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This is my first time staying at a Holiday Inn and I wasn’t expecting to get a Jacob’s Club biscuit bar at reception – do you remember those little bars of orangey chocolate that you had in your lunch box when you were a kid? Apparently they give one to all their guests. So that’s the Holiday Inn for you… at a fancy 5-star hotel you get a bowl of fruit and a bottle of something bubbly, but in here you just get a Jacob’s Club biscuit bar – ha ha. I think I prefer the biscuit bar.
Hotel location by Regent’s Park
I definitely think they should change the name of this hotel because calling it the Holiday Inn Regent’s Park makes it sound as if it’s near London Zoo, but it’s actually south of Great Portland Street station. Tthat’s quite a nice location to be. But when I say ‘nice’, I don’t mean pretty. This area is definitely not pretty. I just mean it’s within easy walking distance of Madame Tussauds, King’s Cross and Oxford Street.
Inside a room at the Holiday Inn
Photo: londondrum.comThe bedrooms are almost within walking distance as well – the corridors are about a mile long. I’m in room 432, which gives you some idea of the size of the place. Every time you turn a corner you see another stretch of never-ending cream carpet and I’m reminded of that shot they do in horror movies, when the victim walks down a tunnel only for the tunnel to continuously expand out before them. That is exactly what it’s like – only without the horror. If you replace the horror with a bit of cream carpet then that’s what it’s like.
Photo: londondrum.comThe room is okay. It will do. Put it this way: it’s not exactly The Ritz but it has a toilet and a TV, so you can’t complain. Give me a bath and a Jacob’s Club biscuit bar and I’m happy.
It also has a bed, a desk, a waste paper basket, some carpet, some handles on the doors so you can open them, a floor for you to stand on, a mirror so you can look at yourself, a spy hole in the door so you can check for hoodlums, an emergency exit leaflet in case the hotel bursts into flames, a Gideon’s Bible in case you want to say some prayers, and a menu for the minibar. I think that just about covers everything. And oh yeah, a teapot, some cups, an ironing board, a hairdryer, and a safe tucked away in the corner of the cupboard.
Photo: londondrum.comThe view out of the window is a bit depressing because they’ve given me a room on the inside of the building, looking out into a prison-like courtyard of concrete walls. Lots of other rooms are staring into exactly the same space – a ring of five floors and seventy-five windows (I counted them) all staring into this same space. Imagine if we all stood and stared out of our windows together… one hundred and fifty eyes pressed against the glass… what a scary scene that would be… all holding onto our Jacob’s Club biscuit bar.
I always like to write down the minibar prices and count the number of teabags when I stay at a hotel (I’m starting to go mental), and the Holiday Inn is better than most. A can of Coke is only £2.04 and a Kit Kat is £1.85. I have stayed in places that charge triple that. You also get four teabags, four milks and a few sugars as well – hallelujah! I think this is the very first hotel I’ve stayed at where they actually provide the same number of milks as teabags. That is my number one hate in a hotel – when they give you ten teabags and coffees but only two milks, so you can only have two cups. So the Holiday Inn has straight away found a home in my heart.
Photo: londondrum.comBreakfast in the Holiday Inn Regent Park’s restaurant
The restaurant is all pine woods and spotlights. At breakfast you get all your normal beans, bacon, scrambled eggs, sausages, coffee, cereals and fruit juice, etc., snd it was certainly very busy. I went down there at 6:45 AM and the place was already fit to bursting with business suits – there weren’t very many tourists about. I’m guessing that the Holiday Inn is the highest rating of hotel that their bosses will let them claim on expenses.
So in summary then… it’s all right. It will do. I probably wouldn’t rate it as a 4-star though. In my mind it’s just a 3-star. But it’s a perfectly nice place to stay and I would happily recommend it.
