Review of Hilton London Olympia 4*

Very nice and helpful staff who do their best to accomodate their customer's requests. New nice bathroom in the room, for once more than enough storage, very nice bed (once you remove the extra soft mattress topper). Plenty of bars, restaurants and supermarkets close by. The downsides are small things but it's silly how uncomfortable the stay can get because of them: the nearest Tube station is very far, although I'm a keen walker. The room was freezing cold, no matter what I tried with the heating (although in bed it was warm enough). A very loud noise can be heard in the rooms on the first floor, from some air vent just outside the windows I guess? ; even with good silicone earplugs we could still hear it and it made it difficult to sleep. Then the fridge… there are gaps for the products they sell you (it looks a bit like a small vending machine) and your card will be charged if you remove one, it seems. As a result, you can't keep any of your own things in the fridge… very inconvenient, and for no reason. This little fridge also has an engine that starts from time to time in order to keep the temperature right, as all fridges do… but it was so loud that it could wake me up. No way to switch off or unplug the little machine… Why the curse of being systematically unable to sleep when staying in a hotel? Then, one day, just before 5 am, fire alarm. 30 minutes at 9º in the street… someone had lit a cigarette in his room, apparently. Only that? What a big hassle… Last, of the 4 days we stayed, someone knocked at the door and tried to open it with a card for a couple of minutes every day at different times, not seeming to hear any of our "One second, we are getting dressed". This happened up to twice a day. Once, ok… but so often? what could it be? Once dressed, there was no one at the door any more. Oh I forgot… my contraceptive pills disappeared the second day; there were only a few left, so I guess the cleaning staff must have thought it was rubbish and thrown it away… fortunately, I wasn't at risk those days, otherwise, I might be in deep trouble now! That teaches me a lesson, though; to keep them with me rather than on the bedside table from now on.