Marlin Apartments - Empire Square, London Bridge — Local services in London

Ok let me explain. I stayed 3 times with them over the month of July for 3 nights, 4 nights and 3 nights. The first time was actually a good experience but second and third went from bad to worse. Will speak only of the 3rd stay which is worst. I booked a balcony apartment which is supposedly not guaranteed unless you get an email confirmation which I specifically got for the 3rd stay. When we checked in after a very long day and train ride the staff member although very friendly was incompetent and untrained it seemed as she couldn't find our reservation but after numerous calls to her supervisor she found it and then we had to go through a telephone step by step process to get her to check us in and pay for the apartment and then the deposit. So after about an hour we finally got our keys and headed to the apartment only to find the keys don't open the door!!!?? Went back and she gave us a second set of keys which thankfully did open the apartment only to find out it is not a balcony apartment as per our reservation and payment. So went down again only to be told by staff and their supervisor that although we got confirmation for a balcony apartment this was not guaranteed!!? Anyway I was told they will try the next day to accommodate us. Next day I went down to see someone from Marlin but no one was there. Granted it is Sunday but they are supposed to be 24/7 manned. Anyway after 15 minutes wait a staff member came whom I had encountered on second visit and had found unhelpful but she manged to exceed herself this time by being cold and so unhelpful and with a condescending demeanour and stuck to my words literally like when I said I paid you for a balcony and you took my money she literally said you didn't pay me !!?? As if. Anyway l, we had decided to just stick with the apartment given but we had a small issue of the bathroom fan not working which I informed this lady about and asked her to log it in to get it fixed as bathroom had no windows and was very stuffy without fan. She just said OK and did nothing. I asked her politely to write a note or something but she refused and kept saying I told you OK. I had insisted because I'm my previous stays I had asked for little things from the reception but never happened unless I followed up 2 or 3 times. She utterly refused to write anything and even told me to go ahead and complain to management and spelled out her name for me !!? Obviously no consequences for complaints against staff in this company. I emailed her supervisor who sort of apologised and promised to refund the extra money paid for balcony. 3 days later on check out I wasn't able to check out as the refund wasn't processed and had to wait 20 minutes until it was finally processed to check out and run out of the premises as I couldn't wait to leave !. Badly managed with no sender of Customer satisfaction or...

Absolutely terrible experience with Marlin Apartments especially their staff. For the cost of the apartment, it’s extremely dated with basically no amenities apart from tea and coffee. The bathroom has mould and there was a lingering smell of smoke.

DO NOT BOOK WITH MARLIN AS A SOLO FEMALE GUEST. A “maintenance” guy tried to force his way into our apartment. I was luckily with my partner and you’d expect him to go away once we said we were busy and not expecting anyone but rather than doing that he still tried to unlock the door and enter. At that point my partner forced the door shut and we tried to put the chain lock on, which didn’t work.

At that point we rang reception to let them know about this situation, as we had not been told about any maintenance person and felt worried this could have been an imposter trying his luck. Receptionist was absolutely awful at handling the situation, sounded like she was going to burst out laughing and passed it on to her manager who was equally as bad. Just kept saying that it was one of their maintenance team and we had nothing to be worried about. Which leaves a couple of questions; why were we put in a room that needed maintenance? Why were we not told? When we asked Matteo the manager he just said “we have over 200 apartments we can’t keep track on all of them” which is a huge security concern.

We then asked as a form of compensation for the stress if the late check out fee could be refunded which they flat out refused. By the way you have to pay an extra £30 to check out at 12:00 which is just standard check out time across the industry! They didn’t offer us to change rooms or anything. To make matters worse a short while after my conversation extremely loud drilling work started in the apartment next door for about an hour and then again bright and early in the morning.

As someone with PTSD from assault and considering this apartment was booked as a birthday treat for some privacy and relaxation, the staff at Marlin Apartments really ruined my day. The insincerity and lack of understanding was almost incredulous. With the money you’d spend here you can find much better value and most importantly safer accommodation in the area, so don’t bother with...

My partner and I stayed in one of the apartments a few weeks ago, and are sad to say it was not what we expected. Being a regular traveller and having stayed in many hotels and apartments in London, I expected spending £200 to get me accommodation to a high standard. The receptionist was very helpful and friendly, and gave us the key to apartment number 3. We were greeted with the tiniest kitchen/living area - so far away from any of the photos advertised on your website, I believe there has got to be some element in truth when it comes to marketing, not just the same bed linen. The carpets were absolutely disgusting, there were stains and dirt all over the carpet in the bedroom, and the rug in the living area was just appalling. The 'flat screen tv' advertised in 'all' apartments on the website, was the same enormous grey box that my grandmother owns. Having said all this, I kindly asked the receptionist move us into another apartment after explaining what was wrong and she kindly obliged with no questions.

Apartment 167 was so much better in size and layout so I felt I could not complain a second time. But the rug in the living area was just as horrendous as apartment 3, and I genuinely gagged when my partner pointed out the toenail underneath the coffee table. The windows were filthy and the dishwasher didn't work (I later found out from the receptionist when we checked out that we weren't supposed to put the dishwasher tablet into the tablet compartment, but to just throw it in the machine), this wasn't made clear anywhere in the apartment or welcome pack but we managed to hand wash our plates with shampoo when we wanted to reuse them so I suppose not all was lost. Two of the saucepans in the cupboard also had food still stuck to the bottom of them when we got there.

It's probably rather ridiculous to complain about the first apartment when we didn't even have to stay there, but this was a surprise Christmas weekend away for my partner and having read the website reviews and scoured the website I really was expecting everything it...