A place to rest my drunk head! (Tommy Miahs Raj Hotel (London))

Member Name: chugglebunny

Product:	Tommy Miahs Raj Hotel (London)
Date:	16/04/09 (343 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice decor, clean and cheap

Disadvantages: Needs referbishing and better doors

One of my close friends recently got married; the church is located in Islington, north London, being from Hertfordshire, and not wanting to miss out on anything booking a hotel seemed like the best option to stop worrying about missing last trains or driving and not being able to have a drink with the happy couple.

Another friend had already booked her room for herself and boyfriend for the night of the wedding; she mentioned it was close and cheap so I happily asked her to send me the link for Tommy Miahs Raj Hotel.

Booking / Price
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Rooms only seem to be available to book through Laterooms.com who is the booking agent for this hotel. The site was simple to find and use. The hotel has its own page and has full details of the services it provides as well as pictures and all address and contact details for the Raj Hotel.

The rates for the different types of rooms are displayed clearly and you can check availability and price before confirming anything.

We stayed for the one night on a Saturday. For an En-Suite double room we paid £60. Considering the price of a cab or the hassle we would have had with trains or parking, £30 each for my fiancé and I was cheap and perfect.

To book online you do not need to make a payment. They will take card details (both debit and credit accepted) to secure the booking then you will be charged on arrival.

We were sent confirmation of our booking via email along with directions and maps to the hotel.

Location
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The Raj Hotel is located on Essex Road in Islington. This is a nice long main road so is easy to access and is close to a lot of local shops etc. This does mean however that the view we had from the window of the hotel was of the road and bus stop and also made it a little noisy, but after enough alcohol I can easily sleep anywhere and this did not affect my sleep at all.

Checking In / Payment
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The website says check-in is 4pm; however we were able to check-in at 11am (as we had to be at the church for mid day), there was no trouble at all with this and we were politely informed the reception is manned 24 hours a day. We confirmed our booking and made our £60 payment before receiving our room key. As were informed of the time breakfast was (as this was included in our price) and that we were free to come and go at any time, as I said, since reception was always open. This was a relief, being a smaller family run hotel I was a little worried about locked doors at 11pm when the plan for the reception and the evening did not include being back any time before then!

We were given our keys after the single payment went through no trouble at all, quick and easy and no hidden charges or booking fees! We were then shown to our room.

The Room
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Our room was on the second floor where there was elevator or stair access. It included a large (and very comfy) king size bed, one large window, a desk with mints and tea and coffee making facilities, as well as 2 bed side tables and a wardrobe. We also had a TV, although it never got turned on during our stay.

Unfortunately a negative was the door to our room. It was a single panel white door, with a single key simple lock. From the outside there is no handle. This made it tricky to lock the door behind you as you left the room, as there was nothing to pull the door tightly into the frame to be able to lock it. We ended up putting the key in, turning it slightly and using that to pull it tightly shut, before turning the key to lock it. Being a cheaper single lock door anyway, I didn't like not knowing if it was locked properly as I am sure even if it was, the door would be simple enough to knock down anyway. So a definite down point for anyone who intends to leave valuables or likes their security.
I was pleased with the bathroom which was very roomy and bright, it had a toilet, basin and walk in shower.

After getting changed and heading to the church on Saturday AM and after a long day of weddings and lots of booze and partying in the evening, myself, my other half and 8 friends (who all stayed here) stumbled back to the hotel. We were greeted kindly and plopped straight into bed. I am not a fussy sleeper and can sleep usually anywhere half comfortable. I was happily surprised that our king bed had a foam mattress and was very comfortable indeed.

Appearance / Cleanliness
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The hotel is quite small, I am not sure how many rooms they have in total, but I would guess no more than 30. It is quite quant and is family run. I liked this aspect as I felt more like a guest in a home than a paying customer. I also liked the themes and decoration. Being a "Raj" hotel it had been decorated to suit, with a lot of very pretty silks and brilliant colour curtains and canopy for the bed. A lot of purples and oranges were used along with traditional looking Indian beading. This theme flowed well with the rooms, halls and restaurant as well as reception area, with authentic ornaments and paintings on display as well. I thought this gave an added bit of charm to the place and gave the whole place personality.

The rooms were clean and beds made, towels folded etc like you would expect anywhere but as our stay was only for a night, I can't comment on any housekeeping routines.

The stairwells and hallways were slightly worn and could do with a bit of refurbishment, paint on the banisters was chipping and carpets in some of the hallways were raised up. This was not a major issue and did not affect our stay but is to be noted.

Breakfast / Checking Out
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Breakfast was included in our room price and was served between 7-10am, I flopped out of bed at 9am and heading down to the restaurant. As part of the breakfast included in your price you could help yourself to an array of cereals, toast, bread, muffins, croissants, fresh fruit juice, yoghurt and fruit. For an additional £3 you could have a fried breakfast. We opted for this as my stomach needed a little something more to absorb the red wine! I was happy to pay it and received a very generously sized and tasty fry up! Lovely!

Checking out was simply a case of handing our keys back to reception and being thanked for our custom. Easy peasy!

Conclusion
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I was happy with our stay here and if in the area again for a short stop, I would stay again. It isn't a fantastic hotel by any means but certainly isn't that bad. It's self classified as a 2* but I would stay it meets this and then perhaps heading towards a 3*. For the cheap price we paid we received a comfy bed, a clean room, a nice bathroom and somewhere local to where we needed to be. I enjoyed the decor and the breakfast greatly and think it is a hotel with real charm and personality considering I was not expecting anything but a plain room and a bed. I did get a happy little surprise. The staff members were very helpful and friendly and the hotel was clean and easy to deal with.

It made our stay simple and pleasant in a kind of forgetful way. In years to come I am sure this hotel won't stand out in my mind, no bad experiences to remind me of it and no award winning features to bring back memories of our stay. Quite frankly, I think that's a win/win conclusion. It served its purpose and I am satisfied I had a safe, easy and clean stay somewhere after a brilliant wedding and fabulous party.

Anyone looking to stop for a short break I probably wouldn't suggest longer than a night or 2 but for a single night it certainly did ok for me.

Thanks for reading :)

Summary: Indifferently happy with it overall!