Beaufort House

Located in Knightsbridge a few minutes walk from Harrods, Harvey Nicks and Sloane Street in one direction and about 10 mins from the V&A, Natural History Museum and Science Museum in the other. Short walk to Knightsbridge tube.

If self catering there is a M&S Simply Food and small Sainsbury’s supermarket (and the Harrods Food Hall!) all in a short distance. M&S open till 10pm weekdays and until 6pm or so on a Sunday. Sainsbury’s until 11pm all nights.

We stayed in Apartment 4 which is in the basement and not yet renovated, No.5 is and we had a look at that. It seemed very nice and modern although the absence of curtain voiles (in the unrenovated apts but seemingly not in the new) could be a privacy issue?

Apts 1 to 5 are in the basement and have small patios as a plus but are very gloomy as a negative. If you like natural light you need to get a higher floor. I could also hear the rumble of the underground trains from the bedroom and bathroom in the night and early morning but it didn’t disturb the friend I was travelling with.

The reception was staffed 24 hours a day and all the staff where always pleasant and helpful until the last morning. The young women on duty that day at 9am (the first time I came across her) seemed to find calling for a taxi to take me to one of the mainline train stations an odd request and suggested I go and get one on the street. So off I went with one suitcase, one handbag, one shoulder tote and another bag up and down two flights of steps onto the street to find a cab.

This left a rather sour, final note to the otherwise high standards of the other staff members we met.

As to the apartment…

Kitchen: Small but well equipped. Electric cooker, fridge, kettle, cafetiere, toaster and waste disposal unit. Also a washing machine with built in dryer (these tend not to dry large loads too well) but a drying rack in the hall cupboard along with an iron and ironing board. No dishwasher, microwave or freezer. Dishwashing liquid and a few washing machine tablets provided. Housekeeping provided clean tea towels, sponges etc each day.

Sitting Room: Three seater sofa, two armchairs, dining table and four chairs, side tables, lamps, coffee table, TV with cable and video and DVD players (they have a DVD library) and fireplace – with a curious electric fan heater. Door to patio.

Bedroom: Two single beds, side tables and lamps, reasonable hanging/wardrobe space, chest of drawers, iPod dock with clock. Door to patio.The mattresses where extremely soft, sank into them like a Patisserie Valerie sponge!

Bathroom: Bath with shower attachment. Molton Brown toiletries. Good supply of hot water. Towels changed every day.

Housekeeping: Daily. Come in and make beds, clean bathroom. They’re not supposed to clean up in the kitchen but they always put away any washing up left draining in the kitchen that we had left. Very pleasant ladies that we met.

Welcome Basket: On arrival there is a welcome basket in the kitchen. This consists of sachets of tea and coffee and sugar, 2 packs cereal, 2 packs of biscuits, 1 pint of milk, 1 litre of OJ, loaf of sliced white bread and butter portions, 3 small jars preserves.

All in all a positive experience, allowing for the few negatives mentioned above, and you can’t fault the location.

If you arrive in the evening and are looking for a place to eat try Orsini’s more or less opposite the V&A or, nearer, Cafe Rouge – behind Harrods on Basil St - for some good basic options while you get your bearings. Orsini’s is great for lunch too.

We booked a 2 night stay at Beaufort House as the reviews looked great and the extra space of an apartment was ideal for our purposes (much cheaper than a suite for 2 nights at a good 4/5 star hotel). Whilst the location cannot be faulted and the staff are as helpful and friendly as everyone says - the accommodation itself is disappointing. Apartment 12 was our "superior 1 bed apartment" but it was not as described on the hotel's website - it did not have an ensuite bathroom and additional guest cloakroom - just 1 bathroom off the hall which was very small with a mixer tap acting as the over bath shower. The bath itself was also very small - as were the hotel towels- not a luxury bathroom by anyone's standard. The lounge was big enough with 2 settees and a small dining table in the room - but it had 1 small window (about 4 feet above floor level) which let in very little light and resulted in a dark and dingy looking room. The bedroom was similarly dark and overlooked the air conditioning units for the whole house - unattractive and noisy! This was doubly annoying since our very stuffy apartment did not have air conditioning itself but opening the windows meant that we had all of the noise but none of the comfort of everyone else's aircon.

There is a programme of refurbishment underway - they are doing 2 apartments at a time on a programme that is due for completion in summer 2009 - I'd wait until then before booking!