Royal National Hotel?
 

I am obsessing about the hotel that I chose through British Airways. The reviews of the hotel on this forum are dismal; however, most of them are dated in the '90's. Has anyone stayed there lately? Also, Tripadviser reviews were worse the further back they went. PLEASE COMMENT! (By the way, this is a budget journey. I would love nothing more than to stay in a nice place in a great location.....)

Marilib,

I stayed there in Feb. 2003. It is a huge hotel. There's a north and a south part to the hotel. The rooms we had were on floors that were recently renovated. The rooms were small, clean, and simple. I liked the location because we wanted to spend time at the British Museum and it's a very short walk there. It's also close to the Russell Square tube station, which is on the Picadilly line. The fact that it was close to a Safeway was great. We got some water bottles and snacks.

Since the Royal National is near the University of London and British Museum, there isn't any nightlife. But that's only a short tube stop away.

It certainly isn't fancy, but it suited our needs. We really spend time in a hotel room for a shower and a bed. So if that's what you're looking for, it probably will be adequate. Hope this helps.

I won't give you my review, since I stayed there too long ago. I also stayed at anoother British Ariways choice (St Giles) nearby, once again about 5 years ago...but in terms of neighbourhood, I found that area to be nice. Five minute walk to British Museum, tube a couple of blocks away (tube stop is also on direct line to Heathrow), couple of pubs and restaurants on Marchmont, as well as a shopping area with pharmacy and laundry, more restos on Southampton. I have walked from there to Covent Garden. The airport bus also stops within a block of the hotel. Found the neighbourhood to be fairly quiet at night. There are a couple of other musuems on the area, like Sir John Soane's Museum and Charles Dickens House.
Hope this helps,
Mike

I've stayed at the Royal National twice and would definitely stay there again. It is huge and impersonal (and the check-in area can get a little crazy), but the rooms are simple and clean, and the location can't be beat. I love that it is down the block from one tube station and close to others. It is also possible to walk to Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square easily from there. There is a little 24 hour market across from the Russell Square tube station, which is also very convenient. As I said, I wouldn't hesitate to stay there again.

My husband and I stayed there last February with the same BA special, and our room was dirty and musty when we arrived (hair on the bathroom floor, etc.) and the bed was practically a hammock - pretty bad. The neighborhood is OK - there's another of the BA hotels down the street, and it looked just as run-down, but the way we figured it was that we were spending a minimal amount of time in the room anyway, so we just used it for not-so-good sleeping and fast showers whilst walking across towels... Hopefully they really are renovating the place. I definitely wouldn't have recommended it to my parents, for example.

To all of the kind souls for answering my post...THANK YOU!

The older rooms are akin to staying in a dungeon. Well, more like an OVER used, unkempt college dorm. Bedspreads didn't match. TV and phone were bolted to the tables. Would NOT give us more than one towel per person (don't these people know that when you wash your hair, the towel gets WET? And you need another one for your body...guess they don't care.) And forget trying to get your skimpy continental breakfast without showing your room key (as if someone would try to sneak into their hotel to eat THAT!)

Supposedly the newer rooms are better, but they wouldn't allow us to upgrade, even when we said we'd pay the difference.