The Chapter Hotels - Camden Road — Hotel in London

I recently stayed at this property for 7 nights, and stayed in 4 different rooms.

What I liked:

The staff - What I really liked about this location was the wonderful staff! I don't remember all their names unfortunately, but Joe was wonderful and helped me with my suitcases when I first checked in. I had just moved to the country the week I stayed here, so the hospitality of your staff really made me feel welcome. There was another male member of your staff who worked night shifts who also helped me with my bags.

The location - It was just perfect. You can get to Camden town in 20 minutes if you're walking. All the major bus stops are within a 5 minute walking distance. There are a few good food options nearby - Bread by Bike was fantastic, and so was Aspendos grill. I frequently grabbed smoothis/fruit juices/acai bowls from Portobello. I went to Koyo(coffeeshop+workspace) while I waited for my check-in time.

Safety - I was traveling alone, and this location felt perfectly safe. The building is passcode protected (with a bit long passcodes which can be annoying, but i understand it means better safety). The area felt safe as well even late at night.

General/Amenities - I've stayed at Sonder properties in the US & Canada, and i really like the consistency in terms of the quality of rooms & services I can expect. I like the essentials closet you have, which is very thoughtful. Your cleaning crew does a fantastic job. I can alsosee how some people would find the bathrooms very small, though it was not really an issue for me.

Just constructive feedback, I love Sonder and I would stay at your properties in every city where you have hotels: I stayed at this property for 7 nights, and I needed some flexibility with the dates. I couldn't extend my dates in the same room I was staying in even though I booked the same room/fare type. The staff was really nice about communicating this, but I really wish I did not have to keep changing rooms every other day. Suggestion: Guests don't receive check-in information until 1 day before their check-in date, so it would be great if you could prioritize guests who are already at the property and want to extend dates in their same room. It would be a reasonable ask to have your current guests give your team a 2-day heads up about their extension, so you can shuffle your new guests accordingly. As someone who travels a lot for work, I know most hotels do this, and this would make Sonder an even better choice for travellers who need that flexibility

The AC in the back building I stayed in had stopped working, so that was very uncomfortable. The customer service folks did provide a partial refund, and a gentleman from your staff provided Fans for those 2 days and then shifted me to an upgraded room for the next day. No suggestion here - appreciate the refund, this stuff happens and I understand its not in your control.

The main building actually shakes occasionally when heavy vehicles pass by. This, combined with the noise from the traffic made my stay in the road-facing rooms very uncomfortable at night. Suggestion: Sound proof rooms.

An elevator in your builds would be a fantastic addition! The stairs are so narrow & twisted, so it was pretty hard to get...

Two points which I realise are important to me when evaluating a hotel and the kind of experience I have had are:||||- First impressions; and||- Do they seem to be doing whatever they can to make the stay as enjoyable as possible.||||The first point is easily understood. The second, perhaps less so.||||When I consider the second factor, it often includes some of the little things that a hotel will do that indicate they’ve thought about what makes a guest feel welcome and comfortable. Often, it includes those factors that also show that the hotel owners take pride in their hotel and what they have to offer. ||||The Camden Town Hotel is a wonderful example of a hotel that is impressive on both of these points.||||First of all, the hotel has great “curb appeal”. It is the kind of hotel that as I saw it in distance I did think “I hope that’s the hotel, as it looks great”. ||||The welcome I received at reception was warm and welcome and the check in process was quick and efficient. As I was shown to the separate building at the back where my room was located, I was given a quick, but complete, explanation of everything I needed to know, including being shown the impressive conservatory where breakfast is served.||||As I approached and entered the annex at the back, it appeared almost faultless. “Almost” because one of the steps to the building was missing a chunk out of one of the steps. (I’m not really being ridiculously picky. This will be relevant.)||||My room was large, bright, airy and very well appointed. The furnishings included everything needed and thought had clearly been given to what would make a stay comfortable and easy. In fact, the quality of room and furnishings was far superior to many other hotels where I have stayed and paid far more for a night’s stay.||||I enjoyed a very relaxing evening and great night’s sleep. In the morning, the breakfast was exactly was expected in terms of selection, served at a generous buffet. ||||As I packed up to go on my way after breakfast, I thought about what a pleasure it was to stay at a small hotel where the owners clearly take pride in what they do, and in doing so provide everything guests might need for a comfortable and relaxed stay. ||||As such, as I then left the hotel, I was not at all surprised to find that the broken step which I had noticed the evening before had already been repaired! And that’s the kind of sign that you’ve found a little gem that is well looked after.||||Well done Camden...

Negatives|The booking process is a nightmare and would put me off ever booking with Sonder again. I am perfectly capable of using the internet and navigating online booking systems but this one took several attempts to get into the system, plus multiple authentication steps and personal ID checks, rivalling some of the highly secure government IT systems I used to use at work. 🙄 In the end it took me nearly an hour to do the booking. I had to stop it to go find my passport, and stop it again to make sure I would receive the verification code via text (my first booking attempt failed because I didn’t get the text). And then I had to upload my passport details and have my photo taken in 3D by the system… 😳 Overall, the process was ludicrously over zealous for a basic hotel booking and so complicated my husband wouldn’t have stood any chance of making the booking. I would have abandoned it myself and looked for alternative accommodation that I could have booked in a few clicks, but we were joining family who were already booked in (and they complained about the booking process too…).||Observations|The website points out that the hotel is not wheelchair accessible, there is no lift and that lower level rooms are downstairs from the lobby - ie in the basement. However, it should be noted that the hotel itself has a large flight of steps up to the entrance, and our ground floor room (which we had requested because hubby struggles with stairs) was in the annex, which was downstairs from the lobby… so he had to navigate two flights of steps to access our ground floor room, and to go in/out of the hotel four times. The room itself was small but adequate for our one night stay. Our double bed was pushed into the corner of the room so one of us wouldn’t be able to get out without climbing over the other, so we had to move it. The plug socket behind the bed which hubby needed to plug in his sleep apnea machine wouldn’t accept a plug, so we had to unplug the bedside light.||Positives|The room was very clean. The bed was comfortable and so were the pillows, it was good to have some really supportive ones. Good shower with overhead rain shower plus a hand shower attachment, plenty of hand/bodywash, shampoo and even toothpaste. Plenty of power points, plus separate USB sockets. The two members of staff we saw during our brief stay were very amenable and friendly. The lounge area is bright and comfortable and there is a separate space to sit and...