STG Hotel Oxford Street

"Request for close rooms was ignored and rooms were 6 floors apart. This was rectified by staff member. Rooms very basic but fine. Central location for much of London. Very early checkout as standard.. before 10am and staff knocked at 9 which was very annoying. Charge of 10 pounds per bag to hold them for a few hours. Not sure I’ll be returning. "

"I am sorry that this account is so long but I wanted to make sure that I had as much covered as possible. Get comfy… Upon arrival, there are 10 steps up to the lobby/reception area. However, there is also a wheelchair lift, should you need it. You are then presented with a bank of computer screens for you to check yourself in or you can join the seemingly never ending queue at a reception desk. Even if your stay is pre-paid, you have to present a debit or credit card to be registered for £1 to be taken off. This, I am assured, is returned at the end of your stay but holds your bank details captive in case you order any extras. I stayed in room 407, about which are the following room observations and so I do not know how the other rooms fare. I wouldn’t say that this room was small, but I have seen larger walk-in wardrobes. There are NO tea/coffee facilities in the room. These were removed when STG took over the hotel in January 2005. There is also NO telephone, so if there are any issues, you need to trek down to reception and join the afore-mentioned queue. The television remote control was disgusting. (See photograph) I luckily had a small plastic bag with me with which to cover it. Oh yes – the television did not work until I realised that it was not plugged in, so had to trace the boxed-in lead round the window to where the socket was hiding. The bathroom: all of the chrome-work needs replacing. Neither was it very clean. (See photograph) There were stains along the bottom of the shower curtain as well as the shower head needing cleaning out. Bed linen and towels are changed every 4 days, so if you are staying for 3 days, for example but want clean towels on day 2, then you will be charged £25 for the privilege. When I checked, I was told that this charge did not apply if you were just staying for the one night. Sleep. What is that? I could hear a rumbling every few minutes, that made me think that the hotel was sited over the underground trains. But no. Apparently, it was the brakes for the lift every time it was used. This noise continued until nearly 1:00am. The mattress needed to be condemned. (See photograph) The springs had gone and therefore had lumps that were so bad that, once I had finally drifted into the arms of Morpheus, I was rudely awoken by a sharp pain down my leg. The room was very hot and, although there was a switch for air-conditioning, it sounded like a vertical take-off jet. The window would not open more than one inch, probably to stop people from flinging themselves out in desperation. I pointed out all of these faults to the Duty manager as I was checking out – and showed him the photographs. His response was, “I will let housekeeping know.” Various websites have this hotel as 3 stars. It is not. It is not even as high in the ratings as a budget hotel. My advice: never stay here."

"Borderline illegal business practices happening here - avoid like the plague. It’s been 3 weeks since I stayed here and I am yet to still receive the holding deposit they took whilst I was asleep for £107, My stay was pre paid for and they confirm at check in they’ll take a £1 security deposit. Since my card was on file they took an initial £107 an hour later and then attempted to take a second payment of £107 2 days later, I spoke with the fraud department at my bank who confirmed they set up a recurring subscription payment and I’ve had to cancel my cards as a result. Be really careful before staying here, if you run into any issues such as this you cannot contact them as they say there is a phone line but nobody will ever answer this. Rooms are also in really bad condition and incredibly dated."