Holiday Inn Hotel London-Regent’s Park

This is a nice property, two blocks from the Great Portland Tube and very close to a number of many-​starred Unilocal*s. We were upgraded — to a room next to the sixth floor lifts. The sound of rising and falling elevators can be soothing — to some of us.
This is a new property, done up nicely. We got many amenities in our upgraded room, waters regular and sparkling, fruity grain and candy bars, hot chocolate packs. The room was big enough for us. We have no complaints about the washroom, shower, sleeping area or closet space.
We stayed here because I had points on my IHG card and needed a restful first night’s stay before meeting a cousin from Bretagne and moving to a larger, less expensive, kitchen-​equipped dwelling for the week.

Since there are two links for this one hotel, I have copied and pasted my review to this one as well. See below:
INTERNET/​WIFI:
Yes, there is free WIFI here. You just have to be an IHG member. I read several reviews stating that WIFI is not free which made me not want to book a room here at first. It turns out you just have to be a member, which is also free. If you don’t feel like signing up for some odd reason, you have to pay based on a time plan. Just make sure you give the front desk your IHG member info so you are in the system. Once you try to connect to the WIFI, you will input your guest information, and then select «Complimentary WIFI». The speed is OK. You can listen to music on YouTube for a little bit, but it may lag and need time to buffer. For every other activity (i.e. emails and surfing) it’s good. Only two of your devices can connect to WIFI at once.
NOISE LEVEL:
The noise level can vary based on what room you stay at. This can be a real problem for you if you are a light sleeper. My room is facing a street with other apartments and last night they had a party. I believe the street name is GT Titchfield. Loud music was coming from their windows (some good and some not so tasteful). Even with my windows closed and a pillow over my head, I could still hear the bass beat. I’m a heavy sleeper though so it was OK. I’m not sure if all rooms are like this, so you may have to check with the front desk.
Update: Just the other night, I could hear a family arguing from the apartment building right accross the street for about ten minutes. It was a little disturbing, especially hearing a man yell at a kid to «shut up!». Windows are usually open on both sides of the building so sound is easily transferable.
ROOM LIGHTING:
The room can be a bit dim at night, or with the curtains closed. The desk lamp doesn’t provide much light neither do all the other light fixtures. I generally have my curtains open which provides plenty of light. At night you may develop eye strain from all the dim lighting.
CONVENIENCE:
There are stores and restaurants all over the place in easy/​short walking distance. In fact, there is a small grocery store less than a minute walk from the hotel called Sainsbury. They sell fresh fruit, veggies, drinks, snacks, etc. Right across the street is a restaurant called Efes 2, which is also good (which will be on a separate review). Just on the other side of the block there is a stretch of restaurants for fish and chips, Indian tapas, Lebanese, and Greek.
TRANSPORTATION:
The tube system is about a 10 minute walk from the Hotel, depending on how fast you walk. It’s very convenient, unless it rains. Bring an umbrella.
If you plan on using a car to get around, good luck. You are better off using public transportation due to cost, parking, and traffic.
GETTING TO HOTEL FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT:
I recommend using the Tube system to get to the Hotel. Head East on Piccadilly and get off of Piccadilly Circus (~30 minutes) so you can transfer onto Bakerloo. Head North on Bakerloo and get off at Regent’s Park (Less than 5 minutes). Again, the Hotel is walking distance. Walk East on Maryleone Rd. Two streets down is called Great Portland Street. Walk South on Great Portland Street until you see Carburton St. From there, head East and you should see the green glow of Holiday Inn Logo in front of you.
PHONE:
If you are international then making phone calls could be expensive. If you make one from your room, it costs 70p the last time I checked. They have a public phone downstairs which is 40p minimum per local call.
FRIDGE:
They have one of those fridges that charge you for each item you take out. The prices are about double of what they normally costs so don’t take anything out of the fridge!
ELECTRICAL OUTLETS:
There are several electrical outlets, but non are near the bed. It’s a little inconvenient if you like playing on your phone or laptop while you sit on your bed.
COST OF BREAKFAST:
Food and beverage is located on the first floor (not ground floor). The cost of breakfast is 16 GBP. Wow! That’s $ 26.51 in USD as of 8÷25÷2014!
ROOM RATE:
The cost rises during the weekday and lowers during the weekend. It cost me 89 GBP for a Sunday night and 90 GBP for Monday night. Tuesday night will skyrocket to 149 GBP. Don’t forget though, IHG has a price match guarantee, so read up! If you really can’t afford these prices, you may try Airbnb or finding smaller uncommon hotels around the area. It really doesn’t matter on the location either, as long as it’s close to a tube system.

The rooms are decent, everything is clean. Good air conditioning.
My biggest problem: the internet is practically non-​existent. I ran
and it gave multiple readings of 0.27 Mbps download, 0.01 Mbps upload. It’s awful, and it cost $ 25 for 3 days of this. It’s billed as High Speed Internet, too. Unbelievable.
I spent 45 minutes on the phone with tech support. I had to disconnect, reconnect, all kinds of things until finally the guy on the phone said «the hotel is full — there are too many connections so it’s going slow.»
If you tell the front desk that it’s going slow they will tell you that they will leave a note for the tech team. Don’t believe that will help at all.
My job relies on frequent use of the internet, which means i can get no work done in this hotel.
Summary: if you rely on the Wifi internet for anything, you will be paying money (no way around this), and get NOTHING for it. So avoid this hotel if you need Wifi. I’ve stayed in dozens of Holiday Inns around the world, and this is the WORST internet experience i’ve had BY FAR.
I just went to
to rent a pocket wifi with unlimited internet that will travel with me all over Europe.

Updated review. I’ve upgraded my review of this hotel. First, the good — clean rooms, quiet, lots of staff on hand if you need anything. Convenient location. The not-​so-​good: During our initial stay, the internet was barely functional (minutes to load a web page), and we had purchased high-​speed internet. You can also only connect 2 devices total for the entire trip. So, if you and your partner connect both your phones, your computers will require additional purchased slots from the front desk. The hotel needs to address the internet issues. Otherwise, staff and management are good.

As a Priority Club member, I have stayed at many Holiday Inn locations in the U.S. However, this hotel in particular was just «ok». Rooms were nice and clean but a bit small. Breakfast is pricey so you may want to eat at a local restaurant instead. (There’s some great English Breakfast just around the corner!) The hotel is located in a good area and it’s just quick walk to the tube station.

First of all I have to say that the quality standard of a Holiday inn in Europe verses the United States is like day and night! For real the kind of shabby (only green) Holiday inns are NICE here! And not only in London!
We stayed here for leisure on reward nights, the check in was friendly although I have to say that I felt a little looked down on showing up with a graffitied camper van coming from a camping trip in Scotland, the receptionist (there were like 5) told me that, because of my platinum status I get free internet (normally they charge!!! WHAT??) and breakfast is not included in the rewards night stays, huh I thought that’s part of being platinum and having an IHG credit card?
Oh well I did not really want to eat there anyways as there is plenty of stuff around.
The room was clean, tiny and ok, a bathtub for a change others have just showers a lot around here.
Housekeeping never replaced my used hand towels and the hair dryer is hidden and screwed in a draw, more then that ok.
. The area is great bars restaurants and close to regents park, 35 000 points for one night pretty breathtaking though maybe that’s why they are nicer? Must be it!
Business center with 2 computers and fast printers are ok but some security system does not let you drag pictures from your camera to a brought USB device, stupid.
Most expensive laundry is one street over.

My family and I stayed at the Holiday Inn Regents Park for 3 nights in late March, early April. My opinion is a very favorable one.
After babysitting this site and Tripadvisor and reading all of the reviews I emailed the management to «check in» and let them know we were coming. I received an immediate and pleasant reply, not only confirming our reservation, welcoming us, and upgrading our room. When we arrived the hotel staff was more than pleasant and welcoming. Check in was a breeze and we were shown right up to our room with no issue.
Cost…I don’t know if it was expensive or not. We booked through AAA and paid $ 1211 for 2 rooms for 4 persons for 3 nights.
Location…perfect. We were in walking distance to the Great Portland Tube station that took us everywhere we needed to go. The surrounding area has mini markets, and plenty of food options.
The rooms were Europe small but CLEAN, very pleasant and welcoming. It was a simple, efficient room that contained all we needed. The hotel also gives you free bottles of water each day which we appreciated. The hotel lives up to its advertisement on their website. The TV was very nice and had my most favorite thing about the hotel… the wake up call was in the TV. I was a little stressed about getting up on time to make it to our tours and was happy that the TV had a wonderful wake up call option. The bed was more than comfortable. The only issue we had with the room was, on day 2 the hot water stopped working. I think there were some plumbing issues because we received notice that the water would be off that evening… We called housekeeping and they were not able to fix our room, but my mother being the «adamant» person that she is, demanded assistance until her hot water was fixed and she was happy.
Internet is NOT free and expensive, but walk around the corner and there is a Starbucks and a couple other places that offer free Wi-​Fi.
Breakfast was awesome and ample! It’s a mix between an English breakfast and an American breakfast… only issue is one morning we asked for an omelet with tomatoes, onion, mushroom etc (a veggie omelet) and they brought us a ham and cheese omelet.
The concierge was soooo awesome and very helpful to us in our navigation from the hotel. They arranged cabs, provided directions and recommendations for food. Speaking of which, our number one dining experience in London was recommended by the concierge… try Shikara (Indian) which is in walking distance and phenomenal! There was one morning we had an early tour and had great difficulty getting a cab and we were not assisted by the concierge, we ended up finding our way there via the Tube.
Check out, we checked out very early since we had to catch the 5:40am train to Paris and we hit a few bumps here. First the positives, no problem with the check out process. We were paid in full in advance and had no extras. The night before, the front desk collaborated with the restaurant to have a packed cold breakfast ready for all four in our party for that morning to eat on the train… awesome! We had arranged for a cab the night before, but there was no cab and no concierge. The cab that was procured for us was a little sketchy. It was like a personal cab that charged an arm and a leg, and only took cash which we did not have. We were frantic to get to our train but were forced to stop by a fee gouging atm to pay for the cab. The cabbie and the guy at the desk who arranged it were unsympathetic. Then the cabbie dropped us off several blocks before the station… grant it we were a bit anxious so the ill experience was heightened, but something to be aware of if you have an early check out.
I will not only stay here again, but based on our experience have booked another reservation with the Holiday Inn chain.

For the price, I thought this was a good deal in central London. One block from the subway, and just 5 minutes to another one. A few decent pubs in the area. Rooms were decent. I thought the breakfast buffet was fantastic, and for London a good deal. The room was on the small side, but pretty much all London hotel rooms are. I would certainly consider staying there again.

The room was clean and quiet. It was my first stay in Central London. I would stay again in the future. The internet worked the majority of the time I was there. I don’t have any real complaints about my stay.

Cute little rooms that were perfectly reasonable for two people to share. Nice shower. Breakfast was delicious with a wide spread every day and quick service. My only two negatives are: (1) no free wifi… come on! This isn’t that hard to implement! and (2) our housekeepers were not very respectful of our personal items during the day. We returned every day to find shoes that had been lined up next to the bed to be knocked over and strewn under the bed and across the room. We even came back one evening to the windows being left completely open despite the cold of December. The front desk was respectful and helped when asked.

After reading some reviews I was hesitant to stay there, but with limited budget from my job I had to either stay here or around the airport for 5 friggin nights. My choise seemed obvious.
To my surprise, this hotel was very descent. Service was fast and friendly, and room size was not bad for London. Also ice cold AC was a plus after long day of riding Tube and Express around the city.
I had issue with internet, so I got to see two different rooms. first room I wouldn’t pay what I paid, TV was broken, gutted wall, and dead internet hook up. The second room was bigger, nicer view of the TV tower and bigger bathroom with cleaner shower head. Perhaps most people gave bad review stayed in the first room? The building is very big, and walk from the elevator was loooooong.
The conciage (sp?) was very fast and friendly, in fact one of the best I
ve seen in London, very knowledgeable about the area, and hooked me up with great driver to take me in and out of the city.
The area is very convinient, two Tube stations to choose from. Also there are some stores near by to pick up water bottle, etc. Pubs are also near by. Regent’s park is also a few blocks away. So overall this place is so-​so as far as location is concerned.
Overall this hotel deserves at least 4 stars.

Not clean, awfull room, view was terrible, service was subpar (had to take my own luggage up). There was blood stains in the towels, terrible!
on the positive side the bed was what you would expect for a 4 star hotel. all the rest: TERRIBLE.
I paid 65 pounds on priceline and I think I overpaid for this awful place.
did i mention internet costs 16 pounds a day? it really does…

I stayed here with Laina B. for two nights for our trip to Londontown. We had a smoking deal with British Airways where the round-​trip airfare for two from Seattle, along with a 2-​night hotel stay, was included for about $ 1000 including all taxes. It was kind of one of those deals where you would kick yourself later if you didn’t take advantage of it.
Anyway, I was very satisfied with the hotel but I also didn’t have to pay separately for it. Our room was clean if a bit small, with older style bathroom and shower. The «rate» included a full breakfast in the hotel restaurant. They had bangers and mash, tomatoes, fried eggs, etc. I was happy about that part of it, but Laina didn’t like the food as much. (Although they did have Cocoa Krispies which she liked). If the breakfast was not included I would not have eaten there. They wanted something like 20 pounds per person. The hotel does have a cool little pub but I didn’t have a chance to try it out.
The location is in close proximity to downtown. It’s about a 15-​minute walk to Regent Street and 25 minutes to Piccadilly Square. There is an old church nearby, but there are lots of old churches all over London. As the previous reviewer stated it is not a great location in relation to the Tube.
There is a nice little grocery store (convenience store) just a short walk away. Unfortunately, the rooms at the hotel do not have a refrigerator, they have those annoying mini-​bars with the censors, so that you cannot even remove items from the mini-​bar in order to put your own stuff. If they replaced these mini-​bars with a mini-​fridge this hotel would instantly become a lot more friendly to the average tourists and probably a lot of business folks as well (c’mon really, who gets drunk off of stuff in the mini-​bar? Britney Spears?)
There were a few other annoyances. Laina did not have a converter for her curling iron. The hotel offered to «rent» us one for either 5 dollars or 5 pounds a day. This to rent a converter. Talk about nickel and diming– we said no to that. They also charge for local calls. I don’t know if this is standard in England, but that’s also a bunch of crap. Also, we were running late on the last day and we needed to get a cab asap to the airport. The guy running the concierge’s desk seemed like a real Gomer. Just a lot of stuttering and he didn’t really make sense, kind of like talking to Mr. Bean. So we just walked outside and grabbed the first cab we saw (which may have cost us more, but we didn’t have the time).

Summary based on a 1 night Priceline stay:
–location just ok, fairly inconvenient to tube
–business hotel
–impersonal service
–ok rooms of decent size. Better than what one would expect of a HI in the USA.
–close by breakfast alternatives limited
–early check inn not possible when I tried
–can be very inexpensive for a 1 night stay