Stayo — Local services in London

I had high hopes for this Stayo Southbank apartment where I was spending a work-related weeklong trip to London, but—to be frank—I was really disappointed. I’m often in Europe for work, and this is one of the poorer apartment accommodations that I have ever booked. I want to give an honest review; so, to start out: the apartment was not as expensive as other options I was looking at, so perhaps I expected too much. However, I had read a number of glowing reviews of Stayo’s properties before I booked, and I think that those were overblown.||After booking the apartment through Booking.com, I was peppered with many separate emails from the Stayo company that seems to manage properties across London. Some of these emails were repeatedly sent, which became annoying. Check in was easy, automated, and contactless, and the day before arriving, we were assigned unit 4—one floor up from the ground, right over the Stayo company office, which was downstairs. Like many flats in London, this was small, and I think more than two people in this apartment would be uncomfortably full.||My biggest complaint about the apartment—and this was unit 4 of Stayo Southbank—so this might not apply across the board—was that it was far too hot in the apartment itself. I travel a lot in Europe, so I know that air conditioning is rare (and, of course, there was no air conditioning in this apartment). However, the ventilation in the apartment was incredibly poor, so that there was no cross breeze, and the humidity from the bathroom would linger in the apartment for hours and hours. The bedroom window barely opened, and the living space only had a sliding door that opened without a screen, which meant bugs flew in the apartment constantly when the door was open to cool off the apartment. My alarm clock includes a thermometer and humidity meter, and at one point in the late afternoon, the bedroom was over 27 degrees Celsius/81 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity indoors well over 70%. The bedroom never cooled below 25 degrees Celsius/77 degrees Fahrenheit, even when it was so chilly outside that you needed a jacket! I always slept poorly because it was so hot and humid indoors. After our first night, we emailed the management, and they promised a spare fan, which after a follow up email was delivered. We were not in London during a heat wave or it was even exceptionally warm, so I can’t imagine what would happen when the temperatures spike. Of course, the problems could be specific to unit 4 and the ventilation there; however, based on my experience, I would not recommend this property if you are sensitive to heat and traveling to London in the summer.||The furnishings in the apartment were fairly basic. The bed was exceedingly squishy and uncomfortable, and the two duvets left in the apartment were too thick and warm for sleeping in a hot apartment. The kitchen was not particularly well equipped, and there was no furniture on the balcony, which would have made the stay more pleasant. There was a minimal amount of everything from toilet paper to dishwasher tabs, and there was no dish soap or sponges, so we immediately had to dash out to the store to buy things to equip the apartment at a basic level. It felt like Stayo was cutting corners to save money—and the apartment was cheaper than many in London when we booked—but it was still incredibly disappointing. I wish I had known all this in advance.||All that said, the location of Stayo Apartments Southbank was great. It was near the Tate Modern and Borough Market, and the apartment a quick walk to various public transportation options; in fact, I mainly walked across the Thames to do lots of things I wanted or needed to do. For a tourist stay in London—or a business trip where you need easy access to the Underground—the location was the biggest (and...

I had high hopes for this Stayo Southbank apartment where I was spending a work-related weeklong trip to London, but—to be frank—I was really disappointed. I’m often in Europe for work, and this is one of the poorer apartment accommodations that I have ever booked. I want to give an honest review; so, to start out: the apartment was not as expensive as other options I was looking at, so perhaps I expected too much. However, I had read a number of glowing reviews of Stayo’s properties before I booked, and I think that those were overblown.||After booking the apartment through Booking.com, I was peppered with many separate emails from the Stayo company that seems to manage properties across London. Some of these emails were repeatedly sent, which became annoying. Check in was easy, automated, and contactless, and the day before arriving, we were assigned unit 4—one floor up from the ground, right over the Stayo company office, which was downstairs. Like many flats in London, this was small, and I think more than two people in this apartment would be uncomfortably full.||My biggest complaint about the apartment—and this was unit 4 of Stayo Southbank—so this might not apply across the board—was that it was far too hot in the apartment itself. I travel a lot in Europe, so I know that air conditioning is rare (and, of course, there was no air conditioning in this apartment). However, the ventilation in the apartment was incredibly poor, so that there was no cross breeze, and the humidity from the bathroom would linger in the apartment for hours and hours. The bedroom window barely opened, and the living space only had a sliding door that opened without a screen, which meant bugs flew in the apartment constantly when the door was open to cool off the apartment. My alarm clock includes a thermometer and humidity meter, and at one point in the late afternoon, the bedroom was over 27 degrees Celsius/81 degrees Fahrenheit with humidity indoors well over 70%. The bedroom never cooled below 25 degrees Celsius/77 degrees Fahrenheit, even when it was so chilly outside that you needed a jacket! I always slept poorly because it was so hot and humid indoors. After our first night, we emailed the management, and they promised a spare fan, which after a follow up email was delivered. We were not in London during a heat wave or it was even exceptionally warm, so I can’t imagine what would happen when the temperatures spike. Of course, the problems could be specific to unit 4 and the ventilation there; however, based on my experience, I would not recommend this property if you are sensitive to heat and traveling to London in the summer.||The furnishings in the apartment were fairly basic. The bed was exceedingly squishy and uncomfortable, and the two duvets left in the apartment were too thick and warm for sleeping in a hot apartment. The kitchen was not particularly well equipped, and there was no furniture on the balcony, which would have made the stay more pleasant. There was a minimal amount of everything from toilet paper to dishwasher tabs, and there was no dish soap or sponges, so we immediately had to dash out to the store to buy things to equip the apartment at a basic level. It felt like Stayo was cutting corners to save money—and the apartment was cheaper than many in London when we booked—but it was still incredibly disappointing. I wish I had known all this in advance.||All that said, the location of Stayo Apartments Southbank was great. It was near the Tate Modern and Borough Market, and the apartment a quick walk to various public transportation options; in fact, I mainly walked across the Thames to do lots of things I wanted or needed to do. For a tourist stay in London—or a business trip where you need easy access to the Underground—the location was the biggest (and...

We stayed for three weeks in a one bedroom at 2 Queensbury place. Unfortunately I can't recommend this company. It is a very good location in a good building but there were far too many issues. To start with we were notified a few days in advance that there was a problem with the lift. As it turned out our unit was on what was really the 6th floor (7th American) which was 82 steps. They never fixed the lift the whole time. I never saw anyone working on it.

When we arrived their automated key system didn't work. We had to go down and get fobs out of the lockers, which was ok. But they didn't really believe me about it not working until I finally took a video with one of their maintenance people. Eventually then they fixed it.

The apartment is theoretically nice, and the appliances are good. But the furniture is the cheapest possible and not in the best repair. The also had no window treatments, just shades which did not keep light out. They had no freezer and so no way to keep ice. We bought ice as needed and kept it in the refrigerator while it lasted, but that's pretty ridiculous. Even the cheapest hotel has an ice maker.

The place to store clothing is like a college dorm. A couple of baskets and then a rack for hanging clothes, but no hangars when we arrived. We went to get hangars along with everything else because they supply almost nothing. They have plates and silverware and some pots and pans, but no napkins, no placemats, no salt and pepper, no sponge, no cleaning liquid etc. The bathroom had a couple of tiny bars of soap.

There were other issues that we reported and were never fixed like the window in the living room that wouldn't stay where it was left unless you jammed it all the way open. The drain in the tub didn't work properly. The tile on the bathroom floor was cracked. Their solution on that was to crack it some more so they could have a sample. They did that the first week, but never fixed it so we had cracked tile and a hole in the floor.

I could go on about smaller things, and there were several, but the bottom line is that there are lots of places to rent from. Just don't choose...