Great Location for the West End (Holiday Inn London Regents Park)

Member Name: flodombey

Product:	Holiday Inn London Regents Park
Date:	21/06/09 (30 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great value for money, smoking rooms available

Disadvantages: High prices in the bar, some dodgy service

My mother and I stayed at this central London hotel in February 2009 whilst visiting the capital on a theatre break. We were very impressed with the location and facilities of this hotel and would certainly consider it again for future stays in London.

We paid an advance room rate of £79 for the room on a Saturday night which is pretty good given its proximity to Oxford St and the West End. I believe that the Holiday Inn chain do have various special offers on throughout the year and its well worth checking their website before booking, also the earlier you book the better the rate you will get (in general). We booked before christmas for our February stay and hence the room rate was so reasonable.

We took a cab from Euston although we could have walked it easily enough, the cab cost around £6 which shows how close it is. On arrival we were impressed to see that it has a proper porch for cabs etc to drive under which drops you right at the front door of the hotel. These doors lead straight into the lobby which is fairly small given the size of the hotel, the bar and restaurant are situated on the first floor so the ground floor literally only contains the reception desk and access to the lifts along with concierge and a cash machine (which charges extortionate rates to use - so try and avoid if at all possible!).

There is also an internet booth on the ground floor and the hotel boasts of high speed internet access being available, I did not use so cannot comment.

The check in process was easy enough and we were given a room on the third floor. One of the reasons we picked this particular hotel is that they still offer smoking rooms which suited my mom, a smoker, well. I don't personally smoke but dont have a problem with those that do, as a non smoker I did think the room smelled awfully of stale smoke but then I totally expected that from a smoking room.

The room was lovely (aside from the smell) and had twin beds, two large windows looking on to the street below and all the usual facilities you would expect, TV, kettle etc and a good, clean, decent sized en suite bathroom with both shower and bath.

There was a radiator in the room which was able to be adjusted to suit and this was handy as mom had the window open while she smoked and being February it was absolutely freezing outside, we were able to get the temperature back up with the radiator though and left it up high while we went out to ensure the room was lovely and toasty on our return.

The location is absolutely great, literally about 3 blocks from Oxford Street and within walking distance of the west end, we took cabs mainly because we were wearing heels for the theatre but found its pretty well located, far enough from the noise and bustle to be fairly quiet during the night but close enough to ensure easy access to everything.

After returning to the hotel post theatre we decided to have a drink in the bar before hitting the hay, this is the only part of my experience I was not very happy with. On two points really - firstly, the cost of two large glasses of dry white wine was £14!! Now I know this is London but honestly!! I had bought a bottle for less at the theatre a few hours before. I actually asked the bar man to repeat the amount because I was certain I had misheard. Anyway, just bear this in mind and take your own drinks for your room if you are on a budget.

The other thing which was a little annoying was the service of the bar staff. When we arrived it was quite late, probably around 11pm, however the bar was listed as being open til midnight and there were a few other guests around. There were two staff in the bar, one wiping tables and one behind the actual bar but on the phone. Neither paid any attention to my mom and me stood at the bar even though the guy on the phone turned and stared straight at us as we approached. He finished his conversation after a few more minutes before serving us without a word of an apology. It was a bit poor really.

We did not eat in the hotel the following morning, opting instead to get better value (and probably service) at Euston station instead.

From a value for money and location point of view this place was great and ticked a lot of boxes but some of the service was questionable and the price of wine is high in the bar, yes I would stay here again but would ensure I took my own alcohol to avoid getting swindled!

Summary: Very good hotel, wonderful location