out the EasyHotel. They’re cheaper, more spartan but they’re crazy clean and private.

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