Restup London — Hotel in London

I am not one to often leave bad reviews. I've stayed in around 12-15 different hostels this year (in and out of the country) and so don't have super high standards. I have stayed at this place on two separate occasions in the past 3 weeks (a mistaken booking on my part) and it has not been pleasant.||Check in/ general safety|As you enter you press a button to unlock the gate- not sure if anyone is monitoring who is actually entering and where they’re going. No key card is needed to get through any doors past reception, so someone could easily walk through and pretend they were a guest and get to the hostel corridors and bathrooms. There is 24hr security’ but it is some of the hostel guests that make me feel unsafe. Lots of older men staying on their own- so as a young female I’ve had a lot of encounters feeling uncomfortable/ being stared at during my visit. ||The lift is broken/ not in use so have to haul suitcases up 4 flights of stairs. We were allocated a twin private room on the 3rd floor where the whole corridor smelled of poo as apparently the plumbing was broken, and the room had not been made up- dirty sheets and floor, door wouldn’t lock. We were moved to a room on the 1st floor which was better, but the general state of rooms is not great.||Room cleanliness|Both of the rooms I have stayed in have not smelt good, there is no ventilation and old windows… mould on the ceiling of the bathroom, no drain cover in the shower so it smells pretty bad. The shower temperature wouldn’t change due to limescale build up, sinks are so small you can barely lean to use it. Not much toilet paper in the dispensers. Squeaky bunk beds with very thin mattresses. We also brought some packaged food/ cereal bars that got nibbled through in the night or whilst we were out so beware if bringing any sort of food! ||Fire safety|Both times I have stayed the fire doors that lead to the bathroom have been propped open (on all floors). The fire call test was done unannounced on a weds at 9am which was scheduled for 3pm on a Sunday. Not a great way to start the day!||School groups|Something I’m aware the hostel can’t control is the behaviour of the groups, but it would be good to have some stricter rules enforced. Our first night there were 30-40 students in the balcony area, shouting and blasting music from 9-11pm. Most of the rooms are on this side so any noise from that area easily travels, as the windows are old and single glazed.||The only thing that makes this place a ‘hostel’ is the fact that there are bunk beds and you can book shared rooms. There are no other amenities- no cooking facilities or even a kettle. Water is sometimes provided in a pitcher that tastes a day old. There is a ‘lounging’ area near check in with sofas but often people working there/ groups taking up most of the space. There is one or two hairdryers shared across the whole hostel you have to ask for to use. ||If you are looking for a cheap place with fairly easy access to central London and are only staying a night, this place might be for you. If anyone is a female solo traveller, I would not recommend this as it felt...

Our stay at Rest Up was short and not sweet. Although check in was easy and the staff was very polite, we were immediately disappointed with what we had spent our money on. The environment felt extremely unsafe, as two young women, being surrounded by middle aged men isn’t the most welcoming feeling. (Not the hostels fault, just something to note). While the location is about 10 minutes to the underground, the area does not feel the safest to walk around at night. Once checked in, we quickly learned the lift was unavailable - although we weren’t informed of that. We carried our bags up the stairs to find our room, small and crammed. We aren’t picky, but these single rooms are simply unlivable. There was barely enough room for the two of us to stand, let alone try to get ready for the day ahead/evening time. While I understand many hostels are crammed, this just did not reflect what we paid for our 4 night stay. In addition, the hallways had some off-putting smell to them. Nevertheless, we chose our battles and carried on. We were excited to have our own private ensuite, however, upon inspection of the shower, there were small living worms all over the floor! With little to no option we had to flush them down the drain anytime we wanted to shower, which we had to ‘rent’ towels for. I use quotations here as it was NOT a rental as we never got our money back upon return, so indeed it was a £10 purchase for 2 stained towels! On another note, our breakfast that we paid for in our booking was not only a disappointment but a silly set up. When we went downstairs each morning, nobody was there to collect our tickets - so did we pay for nothing? Was everyone just getting breakfast? Not sure but it was silly. On another note, the noise pollution from outside made it incredibly difficult to sleep. While I understand we are in London, and this place can’t control the noise of traffic, it was still nearly impossible to go through the night without waking up to some truck honking or a loud motorcycle. (Yes we had the window open, but it was our only saving grace in eliminating the odor that was evident in our room upon arrival). When it came to check out, we had a random £40 charge on our account. We asked the front desk and he simply said, ‘oops! That’s a mistake!’. Was it a mistake or was he just hoping we didn’t catch it?

Overall the most horrendous stay of my life. While the staff were very lovely and made us feel welcomed, I’m astonished this place is even running. I get wanting to save a penny on a cheaper place to enjoy experiences in the city, but for your sake do yourself a favour and stay...

Welcome to Hostel Hell - the British Way...

Of course you don't have to be suicidal to stay here, but it would blend in with your mood nicely. I've stayed at hostels before, and in general they were fair. Price is the main concern for me, if there a comfy bed, it good enough for me. I do have some issues with hygiene in this place, its non existent. I believe they take water from the sewer to wipe the floors with, leave the cleaning of the restrooms to a blind hedgehog once a week and if you're not bothered too much with catching any diseases in general, you should be good.

Obvious seamen (yes, sperm) splashes throughout the bathrooms, black grouchy tiling, restrooms you can't turn your butt in (literally) and beds that make you wish you were sleeping on a pile of rocks. Also; most visitors are young and when they return to their room at 5 am, they will let you know they have arrived. Loud, louder. LOUDEREST!!!

Wifi: there is NO Wifi in your room and there are NO chargers!. So no checking your email or doing anything on your laptop there. You can't charge your phone/laptop.

You have to go downstairs, where about 50 people are fighting for dear life to do something on a network that gets more slow as more people are on it. I tried watching a movie on Youtube, forget it. Hopeless.

Breakfast: coffee/tea, white or brown bread, a very odd colored orange processed cheese where no cow ever took part in producing, jelly,3 types of cereal and a bowl of hard boiled eggs. That's it for 3.99 Pound (about 6-7 US$). I was about to cry at this stage, but it get's better, hang on.

Towels can be rented for 5 Pound of which 3 Pound is later returned as a deposit.

Worst part is the staff; if it's not spelled out in a manual for them, they can't do it. A bit like a McDonalds employee; if you ask for an extra slice of cheese on you Mc-whatever, they glaze into the distance like a deer into car headlights.

So what's the overall score. London is very expensive. Single rooms at the border of the city at a regular non-fancy hotel (not hoStel) begin at 150 pounds, about 200 US$. But you might want to check out BNB or couch surfing before you consider RestUp London.

London is a million times more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, don't let a stay at this place ruin it for you. Cheers and have a pint on...