I stayed at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington this past weekend (10/25/08 - 10/27/08), with a winning bid of $77 per night through Priceline. The hotel is very easy to find from the High Street Kensington underground station. Exit the underground, turn left down the first street (Wrights Lane), and left again at the end of that street. From the outside we weren't very impressed with the hotel as it really isn't much to look at. However, the staff at reception more than made up for it with their friendly and helpful demeanour. We were given a room on the 7th floor in the non-smoking section (we were originally told there was none available but had one arranged for us assumingly after some juggling of other reservations). Unfortunately we were stuck with twin single beds (not so bad for my girlfriend who managed to get a decent sleep through my snoring for once). The room overlooked the front of the hotel. Noise was not at all an issue and we slept peacefully. The room and beds were extremely comfortable. The lighting, as a previous post has mentioned, is a little crazy with the push button controls. Once I played around with them for awhile though I got used to which button turned on which light and found it to be quite handy and fun. The bathroom is adequate with a high pressure shower and bath. Our toilet was a little fickle and didn't always flush when we wanted it to but not so big an issue. The one thing I didn't really like about the hotel was its location. High Street Kensington is a little out of the way and generally requires at least one transfer in order in order to get into the centre of town (Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, for instance). This area is perfect if you are in London to visit the museums (Natural History Museum, Science Museum). The hotel and facilities were fine for the price, but I probably wouldn't stay in this area of London again.
