"For a two week stay, we chose a 2 bedroom two story apartment for the 70sqm space it provided.
Five stars for the unbeatable location of this hotel (a two minute walk to Embankment Tube station, five mins walk to Charing Cross station and 15 mins walk over the bridge to Waterloo station for day trips to Winchester and Portsmouth). Five stars also to the hotel cleaning staff (we were happy with the weekly housekeeping on a Saturday), the Reception staff who greeted us cheerfully at 5.30am when we arrived after an early morning flight and stored our luggage securely until 3pm check-in, and more Reception staff and hotel manager who arranged an urgent replacement of the battery on our room's swipe pass door panel which had failed.
At time of visit, it appeared the onsite launderette room had replaced its old washing machines and dryers. Guests need to create an account with the We-Wash app (a Bosch subsidiary) on one's phone, add in a credit card to pay (5 pounds per wash, 4 pounds per dry) and proceed with getting one's laundry done! We used one washing machine for whites (46 min cycle), another machine for colored clothing then put both wet loads into one dryer (70 min cycle). The dryers have a bigger capacity than the washing machines so were easily able to cope with a large load - we were particularly pleased with the level of dryness of our clothes.
One handy feature is the Recycling and rubbish room on each floor. It was very easy to place one's recycled items (cardboard, plastic, bottles, cans) into the often-emptied box, and rubbish bag into the chute.
Our apartment, on level 8, had one dormer window which could open about 14cm onto Norththumberland Ave. The bedrooms were accessed via internal spiral staircase to level 9 and had one dormer window each, also which could open.
Yes, as advertised, the toilet and hand basin are on the main floor, a separate bath/shower and hand basin are on the upper floor along with both bedrooms. There is only one toilet. The shower is over the bath and, as the bath sill is 60cm off the ground, one needs to hold the vertical handrail to step into the bath, then the horizontal handrail to steady oneself. No issues with water pressure to report.
The internal staircase is spiral, 16 steps which are an average of 19cm deep and 34 cm at their widest point. It's carpeted and there are handrails but it's a real challenge to get luggage up the stairs to the bedrooms. An automatic light comes on over the staircase, handy in the night when visiting the downstairs toilet and one is negotiating the stairs.
The downstairs toilet is a small space, the door just clearing the toilet itself by about 10cm.
The lounge area has a three seater sofa bed. If the bed is not fully folded away (due to thicker mattress), the sofa is uncomfortable to sit on for any length of time.
Overall, there were advantages and disadvantages to booking the two bedroom apartment, nothing which hasn't been reported over the past few years by other TripAdvisors. This is an old building, built in 1934, and retrofitting into an apartment hotel obviously had its challenges. Yes, there are two elevators to all floors up to level 8 so no real issues moving luggage. Full marks to the hotel staff for ensuring both lifts are working all the time (only twice did we observe a lift out of action but fixed within 10 mins)."
