King Soloman Palace Hotel

Our daughter dances frequently in London which fairly often, requires a one or two night stopover. This becomes quite expensive so whilst searching around dozens and dozens and dozens of hotels in this and several nearby areas, we came across the King Solomon.

The price was the main attraction-many others were at LEAST twice/three/four times expensive-so we booked it.....rather last minute !

The day after booking it, I went on this website and began reading the - mostly dreadful - reviews and started to panic !

I am SO fussy when it comes to hotels ( daughters dancing takes us occasionally to Blackpool......say no more about hotels THERE ! ) so I immediately started searching again for another hotel. However, as it was only a day before we were due to go, I really didn't have the time or inclination or-as previousy stated-money, to book somewhere else, so decided to 'risk' it. If it was as awful as everyone said, we would just go elsewhere.

So, expecting the worst, we arrived.

Location: Good-just off the M1, free parking, outside congestion zone, a 5-10 minute walk up what appeared to be a very safe high street to Golders Green Tube station and a direct 4-stop ride to Camden Tube station, which was a strong consideration.

Reception staff: OK, no prizes for polite chit chat but efficient enough.

Room: Basic but a decent size and clean with what appeared to be newish mattresses, small-but again clean-en suite bathroom with a hot, powerful shower. However, no lamps and tv with only four stations ! Yes, the corridors were narrow but not especially dark.

The fire alarm in the early afternoon was quite 'alarming' to say the least-didn't know if it was for real or not ? but as we had only popped back for ten minutes, we were on our way out again anyway.

Neither I, or my daughter, tried breakfast but my husband did on the first morning. I had warned him about the tuna salad !!! but it still came as a bit of shock ! There were bagels and bread etc but no toaster.

So no, the Ritz it is most definately NOT ! but overall-perhaps because I was honestly prepared for the Bates Motel ! - it was OK.

If you are just after a -cheap for London-bed/beds for the night, go for it. It is exactly what it says on the tin....a budget hotel. We literally showered and slept there-therefore spent very little time at the hotel.

If, however, you are wanting to relax and spend a little more time in the room/hotel, then I would probably advise you to pay more and stay elsewhere.

The worst thing we could say about it-and believe me, I really am fussy ! - is that we had to have four different key cards to get in the room as each time we returned to our room, the key/card wouldn't work ! Luckily, we were quite close to reception to go and get another one but it would have been a joke if we had been on the top floor !

Brilliant location for the fabulous Camden markets.

We have only stayed there one night and thank god for that because I couldn't have stayed for a second one...

The location of the hotel is not bad, only a few minutes walk from the underground station. We stayed in the cheapest room (55 pounds) and it was awful. The room was stinking of fags, there was no TV and not even a bin!! The curtains would not close properly, so we had to use a hairclip to keep them together, the door kept shaking and creaking everytime someone walked past it and i know this is not the hotels fault but this drunk woman came at 2 am and she would not shut up! the breakfast was quite good.

Overall, it was not a very pleasant experience

Of course, it's hard to get a hotel in London, if you're on a budget. So we decided for 2 single rooms in King Salomon. Well it's everything else, then being central, but hey, i like a nice journey by the tube. The breakfast was very OK, eggs, cereals, white bread and rolls, strange salads (tuna), but also cheese, jam, chocolate cream and so on. The rooms were not large, but clean, although the walls could get a new paint. But i'm sleeping there, not living. I would maybe come back, but since London is such a large city, i would also test another hotel. Staff was very very friendly and helpful. Ask for a room upstairs!