Comfort Inn Hyde Park — Hotel in London

Terrible experience. Got chased out of the public hotel bathroom on the ground floor by the front desk staff because he thinks guests should only use the restrooms in their own rooms. To make things worse, the manager was dismissive about my feedback and was very accusatory. Would not recommend this hotel if you want to be treated with courtesy and respect. What happened: I was using the single-stall bathroom on the ground floor one night. A couple of minutes later, the front desk staff tried to come in and got frustrated that the door was locked. He started forcibly pushing the door handle and I, out of panic, said "Sorry!" Then he got upset and walked away while saying some unintelligible words. About 5 minutes later, he came back and tried to push the door handle repeatedly and aggressively again. I again said "Sorry" (even though I didn't need to. A shared bathroom should be on "first-come-first-serve" basis). The staff then yelled at me through the doore: “why don't you use your own bathroom?” I felt really uncomfortable and had to come out quickly and explained to him that the bathroom in my room was being used at the same time. This experience was already horrible for me, but I got more upset after talking to the manager. The manager was questioning the validity of my every sentence as if I would lie about something like this. Wouldn't let me finish describing the whole experience and jumped at every chance to challenge me. He said 1. “Are you sure he knew someone was inside?” - Yes, I said "Sorry" twice. He heard me and said stuff to me. 2. “Are you sure he knew you were a guest not someone from the street?” - I said “Yes, he asked me why don't you use your OWN bathroom?” 3. “This has never happened here. Was it because you were using it too long? - The whole incidence was less than 10 minutes. You can check your CCTV to see how frequently he came to knock the bathroom door. I was using the facility completely under reasonable amount of time.” (I also think even if I was using it longer the staff shouldn't be chasing a guest out) 4. The manager was very combative and argumentative the whole time talking to me. Corrected me that it is called the "ground" floor when I said the public bathroom on the "first" floor. Doubted me about the exact date even though I could describe exactly who the staff was and on which day it happened.

To the manager: You talked to me like I completely invented the story. You really didn't need to be so dubious about this. Think about it. What do I stand to gain by lying? I'm not asking for a refund or an apology. I just wanted to bring to your attention that one of your staff was rude to a guest. Why is it so hard to believe? If you were a bit more willing to listen, I would trust you to conduct some investigation privately and make improvements. Instead, you chose to vehemently defend your staff, so I decided to share my experience with the public. Hopefully, I can help some people to avoid this type of nonsense.

I'm giving this review two additional starss than the minimum because of the two nice ladies I interacted with. One of them was sympathetic and even apologized on the rude staff's behalf. The other nice lady worked at the breakfast room and was very kind...

Read the reviews concerning room size, but failed to recognize the warnings. Small is not correct term for the size of either the "standard double" or "smaller double" room. Microscopic is the term. We are veteran world travelers, and have endured many surprises in accommodations, but this one is at the top of the list. The standard bed is a very narrow double by US standards. The room itself is exactly 18" wider than the bed, leaving no maneuvering room for two people. The "inside" sleeper must crawl off at the foot of the bed to exit.

To their credit, the bathroom was clean and actually updated. The shower was spacious, with plenty of pressure and volume, but any individual of normal stature will find it difficult to sit on the toilet. The space in front of the toilet is so small, your knees will hit the wall! Not exaggerating, American travelers will find this hotel difficult to endure, and most will find it absolutely unacceptable. Front lobby is very basic, and manned by folks who have a bit of trouble with the Queen's English. The staff persons with whom we interacted were pleasant, but not inclined to help much beyond, "Sorry, we cannot do that", or, "We have no change."

When we asked the morning attendant to call us a cab, she ordered us a "Mini Cab", which was a small UNMARKED van. The driver wanted GBP 8.00 for a very short trip to the Hilton Hotel which we were moving to. Mini Cabs are not the famous "Black Cabs", and appear to be less regulated. After talking to the driver, who did not appear to be a native Londoner, we opted to defer on the Mini Cab and walk to the corner at Bayswater St. and flag a REAL cab down. The regulated fare turned out to be GBP 5.80. And we could understand the driver. The hotel girl must have been getting a kick-back from the first driver.

On a positive note, the breakfast was pretty typical Choice fare, but without any protein like eggs or meat. Bananas and apples were available, and some pastries, toast, yogurt, etc. Actually pretty good and it got us by for the morning.

We intended to stay for four #4# nights, but left after the second night, having paid for one night and burning GP Points for the second. Choice Hotels immediately reinstated the points we had used for the 3rd and 4th nights reserved without me contacting them, which I feel is great service on their part.

In summary, this is one the poorest excuses for the Choice Hotels brand we have ever encountered. We are Choice Privileges Diamond members for several years, and we seldom pan a property, but this one does not deserve your consideration. The location is great, it looks nice in the photos on the website, but take my advice: Leave it for the Sudanese...

Honestly, this hotel was not as bad as some of the reviews here made it seem. I had three nights free with Choice points, and as I was on a very long trip through several countries, it made sense to save some money in London, where the exchange rate with the USD right now makes everything more expensive. ||Pros: Check in process was easy, and the front desk clerk was efficient and kind. Every staff person I encountered was friendly and helpful. The location is great in terms of being very walkable to everything around Hyde Park/Kensington Palace and close to multiple Tube stations. There are a lot of options for food and entertainment close by. Breakfast is included, and even though it's not a full English breakfast, for me, having the ability to grab cereal, a pastry, some fruit and some coffee or tea each morning was great and welcomed. They replenish the breakfast area throughout the service and have a fairly long window of time in the morning that it's open. The hotel is also on a pretty quiet street and easy to find. The lift was working during my stay. Rooms contain a tea kettle and coffee/tea supplies. The air conditioning worked in my room, and the hot water worked, as well. ||Cons: Rooms are small (to be expected) and could use a makeover. The carpeting was tired in my room, and there were some chipped places around baseboards and cabinetry. The room decor in general was very much "serviceable dorm room" style. The bathroom was very, very tiny but adequate; however, the angle of the narrow sink to fit in the space made it almost impossible to splash water on one's face without getting water all over the floor. The bed was not all that comfortable, and I honestly don't know if I could have slept on it more than a few nights. I was in a basement room next to the lift, so it was quiet, but as a single female traveler, it did feel a little unsettling with all the other hallways and maintenance and storage areas in the basement and a lot of random people coming and going. ||Overall, if I needed a budget place to stay in London again, I would definitely consider this hotel in the future, and since I booked it with points, I'm not going to complain too much about its attributes. However, I wouldn't want to stay here for more than...