The Hotel Russell  

Location! Location! Location!....that's the only positives you can say about this hotel!

Absolutely terrible! My wife and I travel to London every 3-6 months, staying for 1-3 nights at a time whilst she undergoes treatment at a hospital round the corner from the Russell Hotel. Over the past 5 years, we have stayed at many 2 to 5 star hotels in the Bloomsbury area and we have often thought we would try the Russell Hotel on one or more of our visits per year. The hotel has a wonderful location and the building on the outside looks fantastic, dramatic and a beautiful piece of architecture. But they are the only positive compliments you could give this hotel. We booked a “Superior Double Room” which from our experience was far, far below the standard of ALL other hotels in the Bloomsbury/London area. We were on the second floor and the windows are extremely old, rickety and do not close properly so we were freezing…it was 3 deg C outside and although all the windows were firmly locked, the curtains & netting in the room moved with the breeze outside! It was so bad, we kept waking up and you could see your breath! The noise outside is horrendous, throughout the day and ALL night…and I do mean ALL NIGHT until daybreak! This hotel desperately needs major infrastructure investment including sound proofing, heating that works and good quality double/triple glazing. The only source of heating in the room was via a very noisy air conditioning unit that competed to offend your ears, as much as the traffic noise outside! The Air Conditioning unit was ridiculous, you may as well have put an electric fan heater in the middle of a football stadium with the hope it would heat the whole arena!...you would have got a similar level of heat! The cleanliness of the hotel was FAIR, there were stains and dirt in some places! The staff are extremely rude, arrogant and indifferent! …it seemed to me that Principal-Hayley, the hotel chain, must pay them all peanuts as none of the staff (including senior staff) seemed to care about anything.

Location

The concierge was not very helpful. Didn't want to assist with the planning of our day trips. We stayed for 5 nights and wanted to make a plan so that we could see certain sites. He simply wanted to put us on some site seeing bus. He didnt want to take the time to help us effectively and efficiently plan our day trips.

Location

I was pleased with the location of the hotel, very close to Russell Square Tube Station. The breakfast had a wide range of choice and was very enjoyable, but the waiter service was very slow in bringing tea and coffee.

The rooms are in need of some decorating and my friends room had a broken bath tap, along with a dirty toilet! A wedding funcion was held on Sat evening and the music was extremely loud which could be heard until midnight in both our rooms. The concierge in the morning was very rude and arrogant to our children, but the early evening concierge was a different, friendly, caring gentlemen and was a credit to the hotel.

We enjoyed our stay the staff were excellent the room clean breakfast good if a little expensive

Old world charm, well maintained, close to public transport with an excellent location. Large room sizes but at an extra cost.

First room offered was small and dark. However, staff were happy to find a much better room after we agreed to pay for the upgrade.

Location was great travelling from Heathrow as on the Picadilly line and the tube station is just around the corner. Very near to the British Museum so location good and there is a lovely park across the road from it. There is a nice bar there (though expensive). All the staff we encountered were very friendly. Our room on the 4th floor was very well kept and clean. We asked for additional blankets and were promptly accomadated.

Didn't like the breakfast at all. Bad quality ingredients used which I felt let it down. We arrived early but on leaving there was a large queue and certainly would prefer to refrain from including breakfast if booking again.

It was "lekker" as we say in Afrikaans in South Africa. Thank you for making my stay pleasant, eventhough it was very short.

Very charming building, old but in good condition. We was feeling back in history in the Titanic style hall and diningroom. The bar was excellent for High Tea or for refreshments and a book in the evening, and could have been place for an Agatha Christe story. Our room to the park was very comfortable, and not noisy to the trafic. The bell"boys" was serviceminded for everything! The location of the hotel is very good, with underground railway arond the corner. We was happy with a good walking distanse to down-town, Oxford Street, Regnet Park and Kings Cross railwaystation. We will prefer this hotel again!

May be we missed a restaurant for lunsj and evening, but the room service meny was excellent, and so was the charming bar with the same meny! The bathroom was very small, but we had what we needed.

The Hotel itself is impressive though it's once obvious splendour is now somewhat tired. The staff were very professional.

The English breakfast was cold and poorly displayed and maintained. I could not sleep as the soundproofing of the room was in-efficient.

THe location to Theatre, dining and museums. The ease with which we were 'home' again after a busy day. I would recommend this hotel to others.

Well situated for Covent Garden etc 'posh' interior and exterior.

Being asked to pay for wireless internet is a bit much given the price of the hotel to start with.