The Mayflower

I was deceived into booking into the Mayflower Hotel by an outrageously flattering website and recommendation from Condé Nast. What appeared to be an excellent rate for a spacious, well equipped room was in fact a poor deal on the smallest hotel room I've ever set eyes on. The apparently slightly-below-standard-sized double bed reached from the partition separating the sink (in the bedroom, not the bathroom) to the far end of the room, with a very narrow channel separating the only accessible side of the bed from the poorly built, shallow, inadequate wardrobe. The shoe-box feel of the room was compounded by the angled wall at the foot of the bed.

Dissatisfied with the room, we were, reluctantly offered another which was marginally bigger - the bed was in this room was only against one wall(!) The usable size of the room (including the bed which felt smaller than a standard double) was roughly 7' square - smaller than some hotel bathrooms! Again, the quality of the furniture was very poor, the blind was torn and frayed along the length of one side. The bathroom was basic, and not well cleaned which may have contributed to the slight unpleasant smell.

The noise from the road is almost unbearable, but is marginally more palatable than the shrieking caged birds in the 'juice bar'.

Breakfast is included, but isn't a saving grace for this terrible hotel. A small selection of unidentified cereals, foul tea and coffee, and artificial-tasting unidentifed juice was topped only by the croissants which gave the impression they were baked a week previously. I didn't pluck up the courage to try the plates of two very-cheap looking processed meats or dry cheese. Cereal with milk had been spilled on the floor of the breakfast room before we reached it, and was still unattended when we had finished.

The staff are less than enthusiastic, an appropriate reflection of the hotel.

The hotel's website is entirely misleading, using words such as "spacious comfort", "luxury", "state-of-the-art" and "elegant" to describe what would be a step down from the average student halls of residence.

This is a dirty, pretentious hotel with poor facilities and extremely rude staff. When reporting a rat in my room (quite a large one), the reception staff asked me to 'open the balcony door and let it out as there is no porter available'. No restaurant for evening meal and the furniture in the room has signs all over it saying 'damages will be charged for'. Very unwelcoming indeed. The bathroom in my room had mould and i got a splinter from the 'antique effect wooden flooring'. I am not particurlarly fussy, but this hotel really is dreadful.

Booked a one bedroom apt. in good faith having stayed with this hotel on Trebovir Road before. On arrival, taken some distance to "newly refurbished' property with an extremely busy 3 lane road literally metres from the bedroom window. The website has flash pictures of both bathroom and kitchen, however the substance is not there with very poor/dirty/minimal cooking equipment , a significant drainage problem in the shower, and a certainly not new, rock hard bed. Upon expressing our dismay at our location, the staff replied we should have filled out a special request at the time of booking and no, they did not have any other vacancy to relocate us. A done on the cheap renovaton of an older building in a poor location. Avoid.