Kings Cross London

For some reason, reasonably priced accomodation in London has been in short supply during the past few weeks, so we opted for the Travelodge, which is very cheap. Cheap, however, does not make up for the truly awful experience we had.

Previous reviewers must have been staying in a different hotel. The room was a good size but my positive comments end there. The carpet in the room had, in my opinion, not been hoovered in well over a week and I discovered 5 shards of broken glass underfoot, crumbs and worst still, pices of dead skin. So amazed was I by the broken glass that I picked it up and placed it on a surface in the bathroom, where it remained, uncleaned until after I had checked out.

The bathroom floor was wet; this, we discovered, was because the shower plug hole needed cleaning and the water was simply flowing onto the bathroom floor.

I complained at reception on morning 1 and was dealt with by a very pleasant member of staff but, to my horror, on returning to the room late at night, the carpet was in the same sorry state and the broken glass was beside the bathroom sink where I had left it. The shower plug hole had, however, been cleaned.

To add insult to injury, the fire alarm was triggered at 12.20am and we duly vacated the building. I appreciate that a properly functioning alarm is a necessity and I do not object to getting out of bed in response, but I was disappointed that there was no sign of any staff outside the hotel, reassuring or indeed checking that all the guests had vacated the room. It was left to the Fire Brigade to inform us that we could return to our rooms.

I admit that I am unused to staying in hotels of this ilk but my comments are valid, no matter what grade of hotel one stays in. I would urge travellers to look elsewhere.

Hotel in handy location for underground and train links to other parts of London. We only stayed here one night, easy to get to Alexandra Palace from here (if you are going to a gig) and would say this hotel is ideal for a stopover in a convenient location for getting around. The hotel itself was very basic and quite noisy at times, the hotel is on the main road through King's Cross. Not too bad if you are used to street noise. Must say after half an hour or so the street noise didn't bother me. The reception staff were extremely friendly. A small room with tiny bathroom, adequate shower. Breakfast was an extra option which we decided to decline and went for a great fry up in a nearby pub, called the Water Rats, which was great value. Our main reason for staying here was price (very cheap web offer) and location (ease of transport links) so it satisfied us for a place to rest our heads. Wouldn't choose to stay here again, unless the location served the same purpose. There are much better hotels in London, but a good choice if you need to stay in King's Cross for some reason.

The hotel was ok for the low price we paid. Our family room was clean and in common with the rest of the building, furnished in an austere but functional way.

Travelodge have been very mean in some areas though, presumably to keep costs down, for example only one tiny bar of soap was provided in our room along with two tea bags (this is for a family room!).

Be warned, there is no facility for storing luggage after check out - we had to queue for 45 minutes at the station to store ours and it cost us £12.

You should include these additional costs (plus breakfast as well) when comparing this hotel with others which seem more expensive.

Checked in at 11.45pm. Staff at reception courteous. Late booking on website got me a family room at £75 per night. Room on 5th floor. Lift only to 4th floor but no clear signs to stairs you need to take to 5th! Main light not working in room but room spacious and tidy and seemed very clean. Bed ok. Tv receiption unwatchable execpt for BBC1. A signal booster for the hotel's aerial might be a good investment! Room overlooked Thameslink Kings Cross station so noise from trains until late and from early morning. Not the best night's sleep.

In summary, clean basic hotel in convenient location but wouldn't stay again because of noise from station.

This is a clean, & very conveniently placed hotel. The staff are excellent & ultra helpful.

However, I stayed here once last year, & it will be my only visit. The problem is there is NO peace & quiet to be had in this hotel FULL STOP. The idea of stopping in a hotel to me is being able to get a decent nights sleep. It was impossible here. There are (& rightly so) lots of fire doors through out all the corridors in this hotel, & nothing at all to buffer them as they bounce off the walls, as people crash through them. Sort this problem out & it would be a great little place. The most sleep I got without being woken was about an hour. I moved rooms twice, & the problem was no better. Shame really

I stayed here for three nights in May 2005. Hotel was clean and smart. bed was lumpy but Ok. Room was clean with TV and double glazing (the road outside is noisy). Bathroom small but clean. breakfast was good with good selection. Hotel is about 5mins walk to Kings Cross ans St Pancreas rail and tube ststaions and about 15min walk to Euston station.

People say the area is bad at night. Use your common sence and you'll be Ok. I was on my own and never experinced any problems.

There is very limited parking at the hotel. I did notice that the hotel was going through some refurbishments which stopped at 6pm each day.

This hotel was actually a very good deal at 50 GBP. The rooms were large, and the bathroom was large. There were some problems though: 1) the front desk made a big deal of finding us a room before the official check-in time, 2) the bathroom leaked through the wall into the hallway and the manager was kind enough to just key her way into our room with a 5 second warning to inform us the water was turned off, 3) the front desk staff were not accomodating. Also, if you happen to be a light sleeper, the nearby train station will probably keep you up until 12:30am when trains stop.

Even though this hotel did give us some problems, almost entirely from the leaky bathroom, we would probably use it again and hope to have a better room. The value and location are actually really good.

We paid £45 for 2 nights this weekend which in London is unbelieveably cheap. Travelodge often run promotions on their website and it is worth checking back as at this price I would recommend this hotel.

At the regular rack rate (£75) I am not so sure it is good value for money. The rooms are perhaps the smallest budget hotel rooms I have ever stayed in, certainly smaller than normal Travelodge's and nowhere near the size of a Premier Lodge. In some of the rooms there is only a shower with the WC and to think "shoebox" would be very fitting (a cat couldn't be swung). There is no phone (not a major problem) and the whole room just seems very sparse, and not in a trendy way. There is only a small gap that the window is able to open and to be honest I think at the height of summer it would be unbearable in this hotel, even in early September it was boiling.

As for location, I mean its ok, right near Kings Cross (2mins walk). You do get a few shady characters hanging around but they are harmless enough. I didn't really experience the noise problem that other guests did though...perhaps I was on the right side of the hotel to avoid????

To sum up, go for it if you can get it cheap (£22.50 a night is the bargain of the decade) but don't expect too much and you won't be dissapointed.

Constant noise from Undeground trains passing by. Rooms have no phones, no alarm clock. There is no restaurant, no bar, not even a vending machine.

Reception desk is only intermittently staffed by

young people who speak broken English.

This is the worst-for-the-money I have ever stayed

at in Central London.

For about the same money, the nearby Ibis Hotel

offers a civilized alternative.

Visited here the second night it was open. Very pleasant entrance and exterior, smart building, probably a conversion. Rooms are standard Travelodge, family rooms on the upper floors very roomy. Noise from the Underground station (Overground stretch) is fairly noticeable, as the announcements start about 5:30. However, very clean, very good value for central London