Mornington Hotel London Kensington — Hotel in London

We had originally booked the Mornington Victor for two nights. The morning of arrival we received an email to say that they could no longer accommodate us and we were being transferred to their sister hotel, which is this one, the Mornington London Kensington and given complimentary breakfasts for our stay. A bit disappointed about the late notice of the transfer and the distance from our intended activities for the stay (much further from St James' Park - we were staying for the London Marathon), but we were not going to let it ruin our stay.

On arrival, the exterior of the hotel was clean and gorgeous, which carried through to the reception. Here's where issues began to arise. The first receptionist we spoke to was not aware of our booking, luckily the General Manager was still around as he seemed to be the only one who knew anything. We were told our room wouldn't be ready until 2pm, no problem, we dropped off our luggage and then returned much later in the day. We then checked in and thinking everything went smoothly we were given a room on the 4th Floor. Get to the room and another guests bags were still in the room - complete shambles of a mix up and made us feel entirely uncomfortable and out of place. We were then given a room on the Lower Ground which unfortunately had an undertone smell of sewage. The room was substantially bigger though with access to the bed on both sides - there is only plugs on one side.

The bathroom was very small and I could barely use the sink for how shallow it was - the shelf above the sink was also placed at an inconvenient height for washing your face or brushing your teeth.

The lights and TV then flickered on and off which was weird but we moved on, for me later on to get in the shower and it turn out to be a power cut on the whole street. This was not resolved until 1am. This night I also had to get out of bed to tell people to keep their voices down in the corridor as they were being extremely loud and we were trying to sleep (it was around 23:30) - one person being a staff member.

The bed was super comfy with down duvet and pillows, a large TV (wish it had been a smart TV) and a small desk area. After my partner finished running the marathon we returned to the hotel to rest before dinner and there had been another power cut. This also putting the lift out of order.

The breakfast both days was excellent, had a very good selection.

The staff were certainly trying their best provided scenarios that were all out of their control.

This experience hasn't tampered our impression on the hotel itself and it has lots and lots of great potential.

Location 8/10, Cleanliness 7.5/10, Overall...

Worst hotel ever (Earls Court). Do not stay here. Faulty towers would be a step up. Place is a construction zone and they cannot even get the hot water working let alone everything else. No internet, rooms without TV’s, no air conditioning, the safe is not even secured , and the lift fits 2 people and that’s it, and is in serious need of an upgrade of mechanism. Everything is tiny and impractical. They have gone up market with shower controls and you have to get out of the shower whilst it’s running to not get a cold end to the shower. You cannot sit on toilet without knocking the toilet paper roll onto the floor. The ‘ensuite’ is a swimming pool when you shower, and you cannot bed over to wash your legs as the showers are so small. Staff get no support to resolve issues, and the queue of people in the foyer only gets a shrug response only. I was told the hot water is fixed and when I got to the room it wasn’t. I called the desk and was advised that I need to go wait as the hot water resets every half a hour. I honestly think that he believes that. This place is not even a hostel. It’s a franchise and the advertising is totally false. I will find every site I can to review them poorly. Hi Mr. Wilson - Managing Director, Just read your reply stating that you are pleased the team offered a "full refund and assistance finding a hotel that was to your liking" (?!). Was that what it was reported to you??. Just to let the record straight:

1. your team NEVER offered assistance finding another hotel. The reply we got was that there were no vacancies anywhere around! Not sure they even tried.
2. Despite ALL complaints and requests, we were NOT offered a full refund. We were offered a possible refund for the last two unused nights if we found another hotel (which we couldn't!). Because there were no vacancies around the area, they offered us 20% discount on paid rates when we left. Your website at the time was totally misleading and had fake photos, which I consider illegal. Communication with the hotel to enquiry about the level of your renovations prior to our trip was totally vague. Your hotel was not in shape to receive any guests at all! And we are not the only ones stating that. If you are "pleased" that your team offered a FULL refund, as a respectful franchisee, you should honour that and provide the remaining 80% paid rate back to us. And NO, we do not want any vouchers from Best Western chain. Attached some pics of your hotel in May 2023. I have more pics to post if...

This hotel was a random, last-minute pick after other accommodations feel through. As someone unfamiliar with the city's layout, the location couldn't have worked out better. I was three minutes away from Earl's Court entrance and all the restaurants and grocery stores lining the road. The area felt super safe and I had no issues with it. Room was clean and bed was comfy. ||There were some quirks that I am not sure if they are unique to the hotel or are normal in the area as it was my first time in the UK. ||- Size/shape - the room was definitely very small, especially for the price (although I recognize the semi last minute/peak tourist season/location combo plays a huge role in that). The single person bed was pushed up against a slanted wall - a la Harry Potter's closet. I am only about 5'1 and had to think about how I sat up and moved in the vicinity so to not hit my head or arms on the wall. Based on this set-up, there was absolutely no way to get a second person onto the bed. I also do not think there was enough space to get a cot rolled into the free area. ||- Lighting - The lighting in the room was not great - there were maybe two or three spotlight type lights that at it's brightest illuminated very specific spots in the room. The rest of the time it was very dim if there was no natural light coming from outside. You can kinda see in the photo where the lights were located. ||- Bathroom - The one thing that really did bother me was bathroom sink. There was a shelf maybe 6-8 inches above the sink which made it nearly impossible to get my face close enough to the sink to wash it. Every time I washed my face, water got everywhere - I don't think my feet ever made it through dry. As noted elsewhere, the showers were a challenge to use without getting water everywhere but I made it work. Minor issues in the grand scheme of things but for the price I would have liked to be able to use the bathroom without leaving everything wet. ||- Wifi - The wi-fi was ok but pretty unreliable and I felt like I was constantly going through the log-in process to access it. ||All in all it was a decent place with quirks, but since I did not spend a lot of time in the room apart from sleeping, they did not grate on me. The cleanliness, safety, and location were all more...