Best Western Paddington Court Hotel

, London, United Kingdom
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Best Western Paddington Court Hotel

, London
3 star

Rooms: 195

27 Devonshire Terrace - London - England - W2 3DP - United Kingdom Hotel Website | 2077451200
895 Traveller

Reviews - Best Western Paddington Court Hotel

« 1 2 »
1/10
Never again
Submitted by: A Travel Library User in 23/03/07
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Business Traveller
Never again will I stay here. There was no hot water available - the boiler was broken but they chose not to tell me that when I checked in. Having run a cold bath at 10.30pm, I was told it had only happened 10 minutes ago, but at breakfast other guests said they'd had no hot water for 2 days! Offered an alternative room to shower in the next morning - across the road in the other building! And the worst is they offered no compensation! Never again.
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1/10
The worst hotel in the world?
Submitted by: Dissatisfied in 02/11/06
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Business Traveller
This is quite simply the worst hotel in which I have ever had the misfortune to stay. Stains on the bedcovers, non-smoking rooms stinking of smoke, unpleasant and unhelpful staff. Avoid this hotel at all costs.
3/10
Useless staff who didn't understand english!
Submitted by: Jess in 30/07/06
  • Age Group: 26 - 30
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Special Interest/Event
Got a deal on suite with kitchenette, no complaints really about the room though was smaller than expected, shower tiling could have been maintained better. Biggest problem was the staff, all very well being foreign and multi-lingual but not very helpful when none of the languages are english. Room was not cleaned even though I had asked for it to be (after leaving a do not disturb sign, I was asked to alert reception when the room could be cleaned), porter argued with me till i felt like smacking him - all in all, the room was not worth the money. Also, quite a walk from the "nearest" tube stations.
1/10
The worst experience
Submitted by: Paulina in 25/05/06
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: United States
  • Traveller type: Family Traveller
I am still here I will leave tomorrow to another hotel. Freezer full of water so the food I had got bad, cigarette odor impossible, small bedrooms, shower very small, glass of the shower broken, no one came to make up the room, broken telephone, they said they will send someone never sent nobody. If you like to treat well yourself or have a decent place THIS HOTEL IS A NIGHTMARE. We visited many rooms one worst than the others and the one we have is well...If you want to get frustrated, mad, don't rest and feel like you are in a doll house or jail or don't have money for other thing I understand but who runs this hotel needs to do something about it. THE PICTURES LIE
1/10
Worst hotel in London
Submitted by: Sugiowono in 11/05/06
  • Age Group: 26 - 30
  • From: Indonesia
  • Traveller type: Business Traveller
A worst hotel I ever stayed. The room is very small also its bathroom. The floor is made of woods so very annoying if someone upstairs is walking...nyit nyit nyit its sound.
2/10
Oh my god
Submitted by: A Travel Library User in 01/05/06
  • Age Group: 18 - 25
  • From: United Kingdom
  • Traveller type: Young Couple
Where to start, the main thing is that the room was tiny, I was having to walk on the bed to get around things. The tea and coffee was not replaced from day to day. Two of the plug sockets did not work. The lift was very unreliable trust me I got stuck in it. The staff were quite friendly but I certainly won't be staying there again.
1/10
Unbelievable
Submitted by: Cicy in 23/02/06
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: Taiwan
  • Traveller type: Family Traveller
Can't imagine its chain hotel. room unclean, staff unfriendly, no hot water in the early morning in basement room, space extremely small, the worst of all, we lost our worthy usd1500's property in our room but the hotel claim they have no idea. Anyway if you want to ruin your holiday, choose this hotel.
4/10
Welcome To Your Cell!
Submitted by: Richard Born in 05/10/05
  • Age Group: 41 - 50
  • From: United States
  • Traveller type: Mature Couple
I've generally been impressed by Best Western's but this was
a disappointment. The room was so small that access to the
bed was from one side only which doesn't work for double occupancy. Not only that, but the bed was far from comfortable. Now, some 18 months later, my wife still reminds me how bad it was! However, location was good with easy access to Underground and breakfast was decent. But any visitor with claustrophobia needs to look elsewhere (most likely, up market).
2/10
Not Much To Recommend It
Submitted by: Barbara in 03/11/05
  • Age Group: 51 - 60
  • From: United States
  • Traveller type: Mature Couple
Service at this hotel was abysmal. The front desk was totally overwhelmed and understaffed. It took us 3 hours to get our room despite repeated requests due to the fact that I was ill and needed to lie down. My daughter was also a guest in another room and on one day, she never got maid service despite repeated calls to housekeeping. The rooms were tiny, airless and charmless. My daughter, who is a business traveler, said it was one of the worst hotels she had ever stayed in.
5/10
Room Did Not Have Thermostat
Submitted by: Bharat in 05/10/05
  • Age Group: 31 - 40
  • From: United States
  • Traveller type: Young Couple
Room did not have thermostat to control heat in the winter. Temperature of the room was about 41C/100F degree. We have to open window in the winter to breath properly for the nights, but window was broken to hold up, so, we used newspaper to hold it.
When we made suggestions, counter person said "people stealing thermostat" that is unbelievable. Its costs only 5.00 USD (2.5GBP) and who would like to do it.
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Historical Traveller Reviews of Best Western Paddington Court Hotel

London hotels

from A TripAdvisor Member
When we arrived at the Paddington Court our room was typical London, small and not to well furnished. The friends we were with found the mattress in their room had seen better days and complained to the management. We were moved to larger and much nicer rooms on the first floor. All in all our 8 day stay became very nice. The staff, both hotel and kitchen, were great, the breakfast was very nice, the rooms were cleaned everyday and it was convenient to the tube and buses. My only complaint was I had joined a Best Western Crown Club and getting the points became a catch 22. Because I had made the reservations on the internet from another party it was not counted. That to me was the big joke. This was not the hotels fault however.

in the title...

from A TripAdvisor Member
Without a doubt, this is one to avoid. The only saving grace it offers is some proximity to Paddington Station and nice, cheap adjacent eats (but there were a lot of hotels in the area closer than this one). Stayed for a weekend in September. I had "confirmed" a reservation while in the UK by phone, that had been botched up upon arrival. It took the staff 20 minutes to put me in a single room. Felt sorry for the people in front of me, their reservation through hotels was apparently NO GOOD and the staff did nothing to help them find other lodging!!! Rude staff throughout stay, most were non-Brits. Would agree w/previous comments that the rooms were very small, even for European standards (approx 8'x10' in single room). If you're over 6' and 180 lbs, you won't fit in the shower and don't leave anything on the floors (due to flooding). Pipes leaked, beds were as hard as the floor and walls were thin. It's a shame because other BW-affiliated properties in Europe have been moderately nice hotels especially in Austria/Germany. Key drop-off was a bit childish (was a little leary of this considering not all rooms have safes). Don't let the pictures fool you on other sites; I can't remember the one website but it listed this property as a 4-star hotel. Don't think so.

Modest accommodation

from A TripAdvisor Member
I test-stayed at these after reading the multiple and fairly poor reviews in tripadvisor.com. Comparing these to my thoughts as I left: the rooms are small, minimally functional, the beds are springy and make a crunchy springy sound when you press them, other furniture is light weight, the colour scheme is mid-green, mid-wine, mid-blue. There was no kitchen in the hotel rooms so I need to go back and check whether the suites across the road are better. I would have stayed there when I was young and naive but not now - why go on a holiday and stay in a place that's less comfortable than home? One reviewer on tripadvisor said: "I'd recommend staying as close to Paddington as possible, or better yet, staying in an area that is closer to more active streetlife (pubs, shopping). I'd rather be able to step outside of a hotel, and be in the thick of things." A Londoner giving advice to a tourist would say: "What can you expect from accommodation near Paddington? This is how it works: many people stay at Paddington as it is a direct route to Heathrow, that leads to competition between accommodation providers, which leads to lower profit margins, which leads to smaller 'units' and less expensive staff. So all the complaints about low staff levels, shortage of service, low quality furniture, etc are just inevitably typical of the basic choice to stay in a tourist trap. And I am not sure there is just one 'thick of things' in London, there are several 'thick of things' which are not within walking distance of each other. I think this reviewer wanted to stay in Soho or perhaps Kensington, which has more cappuccino bars than you really need. You can't really swallow London in one gulp. Stay near the Jubilee Line, which has a north west to south east axis, and you will get to most places of interest with one train ride. It is the best line in London, and takes in Baker Street and the north west for Regents Park, London Zoo etc, the West End via Green Park and Westminster stops, the South Bank via Waterloo and London Bridge, Canary Wharf via ... Canary Wharf. Lancaster Gate is on the Central Line - this mainly goes to Oxford Circus, which is a stroll from the West End - and Paddington is on the Circle Line, which does what is says." When I was the staff were surrounded by people and lots of others waiting around. You know there are smarter ways to stay in London.

Much too small double room, feeling like in a basement

from A TripAdvisor Member
Room B06 certainly didn't look like anything we saw on the Internet.
Quite disapointing small room, had to move the bed to get around, under ground level, facing backyard, dirty carpets, stressed staff.

Small Room - Dirty hallways

from A TripAdvisor Member
Chose this hotel for proximity to Paddington Station. Our room was in the "old" wing (there appeared to be a new wing which was much nicer, with elevators and electronic room keys -- but we did not see it). The room was very small (even by European standards) and at ground level. The bathroom was relatively clean, although the hallways leading to the room were quite dirty and the carpet in the room had old gum on it. The chain on our door was broken and was not fixed after two requests, although staff was otherwise relatively friendly. There was a coin-op internet terminal in the lobby, which was very convenient. Otherwise -- would not recommend, I'm sure you can do better!!

Ugg... think twice before going here

from A TripAdvisor Member
Some how this was by far the worse hotel experiance I have ever had.
This was a 3 star hotel. It was more like a no star. We sent reservations in advance for 2 rooms. we ended up being on different floors than our kids. the first room we were given was smelly, bed was broken down and in poor condition and extremely small (like no room to walk). We immediatly went to the main desk and requested another room and were given another room. This one was 7X7 (this is not a misprint) This one had a bed with springs that popped through the matress. After a sleepless night we requested and were given another room. this one was okay but nothing to brag about. Looks good on the outside but not worth the money or sleepless nights!

Creaky, Charmless Hotel

from RNJohn
Recently returned from a five-night stay at this hotel. We chose this property online from Hotels.com, as we needed a room for three people.
We also made much use of tripadvisor.com, and were a bit scared by all the comments being made here, but decided to go for it anyway.

The hotel itself is 4-5 (not unpleasant) blocks down from Paddington Station. The area appears mostly safe and residential with several small groceries, delis, coffee shops and pubs along Craven Road (the main road from Paddington to Devonshire Terrace). I'll admit, more than once we gazed longingly at the Hilton Paddington, perched seductively smack dab above the rail and Tube stations, as we trudged back to the BW Paddington Court after each day's sightseeing.

(Near the end of the trip, alas, we discovered that Lancaster Gate tube station was a wee bit shorter to this hotel than Paddington.)

The triple room appeared just as in photos on various web sites: three very "springy" single beds arranged parallel with three nightstands in-between, with a dresser at the foot of the beds. That meant a surprising amount of drawer space, but the smallish room felt somewhat crowded with all three people in at the same time. Either the floors were slanted or the beds were, as I listed to the right every time I laid down in bed. The tv was a small remote-controlled, 19-inch color with 10 cable/satellite channels, plus 4 radio stations. Worked fine, if placed a bit high, hospital-style at the corner of the room.

You could really tell this wasn't a new building by the creakiness of the floors, and the numerous steps going up/down/every which way. There is a lift in the building, but nearly useless as there are always half-flights of steps leading everywhere. Trust me, you'll always have to take steps somewhere. Definitely NOT for wheelchair bound patrons.

I did notice that the room, beds, and carpeting were very clean, which helped tolerate other idiosyncracies. Such as? Well, the shower for one thing. A typical London shower I guess -- it was basically a 2 foot square corner of the bathroom with 4-5 inch raised barrier at the bottom. The flimsy shower curtain hung loose, and you couldn't help but get caught up in it bathing. We joked that we were always so intimate with the shower curtain, that we needed a cigarette afterwards!

Naturally the bathroom floor would get drenched, no matter how hard we tried. Perhaps that's why it was always so clean. We also had difficulty with the controls of the shower. The left side controlled the flow of the water, but the right side controlled the temperature, and was hellishly difficult to turn. And it was stuck on HOT! Finally required getting a hand towel and lots of strength to turn it down. One night we came back, and there was a nice letter explaining that today was wash day, so they took everyone's shower curtain down! You know how this story ends -- the next morning the bathroom floor was practically a lake.

We only called the office the first night for a wake up call the next morning. The phones are "hotel phones", i.e. they have push buttons reading "Wake Up Call" and "Front Desk." We couldn't get thru either, but no problem as we had an alarm clock in the room. But they really need to work on this aspect of service. What if somebody really has an emergency?

Overall the front desk staff would smile when you smiled first at them, but otherwise were cool. Perhaps it's a European thing, as most of them were from Western and Eastern European countries (although they all understood and spoke English well). The Polish guy at the door was the friendliest of the lot. Every time we exited the hotel, there was always someone cleaning the lobby, the waiting lounge or the sidewalks outside. Cleanliness was definitely not a problem here. Leaving the key at the front desk didn't bother us either. I'd rather do that than keep up with it.

So what's the verdict? I can't really give this hotel 3.5 stars, like several sites do. It has a certain worn charm to it, but isn't quirky or personable enough to overcome its flaws. There are several other hotels that we passed from Paddington (other than the Hilton) which I recognized from this site. I'd recommend staying as close to Paddington as possible, or better yet, staying in an area that is closer to more active streetlife (pubs, shopping). I'd rather be able to step outside of a hotel, and be in the thick of things.

Be Aware

from A TripAdvisor Member
We agree with the reviews posted: the room was inconvienently small, front desk never answers the phone, hotel is under-staffed. We would like to add that we were nearly the victims of an apparantly common hotel practice of being overcharged for transportation when we requested a cab. The hotel concierge called their transportation, which was an unlicensed, unmetered, uninsured van which would have charged us 12 lbs for a ride to Victoria Station as opposed to 8.40 for a licensed, metered regular cab. So if you request a cab, make it clear you want a regular, metered London cab, not their private van. The room rate was good, but we got absolutely no more than we paid for, and we won't stay there again.

Terrible choice; stay elsewhere

from VirginiaTravelA_Z
Chose this hotel for proximity to Paddington station so we could easily be at the airport the next day. It was much further from the station than we had anticipated. We were given a former janitor's closet as a room. You could clearly see the former sign on our room door and our room number was marked in pencil on the hallway directional sign.
Clearly, our room had recently been "created". The room was below street level so you could only see the outdoors with half of the window. Staff was rude, we always had to wait just to drop off the room key which you must do EVERY time you leave the hotel. The key was like an elementary school hall pass. We saw several young guests lounging barefoot in the common area. It was only one night, but we will never go back there again.

Disputing charges/ did not stay when I saw it

from A TripAdvisor Member
Booked online~ photos disceptive ~had child's accomodation down 2 hallways from adult ~ could not stay after speaking w mgr. Disputing charges.

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Other names for Best Western Paddington Court Hotel

  • london best western
  • best western paddington court hotel
  • Address: 27 Devonshire Terrace - London - England - W2 3DP - United Kingdom
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