Cardiff Hotel - London, United Kingdom     

At least Fawlty Towers had Basil to liven the place up. Whilst not quite being in the Michael Palin category I have stayed at quite a few hotels across the world and this hotel (Bed and Breakfast) must rank as the most unwelcoming and barely basic I have experienced. Having chosen not to visit the London Dungeon, it was rather ironic that we ended up exactly there....Room 42 to be exact. Down the rickety staircase and adjacent to the numerous water and waste pipes which heralded, every few minutes, yet another eblution from one of our fellow guests high up above ground! The reception staff were functional. They were not in the slightest bit interested in doing anything other than the bare minimum. The Breakfast room was a farce. I half expected to see "The Major" downing an Earl Grey and Manuel chasing after his pet rat! The girls in the Kitchen were very fast workers and did a grand job more a case of despite the facilities than because of them. Overall the hotel was fine if you needed a reasonably priced bed to sleep in whilst exploring the many attractions of the capital city. Location is excellen, adjacent to Paddington Underground and also the main rail station but every time I climbed the steps from the underground I was confronted by the magnificence of the Hilton Hotel..............if only I had listened more at school and got a good job!

As an Australian looking for somewhere to stay whilst visiting England, Cardiff Hotel looked decent. Three days in all of my valuables were stolen. As a traveler you would expect a hotel has their security organised, but after having in excess of 2000 pounds worth of goods (including laptop/mobile phone etc) stolen directly from your room, whilst 2 other rooms are also broken into and robbed, you realise that this is not a place you want to spend your holidays. Anything you leave in your room would appear free for the taking, so take it from me avoid at all cost. The 3 days that I stayed there after the incident, no attempts were made by the hotel to increase/improve their security. I strongly recommend, if this is the last place in London with vacancies, fly somewhere else.