An Admiral Hotel (Hotels in London in general)

Name: Belfastgirl

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Product:	Hotels in London in general
Date:	18/02/04 (161 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheap, Friendly, Clean

Disadvantages: Lots of Stairs, No Lift

Usually, when I go away for a short break, I usually end up staying in Youth Hostels along with my husband. In most places they are just as good as low budget hotels, but not so in London. Last year we went to see Bon Jovi play in Hyde Park and stayed in this absolutely awful Youth Hostel, so when we discussed our latest trip to London, we both agreed that this time we would go with a "hotel".

After much searching around online, it seemed that if you wanted to get a decent hotel in London, then you had to be willing to pay BIG money. Until I discovered TripAdvisor.com - they give reports on hotels from around the world, giving you personal experiences of the standards of the accommodation.

To cut a long story short, we discovered The Admiral Hotel. After a name search on google, I discovered their website, and thought it looked great. One email to the owner later and we were given the price of £55 per night for a double room with a bathroom. Yay, no more shared toilets!

It was simple to book online using a credit card - they take your details, but like most hotels, do not charge you anything on it, unless you fail to turn up.

The Admiral hotel is situated on Sussex Gardens, which is just around the corner from Paddington Tube and Rail stations, therefore meaning that it is easy to access, and is great for anyone going there for a short break. The street outside is quite busy, but we did not find it to be too noisy while we were there.

The Admiral Hotel is a family run business, and is extremely friendly. From the outside it looks like all the other 19th Century townhouses that are adjacent to it, on the inside it is beautifully kept - so unlike other budget accommodation in London.

We were greeted by Glor
ia, who runs the hotel with her husband Frank.

Our room was no. 11, which meant we had to walk up a lot of stairs to get to it - 4 flights, with the last set being particularly steep. There was no lift available - but believe me, this was the only downside of the hotel.

The Admiral Hotel offers a variety of rooms, from singles to family rooms for up to 5 people. Our Double room was small, as you would expect, and the double bed was a touch on the small side, but every effort had been made to make the room comfortable - lovely soft carpets, mirrors to make the room look bigger, television, tea and coffee facilities, a direct dial telephone and a toilet and shower. The shower had warm water at all times of the day.

I also noticed that there was a ceiling fan, which obviously would be very useful in the hot summer months, and for those visiting in the winter as we did, the heating is on so the rooms are nice an cozy.

Everything was very clean and tidy, with someone coming in to clean the room each day. It does make a difference to see this being done, from various reports that I have heard of other London Hotels, it seems that such high standards are something of a rarity in cheaper hotels in London.

Breakfast is included in the price of the room, and it is served in the basement of the house, which is just as lovely as the rest of it. You get the choice of either a full English breakfast, or a continental one, this is served by Gloria and another very pleasant girl between 8am and 9am.

According to their web site, The Admiral Hotel can only provide parking facilities if you have requested them with your booking - from looking at the outside of the hotel, there never seemed to be much room to park..

I found this to be a lovely place, one that I would recommend to others, and somewhere which I s
hall certainly return to. When we arrived, the sign said "No vacancies", and I'm not surprised, affordable but clean and comfortable accommodation is difficult to come across in some big cities, never mind the little personal touches that this place has that gives it character.

For more information on the Admiral Hotel, their website is:
http://www.admiral-hotel.com/index.html

Hotel Address:
143 Sussex Gardens,
Hyde Park
London
W2 2RY.

Summary: