Review of Oakley Hotel 4*

The Oakley Hotel, in up-scale Chelsea, London, is a delightful and price-worthy alternative to both expensive boutique hotels and soul-less chain hotels. It is a great place to save money in a very expensive city. It is an on-going home-grown renovation, a personal labor of love, a charming spot in which to settle whilst in London. If you are expecting a pricey high-end boutique hotel, or a cookie-cutter chain hotel, you will be disappointed by the one-off, quirky character of the Oakley. Think eccentric and adventurous, in a great location along the River Thames. This is your uncle's guest room, with a melange of furnishings and home improvements, with your aunt knocking about in the kitchen, and all your distant relatives chatting with you in the breakfast room. (For us, that's a lot of what traveling is about. ) The breakfast room is downstairs and some of the bedrooms are upstairs, so as there is no elevator (lift) please be clear when making reservations if you need a room on the ground floor. Mass transit: it's in a central location, on the Thames, near the bus lines; 3 minutes walk to the cafes, restaurants, and shops of King's Street; a 10-15 minute walk to the Underground (South Kensington station). At South Ken are FREE museums — — the Victoria & Albert, the Science Museum, and the Natural History Museum — — and venues — — the Royal Albert Hall, and the Royal College of Art — — and parks — — Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park — — and the shopping at the Kensington High Street. Back to the Oakley Hotel: there's no coffee/tea in your room, but it's available 24/7 in the downstairs shared kitchen & breakfast room (where you may avail yourself of a tasty and satisfying breakfast of both cold items and staff-prepared English breakfast (check and be respectful of their operating hours, please). Our four-poster bed was comfortable, the room was quiet, the view onto the street was interesting. It's not like any other place we've stayed, as the lodgings are a quirky renovation, with tweaks and modifications making things more than unique. Everything worked: the hot water was hot, the lights above the washroom sink were bright, and there were hangers in the closet. It's hard to think of visiting London and *not* staying in the Oakley. I'm looking forward to our next visit.