I stayed here while I was doing the London Marathon. I'd booked it quite far in advance (the moment I'd got a ballot place), so I got it for about as cheap as I could get it. Overall, I'm reviewing it from the perspective of both a London Marathon entrant and a regular guest. Some thoughts: LOCATION: The location is pretty good; you're a short walk from Southwark Bridge and the City, as well as the Shard, Borough Market, the Globe and London Bridge station on the south side of the river. Indeed, the fact that it was so close to London Bridge station (the trains from there are probably the best way to get to the London Marathon start lines) was essentially the reason I booked this place. All in all, the location cannot be faulted whatsoever. ROOMS: I stayed in one of the standard rooms, and it was fine. Nothing too much to complain about, but nothing too wild to rave about. The bed could have been a bit comfier, and I think the layout could have been slightly improved to have allowed more floorspace (maybe shrink the bathroom a bit and have a combined toilet/shower room?), but I get that this is a budget(ish) hotel in Central London and space is a commodity. DECOR: Themed to movies and musicals! A fun design, and there were some cool touches here and there, but it was a little cheaply done in places, which detracted from the experience. If this is what constitutes a price difference between ibis styles hotel a regular ibis hotel, I'd probably stick with a regular ibis hotel in future. STAFF: Staff seemed fine. Helpful if a bit reserved. BREAKFAST: Rather disappointing if I'm honest, especially from a marathon runner's perspective. The breakfast options are essentially continental, which in principle is fine, especially given that the clientele for this hotel seemed to be largely Continental European more than British. However, it would still have been nice if they'd offered a few uniquely British options, in particular porridge (I had to sneak in an instant porridge pot down to breakfast on marathon day, and saw other runners doing the same). Also, the quality of the stuff on offer generally speaking was a bit hit or miss. Powdery cakes, gloopy jam, a disorganised buffet, and some really odd things on offer (who has hummus and sliced red pepper for breakfast?!?). Another beef I had was the breakfast opening time on marathon day itself. I, as well as many other guests running the marathon, basically had to descend on the breakfast room at opening time (7 am), which was practically as late as we could have gone for decent pre-marathon fuelling for a start time of between 9:30 and 10:30 am. I really think they should have opened breakfast a bit earlier as a one-off. My parents decided to come down as well and stayed at a nearby Premier Inn, which started serving at 5:30 am. While I don't think they needed to go that far, starting breakfast half an hour to an hour earlier (akin to the weekday start times) wouldn't have gone amiss. Given that the
Outstanding
72 Reviews