I stayed in a Royal hotel that must make me queen (The Royal National Hotel (London))

Member Name: pornstarx2

Product:	The Royal National Hotel (London)
Date:	10/10/06 (846 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great location, good value for money & nice food

Disadvantages: Horrible bathrooms

For my 21st Birthday my boyfriend and I were planning to go to London to get my Birthday present. We decided to drive down which I though would be too long to drive there and back on the same day so we opted to drive down the night before and book into a hotel. So the day before (the night we wanted to stay) I spent 3 hours trawling the Internet looking for somewhere suitable.
It was quite difficult really, as we needed somewhere that wasn't too bad but in a good area close to the tube. At the last minute all the decent hotels were full which left a lot of 2 star hostel type hotels, which had some pretty horrible reviews.
After a painful time I finally came across the Royal National Hotel which seemed half decent well there wasn't reports of rooms being ransacked put it that way.

THE ROYAL NATION HOTEL
The Royal National Hotel is London's biggest hotel with a total of 1,400 rooms. The hotel is rated at being 3*. The hotel is split into 2 buildings by the large outdoor driveway. The hotel has 3 very large restaurants where you go for your breakfast and evening meal if you have paid for them and two receptions the north and the south. The hotel has some great facilities such as
*Downstairs café
*Cocktail Bar
*Traditional Pub
*Parking Facilities
*Concierge
*Vending Machines
*Internet facilities
*Concessionary rate for onsite gym

HOW TO BOOK AND RESERVATIONS
After deciding on the Hotel Royal National I thought I would have a look round for the best deal but unfortunately this hotel doesn't seem to go for any less than the flat rate of £85 per room per night including breakfast. There weren't any pricier rates but there were sadly no cheaper ones and I am pretty good at getting a good deal.
You can book online with most websites. Just type in Royal National Hotel in a search engine and it brings up all the operators that sell this hotel. Unfortunately for me as it was the same day of travel I couldn't find a reputable site that would let me book online so I logged on to the homepage of the hotel and rang the reservations line.
The lady on the end of the phone was pleasant enough she confirmed the price and advised that we would both get a full English breakfast the following morning which was great. She then only took my debit number, as a guarantee, which I thought, was very trustworthy as it was for the same night and I could have just made one up. I told them that we probably wouldn't be checking in till 22:00 maybe later as at some hotels they wont hold the room that long, but she that's no problem at all we have a 24 hour reception. Great Service so far.

LOCATION
The hotel was unbelievably easy to get to which was quite surprising. It is situated in Bloomsbury right next to Russell square Gardens on the Bedford Way which was very close to Woodburn Place and Tavistock Square which was perfect for us to get to as we travelled down on the M1 and used the A1 and A400.
The hotel was excellently situated for getting into the main shopping areas, as Russell Square tube was only a 2 minute walk away.
The area the hotel is in is very busy especially in rush hour so if you want to drive there I would suggest going early or late because we were getting caught up in traffic at 9 o clock.
The hotel is that well situated you would think you couldn't miss it well not until you have drove by it like we did. You may panic as the area is on one long 1 way system but if you follow the road in a circle you find the back very easily,
Although the hotel wasn't perfect as you are about to fund out the location was that good I would certainly stay here again just for ease of use.

ARRIVAL AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS
When we arrived at the hotel you drive straight into the middle of the hotel its like being in a drive thru American hotel check in. You then go down into the underground car park, which is charge at 15 for 24 hour, not bad value for money I don't think. Once you are up the stairs and in the reception you appreciate how big the hotel is. We arrived at 22:00 and usually you wouldn't expect to say many about but there were people everywhere. The pub was full, the cocktail bar was full there was a queue at the reception and the place was buzzing not in a bad way but in a very strange way. The hotel was mainly full of foreign travellers so I suppose they were on their holidays and were just letting their hair down like we do when we go away.

Once we got the reception we were asked to fill some details out and I noticed my name was spelt Mr Gemma lol how rude they thought I was a man on the phone!!! Honestly I don't sound like a man. Once we were given our key and directions to out room (trust me you need them the place is huge) we were asked if we wanted to pay now or at the end of the stay. I was wondering if they wanted my money or not so I paid straight away just in case I forgot the following day.

I was quite surprised at how busy the hotel was but the facilities were good and prices were good so you can't blame people for taking advantage of that. There were plenty of vending machines around which was good the bottled water was £1 which I thought was quite good value and crisps and chocolate same price as your local corner shop. There was a large desk where you could book theatre tickets, bus tickets and excursions etc. I also spotted something I had never seen before I know this might sound sad but it was a machine where you put your phone or ipod in and have it charged. I was very fascinated about how it did it but I wasn't allowed to look because my boyfriend thought I was silly.

Hint
There are lots of ways to get to your room because there are about a million sets of stairs and about 20 lifts so listen carefully to the receptionist's directions

THE ROOM
After finally finding out room we had a bit of trouble getting in it took 6 goes and finally we were in. it opened by a swipe card but for some reason it just didn't want to work.

Once we were in the room was quite cosy it was a decent size and very adequate for the 1 night out room over looked the middle of the hotel which was where the traditional pub was situated and we had the window open so it was quite loud but not in an annoying way it was nice to see people enjoying themselves for a change. I have read complaints about this but once the window was closed I couldn't hear anything.

The hotel is twin beds unless you request a double which we did I was told this probably wouldn't happen but when we got in I noticed we did in fact have a double bed which was very nice and comfortable luckily for me because I hate sleeping in hotel beds and when I can I take my own pillow and quilt (I know very sad) but I have a complete phobia but the bed was fine.

There was a small television in the room with the usual 5 channels and then itv2 and a couple of foreign channels, a dressing table with mirror, a wardrobe and bathroom with bath and shower. Unfortunately the bathroom was a bit grotty to say the least it was very dark and dingy with a lot of cracked and missing tiles and some mysterious black stuff. The tap also leaked and dripped all night, which was a bit annoying, but I couldn't have had a shower or bath there even if I stunk because it was just horrid. In the end I ran in and out to brush my teeth and to go to the toilet.


THE BREAKFAST
We set our alarms for an early start and were looking forward to a nice hearty breakfast and my boyfriend was making the usual threats if he doesn't get enough he was going to kill me etc and I was starving so was praying for some good food.
We weren't disappointed once we had located the restaurant we had been allocated we found a seat and had a look around. The restaurant was huge and was set out with big long tables like at school and then some smaller tables dotted around. The smaller tables all seemed to still have food on or people at them so we just sat in the middle of a school table. There were two breakfast areas the continental section, which seemed to have all the travellers around it. That consisted of rolls, toast, jams, juice and tea. The English section was a lot better there was a full fry up sausages, eggs, beans, tomatoes, hash browns, bacon the lot. There were also cereals, toast, tea, and juice.

The staff are quite strict that they see your yellow checking in cards as we left ours at out table by mistake and the chef said we must see it go and get it I think it was because if you didn't have one you had to pay but from what I could see there wasn't a room tariff which didn't include breakfast unless holiday groups had this sort of package.

The food was hot and very tasty it was just like being on holiday the only trouble was that some of the tea urns had gone cold not sure how but it left lots of full tea cups everywhere and the staff weren't very quick at clearing away. There was an excellent selection and I don't believe anyone could have gone hungry.

Breakfast was served from 7am until 10am.


OVERALL THOUGHTS
This may not be the nicest hotel in London but is clean enough for a night or two granted I wouldn't be able to spend a week there but a couple of nights wouldn't have killed me. Some people may not like the hotel because they prefer the bathrooms to be huge and white tiled and the rooms royal and spacious but lets face it £85 for two people aint going to get you the Ritz.
The hotel has a good feel, there are always lots of people around and everyone is friendly. The staff are not rude but many don't speak amazing English so they tend just to get on with it, which is fine by me.
The food was nice and the location was excellent so therefore I would visit this hotel again and I would recommend it to anyone visiting the area for a night two.

Just a note to say if you stay at this hotel and you use the Car Park and need to pay the congestion charge you can do this there but only with a credit card if you only have cash or a debit card you have to go looking for a shop that offers the service which can be quite difficult.

Summary: An adequate hotel