Apex Temple Court Hotel

"Air con broken on arrival, WiFi not working. Add on charge for breakfast. Moved us to another room but 4 floors lower. Overall impression poor"

"My friend from second grade and I were on a whirlwind two-week European trip, and the United Kingdom was smack dab in the middle of it. Our travel agent booked us a cute little property in the city center of London called Apex Temple Court Hotel. It was so centrally located that the cabbie from the airport had some trouble finding it as the GPS kind of dead-ended in this half-alley behind it. But it was a really lovely property with a couple of surprisingly private courtyards and, yes, a green velvet elephant out front (the picture in the profile is flipped; the trunk faces to the left upon approach from Fleet Street). The thing we perhaps appreciated the most was the complimentary veggie and fruit-infused water they had in the lobby at all times. We were so parched when we got off the plane that I think we each consumed about a gallon of it in successive refills of small highball glasses sitting next to it. LOL! The hotel was kind enough to secure our luggage for a few hours until our room was ready to occupy. So we went on a fun hop-on/hop-off bus experience and then came back to the most magnificent room of our trip! It was the largest and most luxurious we had experienced to date, with a full-size spa tub, luxury shower, and not one but two large windows overlooking the city (as we had a corner room)! Additionally, we experienced eating and drinking in both the lounge/bar area and the breakfast area, and the food was fantastic! It was my first fish and chips--a must in England, of course!--and also Eggs Benedict of the trip, which was, as the locals say, simply smashing! The first time I had the fish and chips, the waiter said: "You are being served a proper English meal by a proper Englishman!" That made me laugh. I had both of these dishes TWICE during our stay at the hotel they were so good! The only slightly odd thing was second morning the breakfast waitstaff were a little cranky about not letting us even sit in the (empty) breakfast area until they were ready even though they opened a bit past their posted start time, and they already had most of their buffet spread out. But otherwise, everything went swimmingly! Also, they always ensured that we knew when our taxi driver had arrived for a trip to the theater or back to the airport. Definitely would stay here again!"

"This was a return visit, more than a few years apart. Walking through the doors, it felt familiar. Having travelled 28+ hours, I was grateful for having spent the extra money to guarantee an available room early. My room on the 4th floor had a view of the top of the London eye, which I appreciated for the first 2 nights. Unfortunately, the air conditioning stopped working at some stage. An initial inquiry to the front desk was ignored. Being an Aussie in London in May, I sucked it up, until the next afternoon, face red hot from the afternoon sun pouring into my room, I declared defeat. With another guest also complaining of a similar problem, I was moved to a lower floor, with a free drink at the bar offered as an apology. The room was indeed cooler, but definitely noisier (courtyard and breakfast room) - if you can, request a higher floor. Despite the inconvenience I still recommend this hotel as somewhere to stay in London. The breakfast here is recommended, and worth the price. The location, excellent. I walked almost everywhere, unless I took a bus. Both the tube and train station are nearby too."