Just thought I would write to tell others what a great hotel this is for meeting with family and friends. In December we met with 3 other families all whom have children and we choose the John Howard Hotel because of the flexibility of rooms types it had. We were all given rooms in a little annex in the back that gave the impression we had the hotel to ourselves and the added benefit of not annoying the other guests whilst the children excitedly went from one room to the other!! We were there to celebrate our cousins birthday and a drinks reception was held downstairs in the cosy restaurant which served the most delicious canopies. The acutally party was in a wonderful Italian place just 5 minutes walking from the hotel. The hotel also had no problems arranging a babysitter for us infact anything we requested was always delivered with a smile. Breakfast the next morning was plentiful and varied, all the children found something they liked. The location is also excellent for Hyde Park which we explored the next morning to find a beautiful Christmas Fair. All in all a great time was had by all and I would highly recommend this hotel

I stayed in the smallest single room anyone could possibly imagine. There was no hot water in the shower and, when I complained about it, I got the following answer: "These things happen, you know".

I stayed in a single room which was very very small and quite claustrphobic. The shower room was plain ridiculous, the wash nd basin meant you could'nt get in or out of the shower without turning sideways and sliding out while negotiating the step up which was about 30cms. Impossible if you are elderly or anything oter than a size 8. I'm bruised by the basin wheile trying to hold onto the sliding shower door and levering myself down the 30 cms step all of which must be done with the main bathroom door closed making it even more claustraphobic and quite worrying if you fell because no-one could have got in if you had really hurt youreself.

The lift wasn't working.
The bed cover torn abd poorly mended.
No dressingtable mirror and too far from the mirror to plug in a hairdyrer.
the rooms were shabby and well past their sell by date.
the dining/braekfast room chairs were quite honestly disgusting stanied and torn
Poor breakfast service waited 15 mins for coffee despite asking. but the food was plentiful and sausgages nice.
I checked out early because I found it all quite depressing and slightly grubby.
I was still charged 2 nights , but there you go - service and customer happiness are not really important anymore.

We needed somewhere near the Royal Albert Hall and this place is ideal, the price was reasonable and it was pretty clean and although the decor could do with updating it was acceptable, clean bathroom plenty of hot water ... someone had a problem and was ranting at the receptionist (he was trying to get some money off) but her English was limited (are all staff in London non English now)? and he was just getting angrier and angrier 'cause he wasn't getting anywhere ... the breakfast was OK - buffet style, which I don't really want for cooked food ... it all sits there swimming in it's juices but I guess if it was served it would be more than the £12.50 it cost ... anyway, overall, pretty reasonable .....