More about The Shaftesbury London Kensington
excellent value, above average
by A TripAdvisor Member
I spent 3 nights at the Hogarth Hotel in February with my 2 children and found both the hotel & staff to exceed my expectations.
The room had a very modern bathroom, balcony & was cleaned to a very high standard each day.
I found the area ideal as it was just a short tube ride from the all the sights, there are plenty of restaurants nearby & i felt perfectly safe walking back to the hotel late in the evening.
My only negative comment would be the renovation that was being carried out during my stay, but as any noise was throughout the daytime it barely affected my stay.
I booked through a discount hotel website& paid £69 a night for a triple room with continental breakfast which i thought was excellent value.
I would stay there again & not hesitate to recomend the hotel to family or friends.
Do not stay here, You have been warned!!
by A TripAdvisor Member
THIS IS A BUILDING SITE, Hotel from hell! Got them to transfer me to another hotel! Breathing in dust, no curtains in the room, room doors do not open!
Do NOT Stay Here, OR it will ruin YOUR DAY!!
Dreadful Hotel
by A TripAdvisor Member
We stayed in theis hotel for 2 nights in April. The brochure claimed "plasma TV, minibar,microwave,24hour room service".
This was not the case. The three rooms I saw had none of these features and the receptionist seemed bemused when I asked him about the room service. He said the rooms were undergoing renovation "bit by bit". The seconf room didn't evern have a wardrobe, simply a 3 drawer chest for storage. We were also not warned, until we had checked in, that the renovations were very noisy, so relaxing in the room at any time during the day was out of the question. My husband tried to wait for me in the bar at 6pm but was told that it was not open - this is the first supposed 4star hotel I have ever visited whose bar is closed to residents at that time of the evening.
All in all, I would never visit this hotel again, and would advise anyone thinking about it to check directly with the hotel about the renovation works and the standard of the rooms.
Disaster and a Hotel Name Change
by TripAdvisor Member DocNY
This hotel will soon sport a name change--we suspect in order to escape its quite abysmal current guest treatment and reputation. The name will change to "Shaftesbury Hotel," so let the tourist beware!
Two examples of this hotel's guest treatment:
1, we asked for ice; they said they didn't provide it. I asked how they could get away with that since the hotel next door (The Enterprise) provided it and at a markedly cheaper room price (we had friends there). The answer was worthy of Basil Faulty: "THAT hotel is not up to the standard of our hotel!"
2, The bathroom had recently been remodeled (and workers were making loud hammering and sawing noises from 7:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M. Mon-Sunday!--we assumed in an effort to remodel someone else's bathroom) and it appeared quite slick and trendy. . .except that the flush mechanism needed to be primed five times to effect a result, the bath drain cover had to be unscrewed and pulled out to dispose of the backed-up water, and the partial glass shower partition was so poorly designed the entire floor was awash after a five-minute shower!
Several conversations in the single lift with French, Dutch, and Australian guests confirmed that the noise and laughable treatment were not unique to our floor or to us.
No problems from my perspective
by A TripAdvisor Member
After reading all the poor reports recently posted, I was somewhat apprehensive about staying at the Hogarth for two weeks on business. Yes, the hotel is being refurbished. However, I encountered none of the problems listed by previous reviewers. I found, and continue to find, the desk staff, employees, and even the workers courteous and helpful. My room (a base single) is fully modern, including a plasma TV, safe, bar area, etc. and there have been no problems whatsoever. Obviously, it would have been nice to have the bar/restaurant open but I found the provision of a complementary breakfast delivered on-time to my room to be a more than adequate substitute. Had the renovations not been taking place I would have given it a higher rating, but it was not possible to evaluate the bar/restaurant. Overall, I have paid a lot more and gotten a lot less on my frequent trips to London than I have received at the Hogarth. As a marketing professional a word of advice when using these reviews: you will get two ends of the spectrum....the very satisfied and the very unsatisfied (usually the latter) which tend to represent only a small proportion of the overall consumer opinion.......
Where to start....
by TripAdvisor Member davidc123
This hotel is a disaster. As soon as you walk in you're greeted with the stench of wet paint, dozens of foreign builders making a racket, and a table with a cloth which is supposed to be the reception. The hotel is being refurnished and for the rooms it looks like they've started from the top down, since only the top two floors seemed safe enough to walk on. The room we got in is big enough for a double bed, and 1 person can walk around the sides of it but thats about all the room there is! The only good thing is that the room was actually quite nice (even with no space, broken locks, and switches falling off...)
Anyway, my girlfriend and i spent the night in old street which is far away from the hogarth. we ended up getting back about 4am, looking forward to a good nights sleep (which is what you'd expect when you pay £54 a night). However, come 8am a horde of workers came past our room and into the room next to ours and were making such horrible noises until 9pm that night. i've never heard so much unnecessary noise. we had to get up so went out, but when we came back hoping to get some sleep they were still there shouting sawing banging etc... We asked reception if we could change room, and the girl who didnt seem to have a clue what she was doing just said 'oh well they should be done soon.' I asked why we cant just change and we were told they are fully booked (even though it was a ghost town apart from the workers. i saw a total of 3 guests the entire stay!) She also told us they wouldnt be there the next day.... but 8am again they arrive making terrible noise. we visited and phoned reception but obviously they wouldnt help.
The icing on the cake was when they tried to charge us 39pence for calling reception to complain about the noise!
If you read this review and the other recent ones you'll realise that this hotel is a very, very bad idea.
Earls court is a good area for hotels but avoid this one like the plague.
What a Mess
by A TripAdvisor Member
We were sent to the Hogarth when our original hotel overbooked. After dropping by around noon to ensure they knew about our transfer, we set out to see the city. Returning that evening we found they still had not bothered to assign us a room and had to wait an additional half hour while they scrambled. The room they stuck us in was barely functional. the phone was missing, half of the lamps didn't work, and pieces were falling off the shower. Additionally the window and curtain were configured in such a way that it took two people to get the window open and past the curtains for any ventalation. The section of the hotel we were relegated too was also about 10 degrees warmer than the rest of the hotel. There was inadequate ventalation past the fire door it seems. I would never willingly stay at this hotel again...
Great Value for the money!
by A TripAdvisor Member
I saw this hotel and was attracted by the price. I figured that in Earls Court and at the price I paid, that this would be nothing more than a tourist class Hotel. Was I ever wrong!!
Even though the hotel was under construction at the time we were there, our room was completely remodeled. The bathroom had all new modern fixtures and was impeccably clean. The actual room size surprised me, since this is London and rooms can be very small. The room was huge even by London standards!
We paid about $89 USD a night and it was a short 3 minute walk from the Earls Court tube station. I understand the lobby has undergone a complete revovation and the new pictures are wonderful from what I have seen.
I will honestly recommend this hotel and will stay there again for the location and for the great job they did on the renovation.
I have no idea why they got such horrible reviews from others since the hotel was a bargain even at the price I paid. Normally you get what you pay for, but this was a nice surprise!
Would recommend after renovation; but watch out for Expedia!
by TripAdvisor Member karmakate
On the first day of our honeymoon, my husband and I were transferred to the Hogarth after Expedia overbooked us at the Best Western Paddington Court. The staff was very nice and accomodating. However the hotel was under renovation, and the first room we were in had a view of scaffolding, no hot water and no a/c during a heat wave. The staff did transfer us right away to a much larger, nicer room that did not look at scaffolding, that had hot water, but still had no a/c. The fan they gave us worked OK, but we didn't get a lot of sleep while staying at this hotel. Now I do recommend this hotel after renovation. The rooms are nice, and will be nice when there is a/c; and the staff was wonderful. The location is great as well! What I do not recommend is booking this or any hotel in Europe or anywhere through Expedia! This was a horrible honeymoon due to their bad business, and all they have offered for compensation is a voucher for another hotel booked through them?!
Forum Posts
hyde park paddington or shafesbury kensington hotels
by agnesnow
Hi all - everyone is so helpful here I'm hoping I can get some great advice too! I'll be in London on my own (30 ish white chick) for 4 days in March. I'm looking at hotels and two great deals i've found are hyde park paddinton (formerly senator hotel) which is located by the paddinton train station. the other place is shaftesbury kensington (formerly hogarth hotel) which is by earls court station. They're both around 70/night which is my top limit. I need to be somewhere safe where I won't feel too conspicous, clean, nice etc, but also easy access to the sites and restaurants, shopping etc. I'm not into clubbing, but def some nice pubs would be great.
Any ideas about these two hotels and locations?
Many Many thanks!
Aga
RE: hyde park paddington or shafesbury kensington hotels
by lou31
Good on you! You'll love it...I too spent time in London by myself last year and felt quite safe. I chose the Kensington Close hotel in Kensington and was happy with the place. K. is a nice suburb and with the tube no matter where you stay you are only minutes away from the sights anyway. The tube station is just on the next corner.
I stayed in at night and didn't venture too far. I used a money belt strapped to my body under my clothes...I felt this the best option.
Just be very aware and you will be alright. Being female and travelling by yourself puts a whole new perspective on it...Feel free to email me if you have any questions.
RE: hyde park paddington or shafesbury kensington hotels
by pmduggan
I agree, Kensington is much nicer and safer. It is more upscale and it is the shopping district (Harrod's, etc.). You'll do just fine.
RE: hyde park paddington or shafesbury kensington hotels
by rakhipandya
Hi Aga
Both are great location but I would also recommend you have a look at the following website: www.laterooms.com and check out London hotels. If you want to know exaclty where the hotel is located, go to google.com and seach for google maps. Then enter the postal code of the hotel and voila!
Re the hotels you have mentioned, the closest attractions to Paddington are Madam Tuasards and the Planitarium. Your also a short bus ride away from the famous Oxford Street. the only thing I can say about Earls Court is that this is where the rich live BUT that does not mean that the cost of eating out and shopping is excessive. It's just more refined.
I hope this has helped.
Rakhi
RE: hyde park paddington or shafesbury kensington hotels
by agnesnow
Thanks everyone sooo much! I am very much looking forward to a great trip.
Cheers,
Aga
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