London House Hotel — Hotel in London

Our experience felt more like London Horror Hotel, than London House Hotel - with so much blood in the bedroom it looked like a crime scene and the worst hotel service ever by flawed and rude general manager, Cristina Rodriguez.

I was gifted my booking at LHH from my family based overseas, who had originally booked LHH in January 2020 for a June 2020 visit (pre-pandemic) but encountered consecutive lockdowns preventing them from visiting us. They paid £890 for 4 nights in a triple room with breakfast, and were told by LHH this month they had to use the booking or lose it. Although my husband, baby and I live just 2 hours away in South London, we decided it would be a nice getaway after a tough year.

Getting to the place with a buggy was a nightmare on London transport, but even worse was what we experienced on arrival. Our room was clearly allocated to us out of spite for us being a rebooking. It was not a triple room, but a small double with a tiny cabin bed enclosed on three sides with not enough room for a cot (which also had not been set up in the room) and facing directly onto a noisy building site.

The general manager Cristina (who I’d emailed with all week and who made the booking) very rudely started challenging me, saying I was lucky to have a room at all because I wasn’t the one who paid for it. Sneering and laughing, she seemed to enjoy my desperation with a baby in tow and insisted that if I wanted a bigger room, I should pay the difference between this box room and a family room which would be £60pn.

I explained the original booking value was £900 for 4 days, and that I was only staying for 3 - in addition the price difference between a triple and a family was only £30pn meaning the price was more than covered by the initial outlay. I even offered to reduce our stay to just two nights, but Cristina was not having it saying ‘You didn't even pay for the room so I don't know why you think we owe you anything'.

After a stressful hour in the lobby with a tired, crying baby and no easy option for me to just go home (my preference) due to no step free public transport nearby, another manager who unlike Cristina was very nice suggested I stay in the box room for one night, and move to a triple the next day once it had new carpet fitted. I agreed, mainly out of stress and exhaustion but was also keen to give them a chance to resolve the problem.

Unfortunately the stay just got worse from there. The curtains were not blackout and due to a building site right next to the room bright light was shining into the room all night. In addition, half of the double bed seemed to be broken and was severely sinking towards the wall. After just a few hours sleep, we took a look underneath the bed to see what was going. Not only was the bed broken, but the base and mattress were stained with blood and the mattress had been turned upside down and flipped the wrong way to hide it. Even worse, when I looked at the wall next to the bed in daylight I could see there was a large patch of blood spatter on the wall.

We decided we had to get our baby out of there immediately and checked out in the morning. The staff at checkout couldn’t really help other than to say I should email Cristina, who caused all of this in the first place, on Monday.

I am hoping after this horrific experience that my family can at least claim their cash back for this awful hotel. I also hope this review stops another poor family for going through what we went through, and I will be reporting them to the health...

I'd say that this hotel is just fine. If Google let me give half star reviews I'd say this is about a 3.5, for reasons below:

Location: I appreciate that it's kind of tucked away from the main street so it's a great deal quieter than a hotel fronting the street would be. It's an easy walk to two different Underground stops (representing three lines) and loads of bus stops, plus a bit further walk from another Underground stop representing two more lines. Loads of choices for transit if you don't mind walking. It's also close to shops and restaurants.

Amenities: The hotel is bare-bones for amenities. A check-in desk, a vending machine, breakfast in the basement (didn't have the breakfast so can't comment there). The room had a kettle, teabags, sugar, and milk.

Room Amenities: The room - a Double Garden View Room on the third floor - was freaking SMALL with nothing to suggest that it had (as the website says) "the comforts and elegance of smartly layout interiors, housed in a spacious, modern and fully fitted environment". If you and your travel companion are petite individuals traveling light then this room might be fine for you, however if you're close to 6 feet tall and weigh more than 150 pounds and/or are travelling with checked bags this room will be too small. I did appreciate that the bed was comfortable and both windows in the room opened fully- plus the air conditioner was extremely cold which is rare! The bathroom sink was so small that I would splash water everywhere while rinsing my face, plus there was a glass shelf right at head height when you're trying to rinse your face so I had to try to not boink my head. The shower is very small, absolutely not enough room to shave your legs (couldn't bend over in the shower). I did appreciate the very hot water and great water pressure. Also the bathroom exhaust was great but the door was on auto-close so we had to prop it open with the trash can to fully vent. Towels were linty! WHY! So much lint on my face and body after drying off. The walls of the hotel were EXTREMELY THIN, I could hear people coughing/ blowing their nose/ flushing the toilet. Fortunately during our stay our neighbors were quiet but if you're a light sleeper bring a noise maker and some earplugs.

Room Cleanliness: The room itself was really clean, including the mattress and sheets. There was a smell like they had just cleaned the carpet next to the bed (very floral scent just in one area) which gave me pause but the cleaning smell went away and no bad smells replaced it so can't complain. The bathroom was clean except for some mold growth in the grout in places but I think that's because the bathroom door auto-closes so moisture is likely to get trapped in there.

All in all, it's fine. If I was travelling solo and/or on a business trip this would be a fine hotel to pick, but I don't think I'll be staying here again when travelling with...

Do not book here, for the last 12+ hours I have consistently tried to speak with someone about including my children to my reservation. I was told the manager would help me when they came into work. I was told the second time I called they would help me later today. Then I was finally told the manager would help me tomorrow because their shift ended in 10 minutes. Also, apparently they also pick and choose which policies they want to uphold. They can't refund my room even though the room is for 2 people, not 4. They cant allow my kids to stay in room purchased bc its against their policy. Oh, and the second I booked the room and saw that the room wasnt going to accommodate my family size(even though i had my filters WITH my kids) , i was LOCKED IN FOR LIFE apparently. I was within an HOUR of the time booked when I tried to figure out a solution. No wavier whatsoever. Leaving me with literally no other options other than to spend EVEN MORE money. I understand my problem isn't always "their" problem. But when I am paying for something, I do at minimum expect some decent customer service.

Response to their response: the only effort your team made was done so at my request and insistance. To include spending loads of additional money on international calling just to be told i have to wait for the manager to respond. I'm beginning to believe the manager is a fictional character, as i am STILL waiting for them to respond. Also, the "upgrade" offered wasnt even available for our dates.... seems a bit odd to offer something you dont have. Thats not usually how i like to problem solve. Lastly, AFTER I LOOKED INTO MYSELF, i asked the staff if i could purchase a single room for ONE night, and upgrade my room for the other nights its available of my stay...again, still waiting on a response. Their lack of efforts is going to put my family even more in a bind when they are insisting on upholding a policy. Youre telling me you have to do one thing but not helping me to stay within the policy at the same time. Make...