ibis budget London Barking — Hotel in London

UPDATE - it has been 3 weeks since I posted this review and nobody has even responded back to it. They only respond back to the easy reviews. They do not care obviously about the ongoing issues that they have in their hotel. Very sad indeed. Do not stay here, go to the Cranbrook Hotel or Best Western - that’s we went to after here, and their rooms were lovely and warm - unlike this dump.

Please avoid this place if possible. It’s not a bad little hotel, but staying here during December it’s a little on the chilly side and the rooms were freezing cold. We had to get into our car just to be able to warm up enough. There was a split top style air conditioning unit which came with absolutely NO clear instructions on how to operate it. When we finally got it to “work” as a heater, the temperature of the hot air being emitted from the unit was tepid at best. We visited the front desk numerous times to complain about the temperature of the rooms, and the person at the desk (as friendly as he was), could not resolve the issue and even gave us tower unit fans (these were FANS, not space heaters) as a substitute for subpar heating in the rooms. We returned them immediately after discovering that they were of absolutely no use. The noise from the outside is unbelievable, and I believe from the website, it’s states that these are SOUNDPROOF rooms - huge lie. The noise is SO loud from the traffic outside, it’s almost as if I had my window cracked open. I also felt cold air coming in from the outside through the window somehow. Not a lot, but a little bit. I hate giving poor reviews, but even the check in process was lengthier than it needed to have been. It was one guy at the desk and there was a small queue - this was at 8:30pm, not like it was peak time or anything. The hotel reception area is very cramped, hardly any room for anything because they have a dining area that takes up most of the space. The cleanliness of the hotel is good from what I can tell, nothing stands out bad at all from that aspect. I will say though, there was a sewage smell coming from the bathroom, I’m not sure if it was from me flushing the toilet or from when I washed my hands. My daughter said eww when she went into the toilet after me, and I told her that I had only used the toilet for urinating, not for a number 2. Lastly, I think the most disappointing part was the breakfast. I didn’t choose this hotel, it was my brother and his girlfriend but I think we were all under the impression that the breakfast selection would be a little more grandiose than what it was. They need to state on the website that it’s ONLY a continental style breakfast because that’s all there was - barely a small selection of cereal, limited selection of pastries, bread for making toast, and slices of cheese and ham. No offense, but I’ve stayed in a number of hotels in London and they’ve all offered your typical hot breakfast, eggs sausage bacon etc. - there was not a sausage in sight here unfortunately. A charcuterie board and toast with jam doesn’t quite cut it for me. This might be perfect for travelers from European countries, but paying good money for what you think will be a hearty breakfast - that’s a bit of a slap in the face, and is rather insulting. My brother didn’t even eat the breakfast as he just felt so insulted and disgusted at the poor selection. We decided to book another hotel to finish off the remainder of our trip in London. That one might be more of a budget hotel than this one, but at least we don’t have to stay here any longer being given the runaround from the staff. Not a very good experience at all, and we will NEVER stay here again. Terrible,...

The hotel itself is ok to be fair, Its a budget hotel not the Hilton so you should not have to high expectations although looking on google, they are charging £56 a room, but the Ibis just down from them is £54 a room.

If you have a vehicle make no mistake they will attempt to fine you, Do not get me wrong, stay to the rules and I am sure you wont get a ticket, but not a mninute after.

I was helping a disabled friend who had been made homeless, so I set him up with a room for the evening.

We went to the hotel and I booked him in and paid for the room. The lady asked me if I would like overnight parking, I said no thank you as I will be leaving in 10 minutes as I just need to help my friend settle to his room, and she literally said "that's fine" so I did that and I left.

I was there no more than 20 minutes. I was helping a person that I could not walk away from, I admit I was there 5 minutes over the time for people parking there, But I had bought and paid for a room in the hotel and left in 20 minutes.

Then I get a letter stating I owe £100 from a company called Civil Enforcement Ltd, They said that the time had past to pay the fine but I could dispute it, I did not have a parking ticket nor receive any letter prior to this, I wrote back to them immediately explaining exactly what I did above, I had paid the hotel to be their and I was helping someone with a disability.

However all I got back was "sorry but the time to dispute the fine has passed, Pay or face debt collectors and court. again though they had an email and section allowing me to dispute it so I did again. I then got a red letter, and I mean all red with court action pending and threats of destroying my credit and debt collectors. It is an intimidating letter.

I tried to go to the ombudsman (POPLA) to dispute it however Civil Enforcement Ltd use 11 number PCN references. Unfortunately an online dispute with the ombudsman takes only 10 number references so you cannot go online to POPLA, Now I have got a letter from a debt collection agency and the fine has raised to £170, I would chance court but I cannot risk then sending debt collectors as I have young children here and I don't them subjected to that so I have no choice but to pay.

If you must use this hotel then be careful, do not break their parking rules for even 1 minute for any reason, because they will come after you, now maybe they have a right to in some situations, but you should have a right to dispute it and you do not, in fact you have very limited ways in which to dispute it other than court. Also bearing in mind I did not receive anything previous to above, If I had I would of disputed it immediately.

I am sure once I post this, someone will magically come along and have the greatest experience ever and the parking company is fair etc etc, but honestly, what I have said is the absolute truth so if you are going there watch your back...

I was going to be in town for a week and chose this hotel because the rate wasn't bad the pictures online made it look better than it actually was. Upon entering my room, I was shocked by how ridiculously bare it was. There were two conjoined twin beds, a small desk that was fixed to the wall under a suspended TV, a nearly full-length mirror with one hook and 5 hangers hanging from a rod that was no longer 5 inches in length; this had two small shelves above it. That's it. There was quite a bit of empty space in the room and they could've easily fit a chaise/couch, more table space, a luggage stand. There were exactly three outlets in the room: one above the desk, one under the long mirror and one next to the bathroom sink. That's right, there were no outlets of any kind near the bed. The bathroom was also bare but it was somehow less of a disappointment than the room; there was one bath mat, a wastebasket, two toilet rolls, two disposable cups and two bottles of all-in-one wash that were fixed in place by the sink and in the shower. That's it. No face tissue, no hand towels, no hair dryer.

I'm a roll-with-the-punches type of person, so I stayed. To say the bed was hard would be an understatement. The bed felt like they'd placed a thin topper over a cardboard box frame. For some reason, the room was extremely dusty; so much so that the bottom of my slippers would leave dust bunnies on the bath mat every time I walked into the bathroom. I must be allergic to dust because I would wake up coughing every night I was there. As for the noise, the hotel faces a busy road and I could hear the traffic VERY well. I don't know if the rooms around mine were empty, but I heard almost no noise from them.

Two things I did appreciate were the free WiFi and the cleaners replacing the towels and tidying the bathroom regularly. There was no hanging sign to leave on the door, so they just came whenever.

All in all, this hotel takes "budget" to the extreme and I would not stay here again. If you are accustomed to the basic comforts most other hotels provide, the Premier Inn or regular Ibis may be better options. Ibis Budget is a good option for struggling students on vacation or truckers who are only...