Paddington Flat — Hotel in London

After having a hard time through the pandemic and as both myself and partner are front line works on a low income. We decided to go to London for Valentines. ||We went on Booking.com and needed to look for a budget hotel to try and keep the costs low. ||At first Paddington Flat Apartments popped up and from the photos on the app it looked like we was landing a bargain with somewhere clean and safe to lay our heads at night. ||We meet the key holder at the accommodation which from the outside looked to be a nice property. What do they say don’t judge a book by its cover. Because from stepping in the front door that sinking feeling started to come over us both very quickly. ||There was a strong smell of cigarettes, post which was pulled up on a side. There was clutter on the stairs but we only went up to the 1st floor. ||We was show the room we was meant to be in and advised the bed was broken therefore he had a nicer room for us both. The stair case level we was on there was tall step ladders propped up against the wall, there was tools and rubbish on the floor too. The fire alarm which was also on this floor was bleeping none stop. ||But we thought it’s just a room somewhere to sleep. How very wrong we was, on entering room 3 my heart just dropped. What was meant to be a romantic break and quality time together was smacked in the face with the smell of the room. The room I would say was a small double. The bed was pushed up against the wall there was no head board and the wall it was on was heavily marked and dirty. Let me list what else we found:||Carpets not attached and lifting ||Carpet dirty well worn and sticky under you foot||Blood found on mattress and bedding dirty and smelly||Pillow and quilt heavily stained ||Computer table sticky and marked ||Kitchen area dirty and unhygienic ||Wardrobe broken ||Curtains hanging down and big stains on them ||Broken window which had been patch up with cardboard ||Mattress thin and springs stuck up||Kettle looked like it had pee in it||Fridge not working ||Heating not working so blow fan left which had a build up of dust and fluff on the fan part||Dirty pots in cupboard ||Food splattered on the wall||Loose broken shelf’s some which would be above your head||||Let’s move on to the shared bathroom:||Soiled tampons on the floor||Faeces on and in the toilet ||Toilet black and strong smell of urine ||Bath had brown marks in it||Shower dirty ||Mould ||Very dirty and no evidence of them being cleaned||||So I rang the number and the receptionist ask me to hold after being on hold 30mins. I asked her not to put me on hold and with that she must have just put the phone on her desk as I could hear her booking someone in. On then picking the phone back up I told her how rude it was to do what she just did, she then said she has nothing to do with the bookings and that I should call the manager. ||I called him on the number provided, I advised him of all the above and said we could not stop in the flat due to the state and the risks. I told him I was going to look for another place to stay but that I needed to be refunded. He agreed to refund as long as I did it through the app. ||We left the flat and was lucky to find another place straight away. ||I then started my request to be refunded. The manager said to Booking.com that he would sort the refund once he had the email from them. ||Well what can I say but that he lied. He has now ghosted me and bookings.com and is declining to answer the phone and emails. So I’m £100 down. Please don’t stay here as I’m sure it is the epicentre of the pandemic or even the Black Death. You won’t get a good night sleep here and the streets would be...

This place is a health hazard and has to be shut down. My body itches all over and I’ve never experienced living conditions like this before.

Let me start this tale from the beginning and hopefully this review (amongst other reviews) helps hopeful travellers with a lust for life to avoid this place.

We stayed for 2 nights - nobody was there when we went to collect keys even though we had arranged in advance and I had phoned an hour in advice to confirm time to pick up keys. I contacted the host several on the number provided, he did not answer and when he eventually did, he said his associate would be at the property to let us in. My partner and I walk to the property, there was no doorbell, we knocked on the door - nothing. We phoned the host - nothing. We phoned their separate hotel number and someone answered to let us know that the associate was at the property and I advised him we were outside the front door and there was no one there ???? I was put on hold several times (I think they were contacting their colleague to make them open the door ?!) and were greeted by Amrit, who was rather kind, and collected our keys. Upon entering the building I was in shock. The entry way looked dark and dingy. The paint on the wall was chipped and the place looked dark and dirty. We were on the first floor during our stay. Walking up the stairs was a health hazard as the walls and steps were so narrow.

Bedroom We put the key in the door and almost cried. The place was filthy. There were stains EVERYWHERE. The window was being held open by a block of wood. The bed was broken and was being held up by blocks of wood. The metal frame was jotting out in places and cut us every time we walked past the bed. The floors were dirty. There was a used tissue in the drawers. Cleanliness is clearly a foreign concept to the host.

The room is at an angle ?? The wardrobe was not held up straight against the wall and we noticed something under the wardrobe to allow it to stay upright. the tv didn’t work. The fan didn’t work. We couldn’t shut the windows to block out the noise outside because the window was being help open by a block of wood and we were too scared of catching something.

Bathrooms and toilets To define these areas as filthy would be too generous. These areas were DIABOLICAL and violated all five senses. There was dirt, stains, mould, and grime everywhere. The shower was covered in some kind of mould and grime and thinking about it makes me want to cry again. I was forced to go to Paddington station to use their faculties and on my return I found a nice couple standing outside the flat waiting for someone to let them in. They also were told to arrive at a certain time to collect keys and no one was there to let them in. I felt it was my duty to warn them of the conditions and I saw their hopeful smiles quickly turn into fearful frowns. I heard a scream a few hours later outside my room and I assume it was them after seeing the state of the building. I didn’t see them after that and I can only assume they decided to find alternative accommodation fit for habitation by human beings.

Anyway, I’m too drained from the experience to recall the nightmare any further. The entire experience felt like we were being tortured in one of Jigsaw’s torture games and I was expecting someone to say “I want to play a game” at any moment.

0/infinity I...

My stay was 11-13th November 2022. I was in London for the Festival of Remembrance. Think filthy, unclean, in bad state of repair and you have not even started yet. I had some communication with the landlord in order to pick up the key. I did not see the landlord himself. The whole place was disgusting, including all the shared areas, ie the hallways, landings and bathrooms. There were unsafe electrics; damaged and broken furniture and the shared bathroom was filthy with mould in every part of it. There were piles of opened mail in the hallways, in the bathrooms and on the landings. |The room itself was shocking. There were bare wires connecting a fridge and a hotplate, using the same plug. The live wires were not connected using a connector block. They were simply taped together and not even taped fully, leaving exposed live wires. |The plug on the tv and hot air fan was held together by insulation tape with wires crossing in front of the fan. I did not turn anything on for fear of starting a fire. |The carpet was disgusting, stained, threadbare and when you walked on it, you could feel the dirt getting on your skin. It made my skin crawl. |The furniture in the room would not look out of place on a skip with doors hanging off, drawer fronts not secure and an absolutely filthy sink area. |All areas of the room were covered in dust, stains, grease and grime. The smoke alarm was covered with plastic to prevent it working. |On the landings, there was all sorts of junk which would have caused a trip hazard and problem had there been a fire, which was highly likely considering the state of the electrics.|I opened the window to air the room, and could not sleep due to the noise from the street outside. I closed the window to block out the noise and immediately felt the stale, putrid air going into my throat and nose. |I got in touch with the landlord to inform him of the state of the place and that I was not happy. I also had to inform him there was no TV remote. He said he would sort out the TV remote and did by Saturday evening. I informed him again of the state of the room/accommodation by Tx; by Whatsapp and by voice, but I had no further communication from the landlord. No attempt was made to move me, give me a refund or communicate with me further. |I did not sleep for 2 nights. In the end, I felt it safer not to use any of the electric appliances in the room, including the TV. |I could go on and on and on. |This morning (Sunday 13th November 2022) I went to use the shared bathroom and there was a rat on the stairs. |I have taken photos of everything and will be reporting this to various agencies. |The only reason I did not move out was because there were no hotels or rooms anywhere, due to it being Remembrance weekend. |As an ex member of the military, I have stayed in some bad hotels/rooms, all over the world, so I am used to roughing it. This accommodation however, is the worse place I have paid to...