Alexander Hotel

We stayed at the Alexander Hotel last weekend when we went to see the London Marathon. I normally check things out with Tripadvisor first but we were pushed for time so I took a chance and made a booking then felt very worried when I read the reviews.

So what was our experience?

Well, on the positive side, it is very close to Victoria Station thus making London very accessible. We did not have any problem with the booking - we were late arriving but the nice woman on reception buzzed us in and was very polite and competent.

The staff are mostly young European women and they were all helpful and charming. We were a bit early for breakfast but the young lady let us into the dining room and promptly took our order. The brekafast is not going to win awards but we had cereal followed by toast and scrambled egg along with a cup of tea. All perfectly adequate.

On the downside, the rooms are small and although we had quite a nice tv in our room, the tiny one in our daughter's single room did not work. That said, we were out all day so that was not really an issue for us.

The showers are ok but hot water is still hit and miss. The rooms are cleanish but they certainly are not particularly modern. My daughter thought her room was a joke when we opened the door to be faced with a doorless hanging wardrobe to the side and 2 white fire doors in front of us. In fact, the tiny single room was hidden behind these very springy doors. Hmm. Not sure that would impress anyone!

Overall, they seem to have improved on the meet and greet front and the rooms are ok if you just want somewhere to dump your stuff and go off round London. The staff are also very good about allowing you to leave bags at reception once you check out.

Would I use it again? Probably not.

Disgusting, horrible hotel. Nothing worked well and it was smelly and dirty looking.

Do not recommend to anyone.

My mother and I arrived in London at 6am. Got a shuttle to the Alexander. When we arrived (after a 14 hour flight) there was no room for us until 12pm. Reception guy was unhelpful. Were able to get changed in a 1m sq toilet room and then headed out for breakfast. A shower would have been great - but no.

When we finally we able to get to our room, we found a dingey little box of a room. The two single beds were about 2 feet apart, the beds, duvets etc were probably pre 1900s.

It was a real let down for our first trip overseas. We would have happily paid way more for a decent sized room and a bit of polite, helpful service.

Would only recommend this place for backpackers - but it would be beyond their budget!