Mui

My husband and I was in London UK October this year (2007). We love the city very much, however, we do want to comment on our hotel called Royal Horseguards Thistle Hotel.
(1) We read a lot of comments re this hotel before we left - good and bad. However since we love its location and oldtime romantic look, we chose it.
(2) It is indeed a excellent location - be able to walk to SOHO, Covent Garden, theatre district etc. Also sit at the beautiful riverside.
(3) Location is probably the only good thing about this hotel. If you look for good customer service, good value, good breakfast, then don't go for this hotel. Below are just a few examples:

* Amenity is limited, particularly the toiletries provided. You only get soap,bath gel and shampoo. A super 8 motel proveds more than that. This hotel is so called 4 stars hotel, and cost $500.00 per night. We definately expect a bit more these 3 things.
* Towel provided is very old and rough.
* The shower area (tub as well) is very old as well, and water would leak out.
* Housekeepers in this hotel are not friendly. Even you say "hello" to them first,they will still try to avoid you. A lot of them can speak limited English, so communication becomes a problem to them.
* Front desk staffs present cold attitude. They merely there process the transactions,not welcome the hotel customers. Onetime they asked us to get a taxi from the street ourselves when we asked them to call one for us. It seemed to us that they don't want to do extra for its customers
* According to its policy posted in the room, the check-out invoice is supposed to be sent to our room the night before we check out. It didn't come. When we called in the morning of our check out, they said it's coming. We waited from 6am to 7am, then we went to downstairs to consult since we are leaving at 7:45am. The front desk staff didn't apologize, on contrary, she raised her voice and said we should just come down to pick up ourselves. I pointed out that it is not said so in the hotel policy.
* Several customers, including us, have been charged "mini bar" even we didn't use it.

This hotel has a very nice looking restaurant, but not its breakfast and the service. You will have to wait for a good 10 minutes or more for your breakfast if you go after 9am.

If all the above matters to you including $500 per night kind of price, then do not choose this hotel.

DanM

I have stayed at this hotel multiple times and have nothing but good things to say. Large room, beautiful bathroom, friendly staff and perfect location for our family of four. The breakfast was perfect and had something to offer for each of us. Everybody has different experiences, as noted by OP.

wombat7

Have only stayed in the hotel once but I also had no problems. Room was very large by London standards, seem to recall that the bathroom amemnities were the standard Thitsle ones. I too thought breakfast was perfectly okay, Staff was welcoming. My one complaint is that I did not my morning Grauniad. Would happily stay there agian if I could not get a room at the County Hall which is my hotel of choice.

nytraveler

Have stayed there twice on business - and while not a deluxe hotel - it certainly provides everything you can expect in that price range. No - it doesn't have a whole plethora of very upscale bath products - but that's not why I go to a hotel - and wouldn't expect it for that price anyway.

Rooms are large, linens were fine and the staff was perfectly helpful. (It's true some of the housekeeping staff have limited English - but I don't go there for lengthy conversations with them.)

Perhaps the OP has failed to take into account the state of the $ versus the pound - meaning that they were actually paying $250 for the hotel - reasonable for a 3.5 or 4* european (not American grant you) style hotel.

janisj

Sorry you were disappointed. I've never had anything but good service and very nice rooms at the Royal Horseguards. I've stayed there probably 4 or 5 times over many years. Of course things can go downhill but my last visit was about 18 mos ago and it was as good as ever.