Best Western Ilford — Hotel in London

TLDR: Shabby, poor customer service, redirected twice, inadequate accommodation, crime area (drug users outside) with serious incident (person hospitalised & near-death) closing off the road whilst there. Staff unable to assist.

Full details: Upon check-in, we'd been moved from Park Hotel, Ilford to Best Western, Ilford due to a maintenance issue. We'd booked through booking.com as a family of 5 (2 adults & 3 children; 12/M, 10/F & 7/M), with full cooked breakfast included. Best Western, allegedly a 3-star hotel, situated 0.5 miles from Park Hotel, had allocated us a room in their extension across the road. The room (on 2nd floor, after 4 flights of stairs & walking through a corridor smelling of Marijuana) had sloping ceilings with 2 very low double beds, a roof window & a sign warning you to watch your head; it was unbearably hot & my daughter+wife described the room as dirty. Hotel staff called it a "quadruple" room, (technically what the room booked at Park was), but this substitution was clearly not what we'd booked; whilst 2 singles & a double can generously be described as a quad room, twin double beds cannot suitably be described as being either a quad or a 'family' room (both phrases used by the hotel), nor was it adequate to accommodate the 5 booked (it later emerged the room we'd booked was perfectly suitable).

Park Hotel, Best Western & Lucky 8 hotels are all owned by the same company who apparently own at least 8 other hotels in the area as well. When we complained that the Best Western allocated room was completely inadequate, they phoned Lucky 8's who had a room. At this point, Best Western reception told us whichever hotel we checked into we'd be able to have a Full English breakfast at Best Western due to our booking including it.

Lucky 8's had a ground floor room available (better suited to disability) but it again only had two double beds. While returning to Best Western, we found drug dealers busy beside our car (parked in front of the hotel garage without any CCTV). Reception told us they needed a decision on the Lucky 8 room as another family were trying to book it. By this time we'd already been trying to book in for at least an hour and a half, & whilst it far from ideal it seemed the best prospect on the table (not least because it meant we could move our car onto their CCTV covered fore-court instead).

We checked in & moved stuff into the room, before returning to reception to see if they'd at least a couple of duvets for our son to sleep on. As well as no fold-out beds, they had no access at all to the laundry cupboard; no duvets, mattresses or additional sheets. Hence we returned to Best Western again to see if perhaps they'd access to their laundry cupboard. They didn't. We also learnt that as we were no longer guests at Best Western, we couldn't have breakfast there, apparently "Hotel Policy". The receptionist was apologetic, but as with all interactions, there was no opportunity to speak to a manager (against policy), reception had no powers to do /anything/ & we were once again shunted from pillar to post.

Lucky 8's replacement receptionist was sympathetic, but still had no options to help; manager could be talked to in the morning. Though "breakfast" was still included, we'd apparently have had to pay a £5 surcharge to have the breakfast; before Covid a Full English breakfast was included now it cost £5 extra for a "continental" breakfast (1 bruised apple, 1 overboiled egg, 1 yoghurt from 'orange' selection, 2 tiny plastic-sealed 'croissants').

Eventually, after 3½+ hours checking-in across 3 hotels, I paid for an extra room to prevent my son(12) & daughter(10) sharing a bed. The corridor outside our room smelt of marijuana. Nothing was sorted next day & to cap it off the police cordoned off the road due to an attempted...

⭐ If I could give 0 stars, I would.

Do not book this hotel. The staff are rude and completely unhelpful.

I booked through Expedia and selected the pay at the hotel option, as I planned to use a company credit card for payment while working in the area. Within 30 minutes of booking, I noticed a pending charge of £53.10 on my account. Nearly two hours later, another pending charge for the same amount appeared — as I had booked two rooms.

I contacted the hotel immediately and was assured the pending payments would be released on the day I checked out. On arrival, I was told the same thing again.

Things went downhill quickly from there. • The first room key I was given led to a room still being cleaned. • The second key was for a room that already had someone else’s belongings in it. • The third and final room was so small that a double bed had clearly been crammed into what used to be a single room — the TV was even fixed to a wall facing away from the bed!

To make matters worse, many of the residents appeared to be long-term lodgers. The noise was unbearable: shouting, arguing, and even someone screaming down the phone to the DWP about their money. This went on until around 1 a.m., only stopping when they either passed out or finally fell asleep.

Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the toilet macerator kept switching on randomly throughout the night, making it impossible to rest properly.

It’s now been over a week since my stay and my pending payments are still being held. The hotel insists they’ve released them, but my bank says otherwise — and frankly, I know who I believe.

The worst hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Avoid,...

Had a terrible experience as a tourist. My relative booked this hotel, a month in advance for which they charged 90 pound (non-refundable) to "hold the booking" as they call it. On the arrival day, we went there from a very long flight journey (travel with infant), the receptionist said we have been holding the booking so it would be good to pay in full and so we did. Just after we cleared the payment, he stated that no rooms available in that hotel so they are shifting us to another accomodation (some inn which they "claim" to be their sister concern!! ). When we asked why didn't he inform us before the payment, he said hotel policies (can you believe it?). After long discussion with him we asked for a refund (as it was going nowhere) which they agreed to but stated the booking money of 90 pound can't be refunded because it was non-refundable for holding the booking. Well they DIDNOT HOLD THE BOOKING but they refuse to return the booking amount. I don't know what kind of policies UK hotels are having but to my common sense it should be us choosing the place where we want to stay since we are paying for it, not some hotel shifting us to whatever accomodation they feel like.

Horrible customer experience, they didn't disclose the unavailability until we paid the money. They overbooked themselves and were NOT transparent enough to...