The Westbury

Stayed there on Friday and Saturday night. It’s a smart 5* Hotel. The rack-rate for their cheapest room is £450. I paid about a fifth of that and loved the place. If I’d paid full whack I would have been unhappy. What I got was good value, but wouldn’t have been for the full price. The niggles about the room were minor, but here goes. Initially I thought the bathroom was locked. The lock was faulty and the door difficult to open. The stopper on the sink didn’t work, and the flow of hot water resembled a kitten pissing.

The shower was in the bath, but the water didn’t drain properly so I had a shower while standing in dirty water up to my ankles.

In the bedroom the bed was comfortable, and road noise was only slight. There’s a nice combined TV and ‘guest entertainment centre’. To listen to music on that costs substantially. I was able to dismiss this as just a tacky irritation, but if I’d paid a lot for the room I’d be very disappointed. I also couldn’t find anything in the room to say what time check-out was. It’s a small detail, but it’s irritating to have to ring Reception to find out.

On the plus side, the room was comfortable and stylish. The cocktail bar downstairs was excellent, with first class cocktails and very efficient service. The concierge kept our cases after we had checked out with no fuss. The location is very good. It’s handy for Mayfair, shopping and Underground stations.

One final niggle: The hotel is situated on Conduit Street, yet they list Conduit Street, Bond Street and somewhere else variously as their address. Having three different addresses made the place difficult to find and was unnecessary. They should decide on one address and stick to it.

The bottom line is that your satisfaction with the place will depend on what you paid for your room. If you get a heavy discount you’ll get great value. Pay top dollar and you may be disappointed.

The only plus side with this hotel is its location, being in a very nice neighborhood, close to Oxford Street, Regent Street and Picadilly.

I stayed here in October for four nights and my major dissatisfaction was about the room. It was so small that I hardly had any space to get dressed/undressed. The furniture was worn out and did not give you the impression that it was cleaned properly. There were tiny, brown stains in my sheet (probably blood) which I asked to be changed.

The bathroom was the worst of all. It was so tiny that I couldn't wash my hands standing in the center in front of the sink, but only on the right hand side, because the toilet seat was in the way! It was definitely not cleaned properly; there were hair all over the place and stains in the bath tub. The shower head had mould on it, which is absolutely unacceptable.

As for the breakfast, for which we had to pay an extra 25 Pounds, there was no variety. In addition, the attitude of the stressful manager made you feel like you were in the way and that you had to quickly sit down, eat and leave. The next morning, we enjoyed our sandwiches at a nearby Pret-a Manger much more at a much lower price.

To sum up, this hotel does not deserve the stars and I'm sure there are much nicer hotels around if one is prepared to pay around 250 Pounds per night.

We were transferred from the Kingsway Hall, which was apparently overbooked, so on arrival at that hotel had to travel back across London in taxi, which the hotel did pay for, to the Westbury. It is a 5 star hotel so it felt churlish to complain.

The location is fantastic so that is a definite plus. We had full breakfast included in our orignally purchased package, and on that front we also did very well, as the breakfast was excellent and the restaurant and service there were properly 5 star.

The room was quite small, fine for the price we paid but again would have been very disappointed if we had paid the prices we've seen quoted. The finish was not fantastic, chipped light fittings (i'm being picky but this is supposed to be 5*). The bed was very comfortable and the black out curtains were excellent.

Our two main gripes with the room were, first that there was no tea and coffee facilities, I mean you get this in a travelodge where they have purposefully stripped back to the bare minimum so what possible justification can there be?! I asked the receiption staff, who looked at me as if i were mad and said it could be brought to the room for £5. Now if i had paid for this hotel direct I would have been very upset about that! Second on the first morning of our stay there was no cold water so had a scalding shower and brushed teeth with hot water. There was no complimentary bottle of water either, clearly want to wring every penny out of you that they can!

So overall, not all bad but definite room for improvement.