York Hotel

I must say I was a little concerned after reading the negative reviews, however; I found the hotel very lovely. The new bed was the best I have every slept on in a hotel and the new linens were beautiful. I must say, some of the Marriott's properties I haved stayed at in the U.S. were not as nice. I found the staff to be very helpful and attentive. My only concern is that the bathroom needed updating and the towels needed to be bleached as they were quite tired looking.

I must say we found a wonderful restaurant about a block from the hotel.

It is called the Queen's Cottage Cafe & Restaurant. The address is 235 Maida Vale. My husband & I ate there once every day for our eight day stay. All the food is good, but I especially like their pancakes. They are wonderful as is there coffee! Eveything is reasonably priced. Give them a try, I don't think you will be disappointed. If you remember when you go, tell them Dorothy from Dallas recommened them to you.

I think the stars have fallen off somewhere. I'm booked in for three nights and I'm quite happy to lose all my money if I can find somewhere else!

Room is incredibly small, "shower" is just a showerhead poking out of the wall in the tiny cubicle bathroom, bathroom concetina door doesn't close. No fire escape instructions on the back of the room door and with the tiny winding corridors it's the first time I've ever actually wanted to look at this info.

Kitchen is a unit the size of the average refrigerator (which is fine as I didn't realise it was "self catering" when I booked so I'm not interested in using it).

Internet access is not working, and staff were completely unhelpful about finding an alternative. In fact staff attitude is very much one of we've got your money what are you going to do about it.

Maid "service" entered my room without knocking.

Walls are the thickness of tissue paper - could hear a conversation as clearly as tho it was in the room with me.

And the icing on the cake - the pipes seem to be behind my head, I can hear all the water going through whenever anyone in the hotel goes to the bathroom and even better, as the water goes through I can smell sewerage!!!!! Unsurprisingly staff couldn't care less about this.

Pros: It was clean

Cons: Everything else

Free Wifi? A lie. The person at the front desk just shrugged his shoulders in indifference.

Free English breakfast? Another lie. Toast, butter, and lukewarm tea. I had to leave very early for a meeting and asked if I could have breakfast a half hour early. "Impossible" I was told

The room was dark and dangerous. one had to ascend three steep stairs through a 2 ft wide opening to get to the bathroom. Don't fall here or it will mean your life.

I was next to the stairs - which people ran up and down the entire night.

It was loud - people listening to bad Brit pop at 3 AM

There was a high class tv in the room - but only 2.5 channels. Nice....

The whole experience at this hotel is like having a lobotomy in a foreign country.