In May, Mr Cheetarah and myself needed a hotel for a night in London as a stopover between flying into Heathrow and getting the Eurostar from St Pancras International. After extensive research (am I odd that I enjoy the planning stage of a holiday?) I picked the King's Cross St Pancras Premier Travel Inn for our 1 night stay.

Everything was booked online 2 months in advance, with a confirmation email promptly received and the promise of a text reminder of our booking as well. On a room-only basis, our Sunday night stay cost £90 for a double. We elected to skip the breakfast at the hotel (a £7.50 pp all-you-can-eat buffet) in favour of one of the cafes in St Pancras International.

We had been advised that our room would be available from 2pm which we thought would be perfect timing for our arrival before we were to head back out for the rest of the day. As we maybe should expect though, it didn't quite work to plan.... We actually got through Heathrow Terminal 5 and onto the tube much quicker than anticipated and so arrived King's Cross just after 12 noon. As you come out of King's Cross onto Euston Road, you turn left and walk 150m to York Way. Turning left here, the hotel is 150m on your right. Even with suitcases and pedestrian crossings, this can easily be done in 5 minutes, meaning we arrived earlier than expected. The polite receptionist advised us that unfortunately we were still a little too early to check in, however they would ensure a room was available for us within half an hour. We headed into the adjoining Costa café for a much-needed cold drink (it would later turn out that we were in London on the hottest day of the year so far!) before a smooth check-in procedure enable us to go to our room.

The hotel is set out around a central atrium area (which encloses the reception and lifts to all floors) with rooms either looking out onto the atrium or the surrounding streets. We were allocated an atrium (or "courtyard" as the hotel calls them) room on the 2nd floor. These rooms do not have opening windows and so you are entirely reliant on the air conditioning. This was switched on for our arrival - we were thankful for the lovely cool room - and it remained on for the duration of our stay (the lowest level was quiet enough for sleeping through). The advantage of these rooms is that there is no risk of potential street noise (even on a Sunday afternoon/evening the area was fairly busy with cars, buses and taxis).

The room itself was clean and bright, furnished with accents of the Premier Travel Inn colours of purple and gold. Our double room had a king-size bed with 2 pillows (2 extra in the wardrobe, and more can be provided on request); bedside units; a desk/dressing table with chair; open wardrobe with hanging rail, hangers and shelves; flat-screen tv; telephone; hairdryer; trouser press. Tea and coffee making facilities were provided and extra tea and coffee arrived fairly promptly after being requested via room service.
The en-suite bathroom had a (reasonably powerful fixed-head) shower over the bath, and combination shampoo/shower-gel was provided together with liquid handwash, 2 hand towels, 2 bath towels, and a bath mat. There wasn't much room in the bathroom for storage of toiletries. Additional toiletries in travel-sized packs were available for a small charge. As we only stayed for one night, I can't comment on the housekeeping service.

There is no in-room safe, however the reception does offer a valuable-storage facility, as well as a luggage facility on the day of your departure should you wish to continue exploring without your suitcases before travelling later in the day.

The hotel requests that room keys (swipe-entry cards) are left at reception when you go out of the hotel and the reception is staffed throughout the night. We found the reception staff to be pleasant and friendly at all times.

A comfortable night's sleep was followed by a quick check-out and we took advantage of one of the main benefits of this hotel. Retracing your steps to King's Cross, you are then a maximum of 5 minutes walk from St Pancras International. For those who haven't quite kept up with the maths (!) this means the hotel is within an easy 10 minute walk from the Eurostar station.

The location of this hotel has to be its biggest selling point. Even if you aren't going on the Eurostar and just staying within London, the proximity to the King's Cross St Pancras tube station (with at least half a dozen lines) means travel within the city is incredibly easy.

We weren't looking for anything beyond a clean and comfortable bed for the night, and this hotel certainly delivered. In fact it exceeded my expectations and I wouldn't hesitate to stay here again when visiting London.


Extra info
As at summer 2008, current internet rates for a double room are £110 per room per night Mon-Thu, £90 per room per night Fri-Sun. These are on a room-only basis, with a buffet breakfast available at £7.50 per person per day.
Car parking is available in the nearby NCP car park (£22 for 24hrs) - the hotel is not in the congestion zone.
Internet access is available.
Check-in: 2pm
Check-out: 12 noon

Address: 26-30 York Way, King's Cross, London, N1 9AA
Telephone: 0870 990 6414
Fax: 0870 990 6415
Web: http://www.premierinn.com/pti/home.do