ibis Styles London Southwark - near Borough Market Hotel 3 stars

Room & facilities all very good. Poor experience with the evening meal though. Had the vegan curry - had to send it back for re-heating as it was still frozen in places... Wouldn’t stop me staying again but I probably wouldn’t have an evening meal here again.

The hotel is decorated very imaginatively, but the service and the basic functions are not up to scratch for this price. It felt like staying in the middle of an elaborate stage set. As we know, stage sets are not meant to be lived in, and it certainly felt like the designers of this hotel did not intend to stay there themselves. If you want dinner you have to order at reception, which is bizarre. Then the cook brings the food out and plonks it on your table. If you want another drink you have to go to reception too. The aim seems to be to save on staff salaries. (No barperson, no waiter). A dreary welcome for a tired traveller. I was boosted to a room with separate bedroom and living space. Oddly, the spare bed had been folded out of the sofa even though I was travelling alone. There was no desk (even Travelodge has a desk!), just an arty round table in a corner where there was no light and no possibility of light (all the lamps had been wired into the wall so I couldn't shift one). Business travellers need desks. In the bathroom, no extractor fan and the plug didn't work in the basin. The breakfast room barely has enough seats for the number of guests coming through, and the breakfast itself is meagre. All in all, a place to avoid, at this price. The ordinary Ibis at Blackfriars gets everything right. Stay there instead.

I stay in hotels often for work and this is by far the worst experienced to date, very unhelpful staff, badly lit room with dark decor meant hard to work on the lap tops, the room was rather depressing. The hotel were not at all bothered when we asked to have dinner, asked what we wanted to eat without showing us where to sit or give us menus! explained I have allergies and asked for a diet coke, no they do not have that but Xero is the same, no it is not and I have already had issues with it when I tried it when it came on the market. Ended up having to go out to find a restaurant, not what we had planed as raining and we had work to do to get ready for the meeting the following day. The housekeeper walked into the room and my husband/Co Director was naked and I was in bed still, all she said was sorry wrong room! We had not checked out so why come in? The USB charging points did not work, all the chap said when I mentioned it was the fuse must have gone!! in Both pairs !!! I was offered a 20% discount by email but when I checked out I was not offered this and had to ask, the lady who I saw did not speak just took my card and issued a refund, not a word of apology and as the refund was offered it would have been obvious that there was an issue. Overall a total sham

Furnishing is really cured and particular, really cool; staff is kind and always available; position is fine as you can easily connect to Gatwick airport and to center of London. It could be even better if the breakfast would have also some typical English food, like bacon and beans.

I checked in online but upon arrival was told that this doesn't actually work. The staff member was polite and helpful and did this quickly. The complimentary drink upon arrival was well received. he room was comfortable and breakfast was lovely. Check out was a little more challenging because of the partially working online check in process, the registered card wouldn't approve so it had to be manually paid for. Staff were apologetic and polite about it and helped to quickly resolve so that I could leave for an urgent early meeting. I am still waiting on my invoice being mailed to me though and cannot complete my business expenses without it so will have to chase this up.