Hyde Hotel

I booked a very cheap hotel, as I knew we'd be using it simply to 'crash'. As we arrived in the midst of the hoax bombings, it looked like we might have to spend a bit more time in our room which was not an appealing thought.

A couple of members of staff on reception were very helpful, although spoke little english, but the breakfast room staff were so appalling, it is indescribable, as was the paltry sad breakfast, with chipped crockery and drinks, which were apparently tea and coffee.

I know you get what you pay for, but I've paid similar in the same area and had much, much better.

A laughable 3 star.

Words fail me when trying to describe quite how bad the Hyde Hotel is. I've stayed here twice and the last time I ended up in the nearby St Mary's Hospital, and then was threatened with legal action by the manager when I asked for a refund. Never in my whole life have I been treated so rudely, insensitively or cynically.

After not being able to sleep all night and subsequently collapsing at 9am, I was told by the paramedics that it was either food poisoning (from the cocktails) or my drinks had been spiked with amphetamines after spending a few hours at the ridiculously expensive hotel bar ('Eclipse'). My partner was also very ill, and we ended up reporting the incident to the Police, and DTI.

One thing to bear in mind here is that the hotel ***has NO AIR CONDITIONING***, not even portable fans (we changed rooms twice during the night due to the heat). The staff speak very little English. The only well-trimmed area of the place is the foyer, and it certainly does not deserve a 3 star rating. The lift was broken, the filthy rooms are like saunas and you feel like a mole when squeezing through the narrow corridors on the way to your room.

We were told verbatim by the management that the hotel was supposedly financed by "saudis" (whatever that might entail) and existed solely to extract money from rich Arab men and tourists while they were in London over the summer period. Whilst not being a particular surprise, it was the cynicism that shocked us. The bar downstairs provides 'waitresses' especially for the enjoyment of people who want to pay £1000 for a table or £45 for a glass of champagne.

Whatever you do, don't stay there, drink there or anything else - just take your money somewhere else where you can get better value and customers are cared about.

We stayed in the Hyde Hotel for 7 nights, in November 2003. When we arrived, after they credited our card, they told us that there was a problem with their Internet booking system and they sent us to another hotel where no booking existed. Finally, they sent us to a third hotel, which was a 4 stars hotel but we missed the day and we got exhausted carrying our luggage around all day. That was for the first night only, and when we came back they gave us free continental breakfast for the rest of the days as a gift for the inconvenience caused. But my internet research shows that this seems to be a habit as they overbook their rooms. However, these are the reasons for someone to book this hotel: 1) Perfect location, 3 minutes from Paddington tube station where 4 metro lines are crossed. 2) Wonderful neighborhood with beautiful roads, houses and trees. 3) Very clean rooms and bathrooms, with TV, coffee and tea making facilities and heating 4) Very cheap hotel for London standards. And these are the reasons for someone not to book this hotel: 1) Breakfast is below standards, croissants were cold and rancid. 2) It has the smallest rooms I've ever seen: there was no space to open our suitcase, so every time we wanted to open it, we had to put it on the bed!!!