Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury

Based on my research for London this hotel turned out to be a good hotel, fairly good location and a nice size.

The hotel is a block away from the Russell Square Underground stop. I recommend the lift as the steps with baggage is a workout! The hotel staff was knowledgeable, friendly and I was able to store my luggage as I had a later flight. There are loads of small pubs and places to eat outside the hotel in multiple directions. Internet was not free which is a poor way to make money from people. The one nice touch was the selection of feather pillows from soft to firm. I also would recommend not staying on the side of the hotel that faces the small mall - very noisy street and area. One other recommendation is to get a day pass and ride the tube or the bus. The bus being the better way to get around as you can see everything and when it starts heading in a direction that you don't want to go, just get off and change buses.

This hotel is in a great location, a few stops from Oxford Street and for those who don't mind walking, it's only a 20 minute walk to Oxford Street through some of the "posh and famous named" parts of the city.

The hotel foyer is minimalist, modern and very clean with efficient staff. We booked an executive room on the top floor, floor six which had a number of "suites" located on it.

The room was a reasonable size, dressing table with a tv on it, a lounge chair and double bed (not two singles as you get in many European hotels). The room view was the back of the hotel so there was absolutely nothing to see, which was not a problem for me.

The bathroom was clean and modern with toiletries provided and there was plenty of clothes storage space with a wardrobe with a trouser press. However, the facilities provided in an executive room were not quite as good as those I have received in standard rooms in similar chain hotels in London for an equivalent price.

For example, the shower looked fantastic but turned out to be fed via the bath taps and the pressure was extremely low, some of the lights in the room didn't work and the walls are thin so we could hear the couple next door's conversation in the morning.

There was also only one bathrobe and one pair of slippers and although there was a mini bar, it was empty and not in use which seemed odd for an executive room, either use it or lose it. There were tea and coffee making facilities.

One problem during the stay was that some guests on our floor were "socialising" until the early hours of Sunday morning waking us at 3am with people moving between rooms, shouting, giggling and chatting in the corridor as if it was the middle of the day and allowing the doors to slam repeatedly.

I was surprised as this hotel did not give the impression as being a type of hotel which would attract clubbers. The Sunday night was much better and the hotel much more sedate as the weekend corridor socialisers had probably checked out.

I didn't use the pub attached (it looked a bit artificial - for those seeking a genuine London pub there are lots on the same street as the hotel). I didn't eat in the hotel.

The stay was ok but a few minor tweaks in the rooms would deliver a true executive experience. We did bump into Prince Charles and Camilla at Russell Square tube on Monday morning as they passed the zebra crossing in their black Jag. Their cover was blown by the large police presence with them!!!

We had been told that hotels in Europe were small but we weren't quite expecting they would be THAT small. We have hard suitcases that open lengthways and to open them we had to do some suitcase gymnastics and evended up having to step over them all the time. You had to shuffle sideways to get between the bed and the wall to get to the window/fridge area and there was no option of putting stuff in the doorless wardrobe as the bed was hard up against it. Having said that it was nice, clean, had everything you would need like shampoos, moisturiser, decent tv with lots of channels etc. The buffet breakfast was probably the best we had in any hotel for the 5 weeks we were away - everything you could want which was included on our room price.

It was only a minute from the Russell Square tube station which was great and the staff were a little clinical but friendly enough. We weren't so happy to get charged 2 pound (NZ$5-6) for a 30 sec local phone call to give our friend the phone number to call us back on!

All up lovely "cosy" hotel that if you have small bags and a cellphone, I would highly recommend.