Astor Museum

I actually think this hostel could have been good, my friends and I might have just had a bad run-in. We reserved a 4-person room well in advance through Studentuniverse.com (we've never had problems with this method before), but when we got there, we were told there was a mistake with our booking and would have to be in a 8-person room for the first two nights, and be split up for the third--not cool. Also, our 8-person room was in the basement right outside the kitchen which apparently turns into drunk-party central every night. Needless to say, it was loud--and one night someone even pulled the fire alarm as a prank and ran into our room laughing, then ran back out--nobody else was in the room with us that night, so yes, he had a key and was therefore an employee. The guy that actually runs everything is really nice, but I dont think he had alot of control of his staff. The location though is pretty amazing--right across the street from the British museum and a quick trip on the tube to get to places like piccadilly square, china town, and abbey road. In short--don't get stuck in the basement. The only reason I reccoment it is because it's the best value for your money (keeping in mind that it's the heart of London)

This last february my husband and I travelled through Europe. Of course in London we could only expect a lower quality room for the same price we payed elsewhere, so it was the only city (together with Paris) where we had to settle for a different thing (for example, a shared bathroom). Being 30 years old and not in a really "hostelling" attitude, then, we didn't quite enjoy our stay at Astor Museum Inn. First of all, we still don-t know why, we couldn't be accomodated in the actual inn so we had to sleep in another house they own. Although it was only two blocks away so you still had the great location near British Museum, you had to walk this two block distance in the mornings just to get breakfast.

We were in a third floor and the bathroom was in the underground level, so we had to travel down and up a very steep staircase just to get there. I wear contact lenses and without them are really short-sighted, so going to the bathroom at night was quite something.

The rooms were very small and the walls very thin. Next to ours was a room for 6 persons and whenever we went out of the room we had to put up with the strong smell coming out of it (the door apparently couldn't close completely), and the noise could be heard constantly though the wall.

On the good side, we had cups and an electric water boiler in the room so we could fix us tea and soup. And, of course, the location was unbeatable. So, overall, what can I say? Just that we are going back to London in two weeks and this time we'll try a B&B.