Dawson House

At 50 pounds a night including breakfast, you can't go wrong!

The B&B is located at about a 10 minutes walk from West Hampstead tube in a quiet street. My room was small but had a desk and chair. Breakfast was included for the price (English, Dutch or Vegetarian). WIFI is also available at no extra charge. The staff is friendly and responsive. I could borrow an iron and leave my luggage after the check- out.

The shower was tiny (felt like a little cabin in a campground) but functional.

I was somewhat concerned about the possible noise from the street. In fact, the only noise came from the people walking on the room above and was negligeable.

The little minus is that the location is somewhat away from the 'London for tourist' area (i.e. zone 1). One needs to allow 30-45 minutes from the hotel to reach Picaddily Circus or Westminster by tube.

Overall a good experience that will not blow up your budget. Not a Marriott or Hilton but a pleasant B&B with all basic needs.

We travel to this part of London several times a year to visit family and have stayed at other hotels and B&B's in this neighborhood. This "hotel" is situated in a pleasantly safe neighborhood and is about eight blocks to the West Hampstead tube station...maybe a five to seven minute walk with a piece of luggage with wheels. West Hampstead is a fun neighborhood location with a wide variety of restaurants, pubs and stores.

As previous people have described, its clean and the breakfast is good. The rooms are small and the bathrooms are the variety with the fiberglass showers. You know the type. So, if you just want a bed and a television at night and are the type that just needs a shower in the morning, then this reasonably priced operation may be for you, especially if your traveling through with backpack and a friend.

The hotel's garden is advertised extensively in its brochures but we couldn't figure out how to get out to it. It looks attractive.

For a little more money, there is at least one true hotel and another B&B in the neighborhood that may deliver a more upscale experience.

The room was clean, but insanely small. I had to lift my suitcase (a very small, carry-on size) over the bed to get it to the luggage rack -- there was absolutely no room to wheel it past the bed, and there was barely enough room to walk past the bed to the desk/luggage rack area.

The bathroom's size was a joke. The sink almost overhung the toilet seat. You could definitely use the sink for an armrest while you did your business on the toilet. In fact, while sitting on the toilet, a woman can reach her arm all the way across the shower and touch with her palm the opposite wall of the shower -- all while resting her other elbow on the sink!

The shower was about 2-feet wide. There was no way to keep the water inside the shower either, as the "lip" of the shower floor was so shallow that the water went over it, all over the bathroom.

They don't provide face cloths (wash cloths) and act like you have 2 heads if you ask for one. All you get is a hand towel and a body towel (per person). And if you ask for an extra towel, again, you get the look like you've got 2 heads, followed by the response from the night desk clerk that he has no access to the linen closet, and the owners will be in at 7:00 a.m. if I'd like to call down to ask for an extra towel then. I told him to just leave them a note to leave an extra bath towel (I use one for my long hair and one for my body -- and use the hand towel for washing my face/removing makeup at night). Of course, they did NOT leave an extra towel the next day -- and they removed the bath soap without replacing it. So, I had to call down to get them to bring soap and a towel.

The walk from the underground station was longer than I'd have liked. There is a slight hill, which doesn't seem like a big deal until you're hauling luggage up it. The walk is about 7-8 minutes, though the neighborhood is nice.

The breakfast was tasty and sufficient.

The garden was not accessible unless you asked the owner to open it -- and then, you had to walk around the house, squeezing past the trashcans. And it was locked at night -- which is when we'd have preferred to use is (to drink a glass of wine after returning from a long day of tourism). Oh well. So much for that thought.

The night clerk was absolutely clueless about attractions, too. We wanted to know if you could tour Buckingham, but he had no idea -- nor did he have internet access to look it up (again, we were told to check with the owner tomorrow!). He didn't know anything about how to get to Windsor Palace. He didn't know any recommendations for a place for dinner. He didn't know anything really, and he had no ability to get the information.

Oh, and the night clerk told us that a local call from our room would be free, and it so was not! They charged something like 88-pence for the call (I think it was a per-minute charge -- glad we were only on for a minute!). It's not that it's a big deal (though that is about $1.76 USD) -- but to be misinformed sucks -- especially when you tell the owner what the guy said, and she doesn't remove the charge!!! She should back up what her employees tell guests.

Overall, I wasn't overly thrilled with Dawson House. I enjoyed Henley House much more (bigger, and a 2 minute walk from Earl's Court underground).