Holiday Inn Express London - Southwark

In my view a hotel should do the basics right - a decent bedroom and bathroom. This one does achieve this and the refurbished room was in all honesty excellent but in the morning there was no hot water for a shower. Reception helpfully said maybe everyone else is having a shower - not an excuse for a hotel! Also one of the lifts was out of order, the main entrance was shut, there was scafhold over the frontage and the way in was down a dark alley. Pity as there are some great elements to this hotel - when it's finished, fixed and working properly it would be a good place to stay.

I stay for one night due to business commitments in London; construction works were being undertaken. The fire alarm sounded three times in the space of 1-2 hours early morning. On each occasion it was due to an individual being stuck in a lift which set off the fire alarm for the whole building. By now I was awake and wanted to have a shower and a shave but there was no water in my room. On speaking to the staff I was told there was an electrical problem and the water could not be pumped upstairs. I had to leave the hotel without a shower, shave or using the toilet. I had a late checkout and by the time I returned the problem had not been fixed. This time the staff told me that there were other buildings in the area which had the same problem.

Did not overly enjoy my stay here, but partly my own fault/Google's for that as I searched for hotel in this area with parking, booked and arrived at 11.30 at night on a Friday, with a tired toddler, was told there was no on-site parking as hotel was undergoing a refurb (and had been for a year) but there was parking down the road which was a 10 minute walk back. I asked for a luggage trolley and was told there wasn't one .. ummm ... I've stayed in 2 star places with them so was a bit surprised, and annoyed as I had plenty of baggage to carry... but I checked in, left the wife and toddler in the room, then went to find the parking after directions from staff. One hour and three circuits of a one way system later, crossing the river each time, sat in Friday night traffic, again and again, I only found closed parking and finally snapped and demanded to park the car on the hotel pavement behind bollards. One of the staff then said I could park it on the driveway to the garage so I was guaranteed not to get a ticket, but I may have to move it early, it was 1am by this time, I was tired (having been up 20 hours after commencing my day in Dublin) so I just wanted to sleep. I was woken by the phone at 7am to move the car, and found the parking, which had been closed when I was sent there. I got back to the room having found some parking, only to then find that either the builders were active directly upstairs OR someone had checked in with some dancing elephants and they were rehearsing for an imminent show. All in all the staff did try to help, The gentleman on reception was very apologetic at night and in the morning, so I can't fault him at all, and appreciated his efforts, however Holiday inn really should alert people that a hotel is having a refurb, I was seriously inconvenienced and if this had been my first exposure to a IHG group hotel, I may not have booked another! He did say that it said it says on the website no parking, I later checked again and it does say "no parking available" however it's not at all highlighted and overly visible and when I searched for hotel there with parking it showed up, hence booking it, I would never knowingly book without parking. The email sent out didn't highlight it either. One big lesson learned I guess. Breakfast was good (especially to say it was in with the price), so all in all, I'd say whilst the refurb didn't work out too well for us, once completed it would have been a good stay.

We spent about 10 days here. While the breakfasts were predictable, the food was good. The staff was helpful and friendly. While this isn't a top-tier hotel it was clean, safe, and a good bargain. Its location was a great, too. It's just south of Tate Modern and a quick walk to the underground or the buses that traverse Blackfriars Bridge up to St. Paul's and a few blocks from London Bridge.

Second time we have stayed at this hotel. Central location close to Borough Market . Short walk to good restaurants and Tate Modern and Southwark tube station. Hotel currently undergoing some renovation but does not take away this is a good hotel. Excellent friendly staff. Breakfast is standard fayre for HIE so everyone should know what to expect. Rooms clean and modern. A great place to stay in Central London. Will definitely stay again when next in town

Stayed there for 3 weeks as part of a business trip. Located in central London and a walk away from major attraction you can't complain much about it. Decent staffs and good breakfast. The price is slightly expensive but you can't expect anything less in that area. A good choice if want to stick to central London

Disappointing that hotel is under refurb., but not obvious when booking with IHG. rooms good, no parking (not unusual for London), good access to Southwark and Blackfriars underground. Overall satisfied.

Find somewhere else to stay until they have finished their renovations. I came out of my shower at 8:15 to find a workman on the scaffolding immediately outside the window looking in. There was no way to get to the window to close the curtains without walking straight towards him. Even when I had closed the curtains and switched lights on, the noise of workmen shouting at each other and banging was too loud for me to make work phone calls. When I complained to the manager he said he apologised for 'the inconvenience'. I agree not being able to make calls in a room you've paid central London prices for is 'inconvenient'. Having workmen immediately outside a woman's bedroom window at 8:15 is totally unacceptable. Holiday Express... close until the work is done or at the very least co-ordinate so that no one can wake up to, or come out of the shower to be confronted by, a workman looking straight into their window. And please don't insult or patronise a woman by suggesting this is 'inconvenient' rather than outrageous!

Undergoing external building works difficult to find, as cladding prevents signage bring seen easily but this is temporary. Not really convenient for dropping or picking up but not too difficult. No parking. Rooms as expected, nothing glamorous, basic, very clean. Staff were very friendly, very pleasant and helpful. Beds were ok topper memory foam made it rather hot to sleep on. Air con in room but no heating as yet but was offered extra bedding or portable heating. Lobby cramped and not very pleasant just to sit in or bar area, lots if people seem to pop in to work on their phones or laptops even holed meetings so very loud. Even whilst we were having breakfast on Sunday morning two men were conducting business and it was not pleasant. We were not informed re mezzanine flooring, if we had not been fit we would have found carrying luggage etc up a blight if stairs a little difficult.