Look, I’ll be honest with you – when I first pulled up to the Holiday Inn on Coram Street, I wasn’t expecting much. I mean, it’s a Holiday Inn, right? But this place actually surprised me in ways that matter when you’re dragging yourself around London with a suitcase.
The location is what really sells it, though they don’t make a huge deal about it. You’re literally a three-minute walk from Russell Square tube station, which honestly makes everything easier – no wrestling your luggage down endless corridors or hunting for the right exit. And here’s the thing about Bloomsbury that people don’t always realize: you’re in this perfect sweet spot between the tourist chaos of Oxford Street and the actual London where people live and work. I found myself wandering down Lamb’s Conduit Street for coffee (there’s this little place called Noble Espresso that’s become my go-to), and you know what? I felt like I was discovering something real instead of just checking boxes on a tourist list. The British Museum is right there too, but more importantly, you’ve got proper pubs like The Lamb that have been serving pints since before your great-grandfather was born.
Inside, the hotel does that modern Holiday Inn thing – clean lines, decent lighting, beds that don’t make you question your life choices. The rooms aren’t huge, but they’re thoughtfully laid out in a way that makes sense when you’re living out of a suitcase for a few days. What I appreciated was the little stuff: USB ports where you actually need them, a bathroom mirror that doesn’t fog up immediately after a shower, and – this might sound silly – but the curtains actually block out the light properly. You’d be amazed how many London hotels fail at basic blackout curtains. The air conditioning works properly too, which becomes crucial during those weird London heat waves when the city just… stops functioning. I stayed during a particularly busy period in summer and yeah, you could hear some hallway noise, but nothing that kept me awake. The staff seemed genuinely helpful rather than just going through the motions – when I asked about getting to Heathrow early in the morning, the front desk guy actually pulled up train times on his computer and wrote down the best route instead of just pointing vaguely toward the door. Honestly, for a 4-star chain hotel, it delivers exactly what it promises without any nasty surprises. If you’re the type who wants to feel like you’re staying in London rather than just sleeping somewhere between museum visits, this works. The neighborhood has that lived-in London energy that makes you want to grab a coffee and just walk around, which is worth more than fancy lobby marble any day.