Citadines Trafalgar Square Apart Hotel

On the positive side, the hotel was in a great location and the room was very clean with a nice bathroom. On the negative side, however, the bed was an uncomfortable pull-out couch, the hotel staff begrudgingly helped you, the card key for the room got deactivated every day causing us extra trips to the lobby where they would insist that the key worked when it did not, 3 lights blew out in the room and on one day the electricity in the whole room blew out, when we checked out they had NO record of our payment and we had to dig through our packed suitcases to find the receipt. My biggest complaint is the lack of services and the unfriendly staff. You're basically on your own here. I would not stay here again.

We spent 9 days in late November at the Citadines, Trafalgar location, in London. The main attraction was the location, and you just can't find another hotel in this area in anywhere near this price range. You are 3 minutes walk from the Thames, Trafalgar, Parliament, and 10 minutes from Picadilli, Leicester, Covent Gardens, the theatre district. In addition, there are lots of pubs, cafes, restaurants, and even grocery stores close by. There are three kinds of rooms: studios (living room with couch that folds out to bed), one-bedroom, and two-bedroom. All rooms have tiny kitchenette and livingroom with fold-out sofa. The rooms are very small, but comfortable. They would be crowded if you had a lot of luggage, but worked OK for us. We rented the one-bedroom, and we stayed in the bedroom and had another adult in the living room. This arrangement worked ok, although the bathroom and door arrangements made privacy an issue. I think the arrangement would work better if there were children in the living room; I wouldn't do it again with adults! The toilet and bath/lavatory were in separate rooms, which was good. The rooms were very plain and the furniture was ''early married'', but the beds were comfortable, and the kitchen had whatever you needed for breakfast, snacks, etc. (which is useful considering how expensive London is). The staff was very courteous, and all our needs were tended to. The lobby is nice. Breakfast was too expensive for what was available, but there are loads of more interesting and cheaper options very close by.

My wife and I stayed here for a long weekend in October, 2005, and will definitely return. This is the third time we have stayed in a 'Citadines', twice in Paris and now London. We like the whole concept of self-catering and the facilities for so doing are excellent here, there is everything you would possibly need. The location could not be better as most of the major attractions are within a few minutes walk of the hotel. We did not need to consult the staff very often but always found them very helpful and courteous. There is a small Tesco convenience store very close to the hotel but you really need to go a little further for a broader range of goods. There is a much bigger Tesco near Picadilly Circus and a good Sainsbury's along Picadilly. I would gladly recommend this Citadines to anyone.

Looked for a good central place in London and found it! You just can't beat the location, and while the apartment isn't huge, only the kitchen is cramped. Very quiet location if you get a room that gives onto the back street like we did. Friendly staff at the reception desk. In conclusion, excellent and we will be returning soon.

Stayed for 2 nights in a 1 bed apartment, with wife & 2 children. Room was clean, but a wierd layout. Toilet was in a different room to the sink & bath. Kitchen was in a converted cupboard - you could not close the door or turn around when inside!! - They should take the door off and make it "open plan". Main bedroom had a door with a self-closer so strong that the door "slammed" - not ideal when the kids are sleeping in the living room sofa bed. No provision of TV in the bedroom. Housekeeping service is only twice a week - completely useless if you are only staying 2 nights as you quickly run out of towels. They do not leave spare toilet rolls and the soap is so small, it disappears down the darin after one use. Shower was completely useless - although strong water pressure from the main tap, switch it to the shower and it is only "dribbling" out. A continental breakfast is served just off the main lobby - and was quite enjoyable in a relaxed calm atmosphere. Good choice and excellent quaility of fruit - only GBP9.00 per person inc VAT (no discount for kids though - even 4 year old ones!!). Staff were pleasant, although there were more excuses why they could not do/fix things than action. Next time I will be prepared to pay GBP10 per night more and stay elsewhere for better housekeeping service.

This is a great location - only minutes away from shopping, transportation (bus and taxis), restaurants/pubs etc. We stayed here for 1 week and found the apartment to be all we would ever need. We prepared the majority of our meals here and although the kitchen was tiny, it was well stocked. We brought dish detergent and extra dishwaher tabs with us which was a good idea as the hotel provided only one tab and no liquid detergent. They did provide dish towels and sponge and a small dishwaher is present as well. There is a small grocery store that is open 24 hours just off of Trafalgar Square (just a few minutes walk away) or a larger grocery store on Bedford St ( about 15 minutes away) - well within walking distance and all food stuff that is needed can be purchased there. All staff members were very helpful. We arrived at the hotel for check-in several hours before check-in time and the desk staff very graciously gave us our room without any wait at all. There is a breakfast available but the cost is 9 pounds - which is a bit pricy for a continental breakfast. There is a pub next door and another only a few minutes away - both serve breakfast. There are many cafes and eateries around the Trafalgar square area as well. The hotel provide only 1 set of towels (hand towel and bath towel) per person but they will issue more if you ask. There is free internet usage for hotel guests but only one computer so often had to wait but this was not really a problem once we learned to avoid the peak times. All in all, I would recommend this hotel highly. It is clean and well presented. Staff are excellent. I would not hesitate to stay there again. All in all, this is a great place to stay in London.

I just returned from a UK visit that included three nights in London at the Citadines Trafalgar Square. The location is fantastic. It is in very close proximity to many of the major tourist attractions and transport links making it easy to get almost anywhere in London in short order. In spite of that, Northumberland Avenue is really fairly quite given the location. The walk back from Tesco (the grocery) is a bit of hike if you buy too much but the store should hold all you need to stock your kitchen. The services was decent if not overly friendly and they held my rental mobile for pickup without question. Check in was quick and painless. The hotel itself is basically a brand new facility within a 1930s building. My studio was quite spacious. The kitchen was fully equiped with the exception of an oven and it was amazing what they could put into such a small space. It really came in handy and I ate a good portion of my meals there. The bath was nice as well and I had no problems with temperature or water pressure. The air conditioning and heating was individually controlled and worked quite well. The sleeper sofa was comfortable and easy to operate. Not all of the TV stations came in and the stereo couldn't pick up any radio due to the concrete structure of the building. The decor is much like a US budget/mid-range hotel. Think Hampton Inn and you will get the idea. A few minor irritations - no clock radio and I had problems with voice mail. I paid about $150 a night here and at that price, it was a great deal. Some sites show this hotel as a four star property. I would rate it high in the three star catagory. As long as you are not expecting luxury and can get a reasonable rate, I would recommend this property.

During our recent visit to Britain we ended our holiday at this aparthotel. When we entered the lobby I was quite impressed and was hoping that it would meet our expectations. I have to say I was somewhat disapointed. We stayed in a one bedroom suite. The bedroom and 2 bathrooms had a heavy safety doors (other than the living room).which made me feel quite boxed in. The windows in both the livingroom and bedroom were quite small and I missed a sense of lightness from larger windows. When I requested to change rooms for one with a larger window and some "light" I was told that ours was a non-smoking floor and that the ones with larger windows on the lower floors were smoking rooms. We did not get the amount of channels shown and it was a disappointment for our son who would have enjoyed the cartoon channel. The hotel is very centrally located which is a great plus for the tube or walking to many sights. The staff was adequate but for the price of $438 Canadian per night, I felt the services were lacking the rating of a 4 star hotel. As I have not stayed in any other hotels in London, I cannot compare the size of the room but felt that everything was compact and spacesaving much like an r.v. or a boat. There was little extra space in which to layout a suitcase etc. other than lay it on the bed. I have never seen such tiny soaps given in a hotel and our kitchenette was missing water glasses but did have wine glasses. I have to admit, it did not reach the calibre of hotels we stayed in in Glasgow and Edinburgh. I would check out other places before committing to returning to this hotel. A positive comment is that is was nice to have the kitchenette and the living room space separate from the bedroom and that the location was quite good.

About the Hotel (in fact "ApartHotel"...) Plus : - Location is perfect (Embankment and Charing Cross stations 1 and 3 minutes walk), also lot of doubledeck buses near Charing Cross. Trafalgar Square is a nice area very close to Covent Garden & Tottenham Court. Perfect if you don't want to lose time in transportation. Excellent pub "Sherlock Holmes" at the left of the Citadines in case of; - Nice entry hall with one plasma tv, newspapers & free internet access (but only one...); - 2 elevators (8 or 9 floors); - checked-in at 11 am and no problem about that early hour, the room was cleaned and ready; - got to check out before 11am but can benefit of a luggage room for lately flights/trains. Minus : - the staff is OK but not very smiling... - no restaurant (but this is not a "hotel") About the room Plus : - Large compared to London average standards : well furnished (modern furnitures), closets, microwave, toaster, fridge... very convenient if you want to save some £ or simply have a drink or something to eat. TV (20 channels incl foreigner networks). hi-fi stereo; - Quiet area / we were on the 1st floor but on the backside of the building (very quiet street). But you can still hear what happens in your corridor and in the street...But it's OK by the way, not a major issue giving the fact that I don't like noisy hotels. - Quiet cheap rate (75£=115€ VAT incl. per night -- Internet rate) for UK - Sofa rather comfortable to sleep in - not huge but nice and clean bathroom with toilets Minus : - no room service (<7 days) - our view was not very exciting because of our 1st floor position Conclusion: Good value for money, no bad surprises, I have not been disappointed. If you're on a budget (so were we), put 15-20£ more to book the Citadines instead of overpay a tiny-no bathroom room in a 1 star hotel in Paddington... Photos will be added ASAP

and if you have a lot of room in your suitcase I'd even consider bringing your own bath towel. The towels they supply are similar to the ones you used in high school gym class. For all the limitations of this place (and there are many which are well outlined here on tripadviser), if I take the kids to London again, I would stay here. If you need to sleep 4-6 people you just can not beat the price for this location. Our room was clean. The only shabby, worn out things were the blankets and the fold out sofa. The kitchen was in good working order. There is even a free computer downstairs but you will need to get up at 4 am to use it because someone is always camped out there. So my summary is, this place is good for families and groups. Do not stay here if you are a couple or if this is a romantic getaway. This is not a quiet, full-service, kind of place.