Euston Square

I booked here at short notice, and loved it from the first minute! It's very stylish and modern, and while the room was undoubtedly compact, it had all you require, especially for a short stay. The bathroom was equally stylish. You are on the Euston Road, so can hear the traffic but it's not too loud. Breakfast was a plentiful buffet, with complimentary papers, a nice seating area and friendly staff. Am looking forward to my next stay!

I have to confess that I have had my fingers burned a few times with a few of the smaller, independent hotels in Central London. The Euston/Kings Cross area of Central London is of course a hotbed for hotels of all shapes in sizes because of the proximity of three major railway stations and two Underground interchanges. So named because it is right next door to Euston Square tube station (on the Circle and Metropolitan lines), this hotel is still classified by the AA as a bed and breakfast so it has a 3-diamond rating (equivalent to a 2-star hotel roughly). It is about 4-5 minutes walk from either Euston or Warren Street stations on the Northern/Victoria lines.

First impressions of this hotel are positive – the whole place has had a wholesale refurbishment and I’m not meaning a lick of paint – every room has been gutted out and renewed, with high quality bathroom finishes, new furniture, with all rooms having a safe, a hairdryer, television with internet access (chargeable), and an air conditioner controlled by a small console on the wall. They seem to have made a real effort to bring the place up to a modern, contemporary standard. The desk staff all seemed courteous, well presented and eager to help - I needed a pair of scissors to cut the cable ties off on my luggage for example, and the handyman was sent up within a few minutes with the requisite tool!! Although I must say a couple of the staff I encountered didn’t seem all that friendly I suspect (as is often the case with London’s reliance on immigrant labour) it is more their lack of proficiency in English than anything else.

Best bit of the lot was the bathroom –like the rooms they have been kitted out with really high quality fixtures and could almost be described as a wet room. The shower was excellent – delivering hot water at high pressure – I could have stayed in it all day! I didn’t think much of the cheap and nasty complimentary toiletries however.

There is a bar/restaurant in the hotel – which I only used once and it again has been refurbished and in terms of the fixtures and fittings it was comparable with anything I’ve seen in a big-name 3-star establishment. The prices were quite reasonable too - L3.10 for a pint of lager is pretty good for a London hotel!

What didn’t I like? Like most other reviewers of this establishment the size of the rooms is a big issue. All are about big enough for a double bed, enough space down each side to get in/out and a wardrobe. Hardly any room for the doors to open freely never mind basic things one would expect in a 3-star hotel such as a desk or a chair. The welcome pack was on the window sill and tea/coffee making has to be done on the floor next to the only vacant wall socket.

Noise can be a problem. The hotel looks out onto the busy Euston Road, so bad news if you are on any of the south facing windows, but they had an audible pigeon scarer (the noise of seagulls’ distress calls) which went off every once in a while, also depending on which part of the hotel you are in – the noise of the elevator machinery bumbles through the fabric of the building almost constantly.

But my main gripe was that I paid L180 for two nights for two people in a double room – that’s L90 a night which on the face of it is pretty darn good. But this was a promotional rate that I got via British Airways AirMiles – the full rate (according to the notice at reception) is a whopping L130 a night for single occupancy, L200 for double occupancy. Putting this in perspective there is an iBiS, two Premier Inns and a Travelodge within walking distance down the Euston Road – which are all big-name 3-star hotels and they are all in the L80-L100 per room price range, and all have far bigger bedrooms and better facilities overall. In short – what we have is a former 2-star hotel that has had a no expense spared refurbishment to bring it up to a 3-star

standard, but the full rates are bordering 4-star territory and I’d have difficulty in justifying that kind of outlay.

So overall then, I’d have to say that for a small independent hotel this is a very sound choice and I would definitely come back again and as long as you don’t value lots of space I’d say it’s well worth it as long as you don’t pay over the odds.