Romanos Hotel

I had a business trip to an African country. I stopped in London with 14 hours between flights. I love London and take every opportunity to visit there, usually for longer time. In the past when I had more than 8 hours between flights, I stayed in one of the Holiday Inn or Sheraton hotels nearby Heathrow. For the first time I decided to go into town as I had 18 hours between flights. I also decided, for the first time, to stay in no name hotel. It was a measurable experience. Never again! Once I landed in Heathrow airport, I used London coach express to go to Victoria area of London. After checking the distance to the hotel from Victoria coach station, I decided to take a taxi. I paid five pound for the ride to the hotel. I had request lower floor near the lobby or the elevator when I made my reservation. The front desk clerk, who may not have a friend in the world, informed me that the only available room is on the top floor, third floor and no elevator. I explained that it is hard for me to take the stairs. She turned her back to me and said that is the only room I have for you. I dragged my two luggage at a time up a narrow stairway. You could not get lost in the room! It was nine feet by thirteen feet! That was all! There was one single bed against the wall, two feet away from the edge of the bed a bathroom sink! There was only one towel left on the bed. There was no phone to connect me to the front desk or the outside world. Thank God I did not have not heart attack with any help nearby. Once I was in "the room" and getting over the shock of how small the room is, I dropped my bottle of water on the carpet. I covered the wet area of the carpet with the only towel in the room. When I turned the towel over it was covered with dirt and filth from the filthy carpet. Luckily outside my door in the 3X3 feet hallway there was a small shelve with six clean towels left there. I assume that was the house keeping storage shelve. I used all the six towels to cover every inch of the room twice to protect me form the filthy carpet in the room. I almost checked out to of this dump to anther hotel but for my one night stay in London (14 hours) on the way to Africa. I was tired from my long flight from Los Angeles and dreaded the idea of dragging my two luggage down the three flights of stairs then move to another hotel for my twelve hours stay in the hotel. I also had paid around $110 in advance for the room. I stalled down counting the hours to check out and go back to Heathrow. I tried to get some sleep. I wanted to check on my next flight status, read my email on the internet. I was able to connect to the Hotel internet only once for two minutes. There was not internet connection throughout the night. There was no phone to call the front desk for assistance. That meant if I needed to get some help, I would have to go down stairs and back you the three flights of stairs. I used my London phone to connect to the internet. Needles to say I got no sleep and was looking forward to sleep on my Lon flight to Africa. Next morning, early, I dragged my luggage down stairs, one at a time, and left them by the front desk. I went down one flight of stairs to a small room that was the breakfast area. There was coffee, thank God, boiled eggs, toast. Knowing about the faith of the room, I could not bring myself to eat anything. I traveled by London taxi to the Victoria coach station to take the express bus to Heathrow and then on to my final destination. I had me good breakfast at United Red Carpet Club before my flight. Final note. I paid I think, $110 for this filthy hole in the wall because it was near in the Victoria area of London, which I like. The area is full of restaurants and shopping area. Also this hotel claimed in their website that it is in a walking distance from Victoria Station. Well, if you are young, in good health and can wheel your luggage on the poor sidewalks of London streets for three of four miles, then the hotel is "close" to Victoria station.