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Worst hotel ever
Please do not be fooled by the website of the Kensington Close Hotel. Pretty pictures of a lovely lobby are not an accurate reflection of this terrible hotel.

It is hard to know where to begin, but I suppose theft is as good a place as any.

1. On the first night of our visit to the hotel, all of my electronics were stolen from my locked suitcase. The safe did not work because the employees at the front desk failed to tell us we needed a code to activate it and there was nothing about it on the safe itself. The hotel personnel were reluctant to contact the police and told us we should go to the police station ourselves - two women at 11:30 at night. The hotel personnel basically did not believe that anything was stolen as the device they plugged into the lock on the door indicated that the only access was with our key cards. They ignored the marks on the door which showed that a screwdriver or something similar was used to jimmy the door open. They did not even offer to move us to another room or follow up at any time. They only phoned the police when another guest reported that money was taken from her room.

2. Don't even think of asking for a wake-up call. We were there as part of a tour group with specific times for departure each morning. We either received no call (or knock at the door as some of us received) or it came between 30 - 60 minutes late. Our of our colleagues got a wake-up "knock". Then they did not immediately answer, the hotel employee entered her room without being given permission.

3. The bathrooms are awful. We had a newly renovated room, but it was hard to tell. The bathroom is about two feet wide exclusive of the bathtub and about 12 feet long with a sink at one end and the toilet at the other. The tub is on a platform so it is nearly impossible to get into it. Stairs would be helpful. There is no ventilation to speak of so one shower will leave water dripping down the walls. After two days, we had mold everywhere. Although we told the front desk, nothing was done. Eventually, the paint in the room began to peel as well. Colleagues reported that some shower curtains were not long enough so that water was streaming out of the shower.

4. Another fellow travelor reported a leak to the front desk on the first day. It was never corrected. The carpet was soaking wet and the paing was buckling. They were told the repair was complicated.

5. Hotel staff is undertrained. We were to have the Full English Breakfast. Many of our colleagues were told otherwise. At one point, one of us was told he had already had breakfast. That was his roommate who had already eaten - not him.

6. Half the telephones do not work which might account for the lack of wake-up calls.

7. The main elevators were out of service for a portion of our visit. They are located right by the front door so anyone could enter and not be seen by front desk personnel.

8. They keep the business center locked and wifi will cost you around $24 a day. Wifi was supposed to be included with out tour, but there was a great deal of confusion about that and not all of us could get it.

And, lastly, one member of our group uses a C-Pap machine. She requested distilled water for the machine. Upon arrival, there was nothing. The personnel at the desk told her to boil water in the tea machine. Boiled water is not the same as distilled. Then they told her to go to Boots and get it herself.

Basically, this hotel is one disaster after another. Please, please, please, stay somewhere - anywhere - else. If you are already commited to this hotel, leave nothing in your room and bring your own alarm clock. Take very short showers to avoid the mold and ask for a room with a walk-in shower unless you know how to pole vault.
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Posted Mon 06 Aug 2012

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