Radisson Edwardian Grafton Hotel - London, United Kingdom     

This is not a hotel for business people who have a need for medium to long term stay needs. The primary issues with the hotel are listed as follows: General Room. Small, cramped. Lack of open space to layout material. Rooms average about 150 square feet including a bathroom of less than 20 square feet. Bathroom. Aforesaid bathroom is less than 20 SF and included a tub/shower, vanity basin and toilet. There is no shower screen. A glass divider is provided on the tub and the bathroom door opens against this, leaving the only option for getting into and out of the shower to straddle the toilet both. Towel rails are provided above the toilet bowl (not hygienic at all). No bathroom amenities are provided. If you can’t shower with “soap on tap” or need to wash your hair, you will need to either bring your own supplies or shop at the Tesco next door. Service Non existent. General lack of basic English language skills exhibited by the back room and dining staff. Having to repeat one’s self multiple times in one’s own native language can get very tedious. If the staff could not understand the conversation after this, I found them very rude and in one instance the staff member walked away from me without resolving the issue. Additionally, when I arrived I was told that there were no rooms available, even though I had booked months in advance and had my reservation details. I had to wait 60 minutes or so. That wasn’t too bad, but when I asked if I could make an international call to my wife (a probable cost to them of 5 pounds at the most), I was told that I could not – even though I was going to spend over 1,000 pounds with them in accommodation. They obviously do not want to build up repeat customers! Prices 145 pound (average). You have to be kidding. I know this is London, but I find better quality, better service, etc in hotels in the middle of most major American and US cities for what amounts to $300 per night. An average dinner will set you back 25 pounds without grog and breakfast is a flat 17 pounds for a buffet style creation of cold egg, undercooked bacon, very small serving of cold coffee. The only bright point was that the orange juice tasted like orange juice. You can do better at the local cafes for 4.95. Technology Repeated problem with the phone lines, inability to place international calls using a calling card. The TV (a 13” tube TV if you can believe that!) comes on all the time to tell you whether you have messages. Very disconcerting if you are lying in bed trying to get to sleep and all of a sudden you get woken by a glaring screen at the foot of your bed.

We booked this hotel through lastminute.com and asked for a non smoking room. I arrived before the check in time thinking I would avoid the queues. On getting to reception they told me they only had smoking rooms available - I told them I had booked non smoking and wanted non smoking. The clerk was very friendly and said I could wait until one became available but if I wanted to upgrade my room I could pay ?20. I said I would wait. After waiting for about half an hour, the clerk eventually called me to say my room was ready. He then told me that I could still upgrade for ?20 !!! I was a little tetchy by this point so I said that I had been waiting for half an hour for this room to become available and had already paid for my room so would NOT be paying any more for an upgrade!!! (i did apologise and told him I was a bit stressed!! LOL) The nice young man decided to upgrade me free!! When I eventually got to my room it was amazing!!! Very spacious, a huge king sized bed, a sofa and a table. The bathroom was huge, with a bath (with shower over the bath) and a walk in shower with enough space for two!! All in all - it was a lovely hotel - but was a little disappointed about check in .