 We were given a basement room despite requesting a room higher up with a view The room which while was comfortable clean spacious and quiet still felt very detached from the rest of the hotel Importantly there was a need to get a lift which was always busy just to get from reception to the basement one level There were no stairs which raised a question of evacuation in the event of a fire 
 The staff very friendly in a quite natural way rather than a corporate ubiquitous friendly of many London hotels 