Review of Crowne Plaza London Kings Cross, an IHG Hotel 4*

Not my first choice of hotel in London as its a bit out of the way. The tube station is quite a distance away and it really doesn't have a look about the area that you feel fine walking around in the dark. Street lighting is poor and its not a busy area. The hotel itself is undergoing refurbishment floor by floor. They have done 8-6 and are currently working in 5. If you're a non-smoker and get a room on the 2nd floor ask to move — don't even go there. The smell that comes into the lift from that floor is bad enough! Complaints about even the smallest of things are dealt with swiftly but to be honest they go way OTT. I'm currently typing this review from an Exec Suite which I was moved to due to a colleague complaining that we didn't get bottled water or kitkats in our rooms! As IHG Gold members its a small upgrade you get — Kings Cross do tend to forget about that though. The restaurant is split in two. An Indian Restaurant with a much reduced menu than 12m ago and a standard restaurant with approx 5 choices on the menu. One of which is vegetarian. Breakfast is your usual standard — buffet consisting of various cold meats and cheese for our foreign visitors, selection of boxed cereals, fresh fruit and traditional English "fry" up. In name only as I suspect the bacon is boiled, the eggs are lightly poached in warm oil and the sausages are usually lighly coloured on one side and anaemic on the other. Whole tomatoes have seen some type of heat source, baked beans are usually hot, scrambled egg has an unusual consistent colour that has kept me away from trying them. Staff are usually very friendly, this helps on the occasion you encounter desk staff who's English isn't their first language and occasionally struggle with the complexities of asking if you would like an alarm call or newspaper. Like I said, not my first choice, but they are improving dramatically, take any issue by the horns and ensure not just complete satisfaction following an issue, but do their utmost to flabbergast you into forgetting what the issue was in the first place by "going to town" on making things far better than would be expected for a "normal" stay.