My Bloomsbury, London

The room was a mess. Chunks of paint were chipped off the walls. There were stains on the walls and the carpet. The bathroom was a health and safety danger. The toilet was placed; cramped right up against the wall. A RED HOT towel rail hangs off this wall within an inch of your face / shoulder. In the middle of the night, as I used the bathroom, I scolded my left ear and shoulder on this dangerous towel rail. This is unsafe for public use. To report the injury, I picked up the room phone. Dialled 0 for reception. This didn't work. The phone had no front desk info on it / or near it to contact reception in an emergency. For an emergency - this should have been clearly marked on or near the phone. To charge a phone / laptop, or use the hairdryer; I had to get on my hands and knees to find a socket under the desk. The desk is where the hairdryer is stored. There is no mirror in front of this desk. There was a big, awkwardly far away mirror on the back wall. A large clumsy TV wall fitting was installed upside down. The room was dark and oppressive. The shower was dirty. I could smell it. A senior female member of staff suggested it was mold (Fungus). She also agreed the bathroom, with its irresponsibly placed red hot towel rail, was dangerous. Lady at front desk pulled a face wanting to know why I wanted to see a manager. This was an appalling and dangerous experience. I have filed a formal complaint.

I came to London for a stay with my daughter. Check in was efficient and the receptionist was well mannered. Our room was small, no wardrobe or space for a kettle. I had to make a coffee on the floor. When we checked in I had the option to upgrade for an extra £25/night. On reflection I would have done this in order to have the extra space. A double room isn’t big enough for 2 adults. Fortunately I came with my youngest daughter, who’s only 6. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom facilities of a high standard. My only 2 other complaints would be the 7am wake up call from the gas board drilling holes in the ground outside, not the hotels fault but they’ve been there since July so might have been nice to know about it. It wouldn’t have changed my booking but I would have requested a room at the back instead. Finally, after a long day (for a 6 year old) we returned to our room at 4pm to relax before going to the theatre that night. I was surprised to see our room hadn’t been serviced. We did get a knock on the door later to do this but my daughter was resting in bed so it wasn’t appropriate at that time.

Everything was clean in my room and well serviced. Yes, the room is very small but as I was out all day and really only used the room for showering and sleeping , it was adequate. My bed (single) was comfortable and linen, very clean. I was high up so Street noise was not an issue for me. Front reception seemed to always be very busy and I did note that staff seemed a little overwhelmed and flustered at times. It’s a busy hotel, I get that, due to its central and convenient location but do feel that the checking in/out servicing needs to be really speeded up. Quite often it was only one person doing all the work. I am going back to stay in a few weeks as I was quite happy with my overall experience. People have written that rooms are often “small” and seem upset about this. We must remember, this is Europe, and if you want “space” you’ll pay dearly for it so don’t expect that at My Bloomsbury. I got a small room for a competitively moderate price in London. My money went on sites, shows and the London experience!!!

Book 4 night base on pictures from website. Lobby, restaurant, cafe are exactly as pictures shown. Room is a different story. Room is basically a dirty white box with 2 white beds. Dirty white walls, dirty stained window sills, dirty stain carpet. Closet opening faces the wall on corner of room with 1.5 feet opening. Impossible to reach. Beds sag in the middle and lumpy. 1 razor outlet in bathroom. Hair dryer/flat iron must be used in room with no mirror. Small sink with high glass shelf. Banged my forehead every time I brush my teeth/ wash my face. Mirror is mounted high. At 5’2” I can’t see the mirror. Toilet does not flush properly. I complained to front desk. The guy basically told me I was stupid for not knowing how to flush. Said all toilets in London have a special flushing system. You have to pull level out, flush very fast and hard 3 times (it was more like 10-15 time) water needs momentum to flush. I expect this from a hotel in the middle of nowhere not from a 4 star hotel in central London. This was a lie. All the hotels I’ve stay in London all have push button toilets. Had a nice surprise when I checked out. My mini bar bill was $20. After 5 mins of yelling and complaining, they finally gave me the bill with breakdown. $10 for 2 cans of soda (was expecting it as I took them) $5 for manicure kit (box with 3 cotton pads/swabs/mini nail file) $5 for dental kit (mini toothpaste/cheap plastic toothbrush) I’m surprise they didn’t try to charge me for using their soap!!!

The room was very small. The floorboards underneath the carpet where screaky. I could hear every word when guests next door was talking and even worse from the corridor outside. Extremely thin-walled hotel and it did not help that it was a big gap between floor and door out to the hallway, I stuffed some pillows there to try to rid some of the noise (make sure your room is not outside the elevator). Quite a lot of street noise to, I actually thought the window was opened because of the noise but it was not. Duck feather pillows where very comfortable. Cleaning somehow always was offered just in the afternoon when I had just arrived back to the hotel, so I never really had a proper cleaning of the room. Water in the shower was dodgy, It was switching between neutral and boiling hot all the time so I got burnt every time taking a shower. Faucets looked outdated, bathtub had some damage. A few permanent stains on the floor carpet made the room look a bit dirty overall even though it was quite clean. I did not have breakfast here but there was a pretty nice bakery attached to the hotel. It needs a overhaul for that price I think. -Get it soundproofed. -Put in thresholds from room to the hallway. -Fix the water heating.