Hotel Hopping in London – June 2006

When we were on holiday in Paris, my aunt and I decided to head on to London for the weekend. We had initially booked Rose Court Hotel, which was near the Paddington Station, as the price seemed affordable. Well, we were in the shock of our lives: the place looked like it could come out of a horror movie, or perhaps I exaggerate. The receptionist greeted us with not much enthusiasm, but as we started to proceed to the room, the carpet was worn with holes starting to appear, the stairs creaked, and the lift looked like it was about to malfunction at any moment. It shouldn’t be called a hotel, maybe a hostel or motel at best.

When we got to our room, we were close to horrified, there was remnants of food and a scrunched up aluminum foil tucked away behind the cabinet, the bed sheet looked clean but severely worn out and old. The toilet was not in any better condition, the toilet seat looked like it had not been cleaned for some time. The room was also dusty.

I know you get the quality you pay for, but it was ridiculous. We immediately headed out to search for another more comfortable. We wasted the whole day looking for a hotel who could take us in (most of the hotels nearby were already fully booked). Fortunately for us, we stumbled across The Allandale Hotel and managed to book a room. Unfortunately for us, the room was only available the next day at the The Allandale Hotel and it was fully booked after that. Desperate to get out of the Rose Court Hotel, we hurriedly made the arrangements for the room at The Allandale Hotel.

After tolerating the room at Rose Court Hotel for one night, we checked out with haste the next day. The room was so horrid; I didn’t even take photos of the room, as I do not even want to remember.

The Allandale Hotel

When we got to The Allandale Hotel, I was bowled over by the staff’s friendliness and eagerness to help. They even offered advice on where to go and where to get tickets to plays at a cheaper price. Now, The Allandale Hotel may not be a big hotel (it was refurbished old Victorian house) and so the rooms are limited and not that big, but the hotel definitely exudes a cozy and comfy ambience. As there were no guests at the time we checked in, they gave us a short tour of the place and an overview of the rooms.

   

We managed to get one of the bigger rooms located at the basement, so we had to go down a flight of  narrow stairs.

There was plenty of room and compared to the Rose Court Hotel, it was like heaven and… Ok let’s not go there. See pretty pictures.

     

There was a small balcony with flowers planted, and the bed was directly facing this flowery view. And this was where we stayed for one night.

 
When we wanted to extend out stay for one more day, the staff even went out of their way to find us another hotel to lodge. They managed to get us into a hotel nearby that had just undergone renovation. I can’t remember the name but it was not as good as The Allandale Hotel, the room had no windows (well, there were windows but they couldn’t be opened and were facing a wall). But it was better than Rose Court Hotel.

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