ibis budget London Whitechapel - Brick Lane 2 stars

Express checkin and checkout was used for the hotel. according to their system, the keys were ready and can be collected without waiting on arrival. On arrival, there were a group of 6 people in front of us at the tabletennis table where check in was dealt with, this took over 15 minutes. The group were all dealt with one by one. As we (group of 5) got to be checked in, the worker typed in the booking code and had all 5 of us in the system. Again, each of us were dealt with one by one, after calling out the persons name, he checked if express checkout was activated, left through through a door and came back 3-5 minutes later with a key. this way the total check in time took over 45 minutes! about the same time as it took us from heathrow to the hotel. Once we got to the sixth floor, we found one of the keys was not working. After heading back down to the reception, the person who checked us in said he knew it would not work, that is the broken key. breakfast was a waste of money. there were cut up french stick, small croissants, cheese and ham, musli and some small cupcakes. The hot water for the tea on one of the coffee machines looked like a black coffee. At least Travellodge has a full English breakfast - which you would at least expect from a hotel in the UK. Many pubs had a full english breakfast for about the same price paid in the hotel, thanks for nothing. The rooms were what you can expect from an Ibis budget, simple and reasonable. when asleep we were not waken by nearby traffic allthough near a hospital with some abulance sirens now and then outside. As an idea, it would be nice if the shower door was on the other side as the water would not run out through the opening/handle and onto the floor in front of the shower. there were no toilet brushes which might be embarrassing for some. it was a bit wierd to have a sign in the room telling you about only changing towles on the floor and donating to local farmers if they are not swapped. the towles were hung up on the shower door to be "not on the floor", yet they were changed anyway.

Reception was very understaffed, always a queue to speak to anyone. Breakfast was restricted to one coffee machine, again, always a queue to use it. There were two other machines which were not switched on. A little more variety at breakfast would have been good, e.g. only fruit was apples.

The room was okay, the coffee machine was free it is really nice :)) Thank you..

The rooms are comfortable but simple, great as it’s just a base to see London, the staff were very pleasant and helpful, but not invasive. I would definitely recommend having the breakfast, which was filling and offered plenty of choice. Really great value for money.

I often stay at the ibis budget London Whitechapel - Brick Lane when I am in town for work and I typically find the hotel is good value for money. During my last stay I was extremely disappointed by the attitude of the staff member at reception who categorically refused to lend me a hairdryer as I didn't have a £10 note on me for the deposit. Working in the hospitality sector myself I understand there are processes to be followed but he clearly did not want to find a solution to help me not to go to my meeting in the cold with my hair soaking wet. Thankfully he was busy when I came back to reception 5 minutes later to do my checking and one of his colleague spontaneously offer me a hairdryer when she saw me. I didn't get her name but thanks for saving me from catching a pretty bad cold!