THE CRANLEY HOTEL

We love the Cranley and have stayed there many times. We will go back, but not if any risk of warm weather. They say they have air conditioning on their website, but it was broken, and we had to move hotels. A shame.

This Hotel is in a lovely location its was clean and tidy. But the service was very poor i am unsure if they were under staffed but you could be waiting upto 10 min to be served and that was only after having to ask to be served.

My friend booked an afternoon tea here for my birthday present. It was booked well in advance and we arrived just before 3 which was when our afternoon tea was meant to start. Unfortunately we were told that there was no seating ready for us because they had an unexpected large party turn up, so the hotel manager asked if we could come back in an hour. We said we had other plans afterwards so it was impossible to delay it for an hour. They said we could stay in the reception whilst they figured it out what to do. I asked if we could just have it in the lobby because I was getting impatient with the waiting around. I was told this was possible. So the manager started to set up the lobby ready for us Luckily a lovely waitress called Donna appeared and she found a spare table so that we could eat our afternoon in the lounge properly instead of in the hotel lobby where people were always coming in and out. We were grateful for the efforts Donna put in to making us feel accommodated. It was a shame that the hotel was unprepared for our visit despite having a prebooking but thank you to Donna for recovering our afternoon.

This is one of those hotels that's really straining to be upmarket with as many high-end bits and pieces crammed in as possible, from towelling robes packed into the wardrobe floor to a very eclectic furniture mix with lots of shouty fabric in the public spaces. It's trying very hard and it's perfectly fine on the whole - great location (a few mins from Gloucester Road), nice and really quiet for London (great night's sleep), clean and with a great, large and comfy bed - but the thing that would really have earnt its stars would have been a more charming service aspect. Polite, but a slower welcome process (how are you' etc) would have been nice and quite definitely the offer to take people to their rooms and carry luggage - 3 flights of very steep stairs with a heavy bag made for a bit of a miserable arrival!

Stayed here a few times and I must say its a very cosy hotel. The persian lady is extremely nice and has opened a restaurant in the lobby, I really recommend as clients or as locals. The food was superb. The Guest rooms are very comfortable and its very good value for money. Staff are very kind and location is great.