More about Custom House Hotel At Excel
Gross
by A TripAdvisor Member
The room looked nice and i couldn't wait to take a hot bath. After a nice soak, I looked up to get a towel--it had some sort of horrid yellow sticky smelly substance on it, which may have been some sort of human discharge. It was about five inches in diameter and no way anyone could have missed it when hanging up that towel. It was almost as if it were deliberate. I complained to the front desk and was asked if I wanted another towel.I then spoke to the manager who grinned and shrugged.I even wrote a letter but never got a reply.
Not good
by A TripAdvisor Member
Stayed here in March 2006 and must admit to being disappointed even if it was cheap. The room was dirty and noisy. The staff were unfriendly. The breakfast was ok but we found ourselves having to wait for tables as the restaurant was small. Ive stayed in better hostels. However, on the plus side its cheap (dont book direct, book via hotel reservation web sites to save money) and its right next to the DLR so access into London is easy. The area is like a demilitarized zone but the DLR makes the location acceptable. Its a bad hotel to stay in but it does have the DLR and price as saving graces.
Pretty awful..but cheap
by TripAdvisor Member mstraxs
Well I should have guessed after it coming out so cheap compared to others in the area. Probably rats as one of the worst hotels I have ever stayed in and I have travelled around the world. Even worse than some places in Nigeria which is not something to be proud of.
The rooms are tiny and our carpet was filthy. The loo and shower are a homage to the god of plastic rubbish. No loo seat even just a spray downplastic box basically. The bed was ok and the bunkbed would have come in handy had our 5 year old been travelling with us! Just felt really really cheap and nasty (which was probably its only saving grace). Breakfast was a joke using the cheapest of ingredients and I hated walking the corridors. Obviously they couldnt afford underlay so the carpet was directly on top of the concrete...YUK. Felt ashamed to think all those coach groups of american tourists must have thought there had been a mistake with their booking to have to end up there.
The hotel location was good for us due to being 2 minutes from the Excel centre for an exhibition we were visiting and great transport links into London city via the Docklands light railway and one change at Canning town to get on the Jubilee tube. Takes about 40 minutes to get right into the heart of the city I guess.
So overall very poor although the staff were friendly enough. There are an abundance of hotels on the DLR stops and if I had to go to the Excel centre again I would rather pay a little more and stay in a better hotel than this. Have a look around and try any of the other new hotels that have sprung up in the area instead of this dump.
Small rooms go with small price
by TripAdvisor Member IwantoliveinEurope
I stayed in the Custom House with a large group. We were there for two nights. After flying into Heathrow, it was quite a drive to this hotel. I will ever complain about traffic in my town again. I wasn't surprised that the rooms were so small since I had checked on this hotel before my arrival. The bed was surprisingly comfortable to me and the room was clean. We were located right across from the railway station and my room faced it. There was no noise to contend with though. The pub attached to the hotel offered a bit of entertainment for our group for both nights. Don't think you can drink all night though. They close it pretty early and we even had them flicking the lights on and off to get us out of there. The breakfast we were offered was simple but filling. We also had some snacks in the restaurant on the ground floor. The food was simple and not too expensive by London standards. All in all, we were pleased. Looking back, this hotel was the Ritz compared to our Paris hotel.
Basic, very hot, but OK
by TripAdvisor Member rodent1976
Myself and my friend stayed here for one night as we were seeing A-ha in concert at the Excel Arena. The location was superb - directly opposite Excel and the DLR station. The hotel itself was a bit on the basic side though. The room was quite small and the beds very narrow - although the bedding was all clean. The toilet and washbasin smelt a lot and there was some "dodgy stains" on the walls throughout the whole room! On the plus side the shower was surprisingly big ( and clean). My biggest gripe was the heat - it had to be 100 degrees plus in the room - ok i admit the weather has been hot - but it would have been nice to have had air con or at least a fan!
The breakfast was ok - just your normal English breakfast buffet. Overall i would rate our experience as "OK" - i've stayed in better rooms but also stayed in worse - but for the price i can't complain too much.
The worst hotel i've ever had the misery of staying in
by TripAdvisor Member Ben980
I booked this hotel on the internet to stay the night before going to an event at ExCel the following day. It looked clean and modern and advertised on site parking, ideal. Upon arrival after being met by two tramps swigging beer sitting outside the main entrance, and another strange character sneaking a bottle of cider into the hotels bar (the adjoining "pub"), I first asked about parking the car having found their car park with the gates shut. I explained I wanted to park before checking in as I was parked on double yellow lines (you can't stop outside the front). This seemed to annoy him and he slowly started checking me in whilst my friend was in the car. The brusque tones continued with the added air that im a complete idiot...it turns out their car park was full, (its now 4pm), but theres a car park over the road, 2minutes walk away. Fine. So i check the room quickly first and notice the air con isnt working.I come down to be met with disdain and moved to a dark hot room on the 4th floor; the aircon works this time, but only with your keycard in the slot provided. So off I go to park the car. The 2 minute walk was 20, and we didnt get lost, I was not impressed as i'd explained that was the main reason I booked here in the first place. Oh well, so we trudged back with our luggage and off we went out. We arrived back at 11.30pm and fancied a nightcap but no! No drinks and even more (different) rude ignorant staff. I said I wasnt happy at this after I booked a 'superior' (3 star I was told!!) room, and most hotels I have stayed at have a residents bar, to be, essentially, completely ignored. But there was more to come...We got to bed at midnight or thereabouts and slept ok, with the puny air conditioner on full, but at 4.15am someones car alarm started going off. Tired we tried to ignore it but at 5am we could take no more and we complained to reception. The annoying thing was upon check in you have to give your car registration number whether you are in their car park or not, as did I, parked 20minutes away. But it had apparently been going on since 3.30am and in that time they had still not woken up the car owner and got them to switch it off. We complained again ten minutes later by which time half the hotel was awake and shouting out of the windows. We decided to leave at 5.15am approximately as did several others. We explained that we were not paying for a service we did not receive (a nights' sleep) and the other matters of the rudest staff ive come across, misleading website, faulty air con, lack of parking to be told: "you cant do anything we've got your credit card details". Lovely. Then he just ignored everyone. Eventually the truth came out that they let anyone park there overnight and that's why a) they couldn't wake the culprit up and b) I had to park 20 minutes away despite arriving at 4pm. I eventually got the room for half price, which I accepted as we just wanted to get the hell out and go home. We missed the motor show as we'd have to have waited around there (angry and tired) for over 4hours til it opened. A pointless waste of a weekend, our money, and fuel getting there. Truly abysmal, never again, avoid like the plague and if you are desperate and this is the only option may i suggest you join the tramps at the front entrance with their bottles of cheap cider you would be assured a much more pleasant nights' sleep.
Ghastly
by TripAdvisor Member CSturgeo
I knew going in that this hotel was a problem but I had no choice as it was booked by the tour company which caters to students. The worst were the cubicles - one for the toilet and one for the shower- and the sink across the room.
The neighborhood's only saving grace is that you can quickly escape on the DLR.
We were kept awake by street thugs under our window shouting at some girls. They desk was called numerous times but did little. It was steaming hot (no A/C in our room) and we had to close the window as we were afraid they were going to throw rubble from the street construction through the window!
Not Good
by TripAdvisor Member Coupe
When I checked into the hotel, check in was quick and pleasant. On my way to my room I noticed the corridors were in need of a good paint, they look tired and dirty.
I had booked a Standard Single Room, when I saw the room it was quite small & dissapointing, when I rang reception to see if there was a better room, they told me that I was already upgraded, and the room I was in was the upgrade. The en-suite was like a porta cabin onto the room, which did not smell pleasant.
At the time London was in the middle of a heat wave, there was no air conditioning in the room, so I rang reception to see if I could get a fan sent up to the room, and I was told that they didn't provide them, no effort was made to make my stay any cooler. I had to stay there for two nights, during the time I spent in my hotel room I melted. It was extremely uncomfortable with the heat, even with the window open it made no difference. There was vending machines in the corridors for cold drinks, it was empty.
At breakfast, it was a canteen style arrangement, where you had to make your own coffee (which was instant!)
There is a chinese restaurant in the hotel. I got a take away dish which is a dish I would always order in a Chinese restaurant, I couldn't eat it, it was not a nice meal. I ordered Duck & Orange Sauce, which is what I got, but was not edible.
Basic but clean - area not for the faint hearted
by TripAdvisor Member Intrepid_miss
The hotel room was basic but spotlessly clean and good value for money - it is very cheap for London. I had read other posts here and was quite worried about the cleanliness, but really I wouldn't have stayed there if the room had been dirty or smelly.
The Docklands Light Railway station is directly opposite the hotel and so getting into the city wasn't a problem. However, the neighbourhood was quite run down and a bit scarey! The car park at the back of the hotel is very expensive at £10 per day (or part of a day). We decided to park on a residential street around the corner from the hotel and nothing untoward happened to the car.
We didn't feel too safe walking around the area at night, so we ate in the cafe in the hotel. It didn't have a wide choice of food and there was a lingering smell of greasy chips. Breakfast in the hotel dining room was pretty basic and a do-it-yourself affair.
On the whole if you want a cheap, clean place to sleep and you're not put off by the neighbourhood then the Custom House would be a reasonable choice. Personally, I won't be going back!
