Holiday Inn Hotel London-Shepperton

Update: I hope I don’t get sent back to this hotel again for work. We got different rooms this time. So my bed was bigger but apparently the thing is on casters and those things hurt when you bang your toe on it, even through slippers. Even though there was less mold (or mould) the bathub had weird stains on it, thank goodness for having the forethought to bring shower slippers. My room key worked the whole time and my room was quieter than before, which is a plus. And I like the cat that comes to greet guests in the car park (parking lot) in the mornings. However, we arrived on a bank holiday and the internet was out and couldn’t be serviced until after then. I guess living in America where holidays don’t necessarily a day off for anyone I found this odd. I just. .. *sigh*.. . can’t like this hotel.
Original review: How and who decided to put a Holiday Inn at this location? It’s in the middle of a weird peninsula and rather hard to get to on foot. My job booked this hotel for part of our business trip and I had to spend 5 days here. I think being an American, I have very high standards for hotels, even chain hotels. While the beds were alright I had issue with a few things.
Wifi:
Every day I had to go to the front desk and ask for a piece of paper with a wifi code on it. Who the hell is around the building that is going to use your wifi? The swans at the swan sanctuary down the street? Just make it free and easy to access! This seemed like a very business oriented hotel, not vacationers. The wifi never dropped out thankfully, but it was just a pain to log in everyday.
Rooms:
Several times, yes almost everyday I was there my key would not work. I would have to go all the way the hell down to the front desk after a long day of work and get my card key recoded. What the hell? Just inconvenient is all. The beds were ok so far as comfort. But they had two different pillows. One firm and one soft. Thing is, they both felt the same to me. The beds themselves were really small and for a thrasher like me, that’s never good news. My room window had mold on the inside and I think it’s because my window faced away form the sun. My colleague didn’t have that problem. The railing in my bathroom was starting to fall apart and it was kind of gross to look at, I have a clean thing so that may not bother the average person. The carpets looked like they haven’t been deep cleaned in a while. I regretted not bringing slippers so I made sure to wear socks all the time. The walls were very thin and I could hear snoring on one side and kids and a constantly vibrating phone in the other. It was stereo upsetting.
Gym:
Ah, the one thing to keep me sane. Other than being randomly closed on one day, it was the average hotel gym. The plus is that they offered yoga class, for an extra fee of course.
Water pressure was ok and the towel service was good. Somedays I got a refill on the complimentary tea and coffee in my room, others days I didn’t. If I had to book my own stay in Shepperton I would probably go elsewhere, but there just aren’t a lot of places to go.

This Holiday Inn is in the middle of no where, literally. To get to front entrance of the hotel you have to drive down Felix Lane which is a narrow street/​path and at night there are no lights at all. The rooms are on par to those Holiday Inn’s stateside, however the beds are really narrow. The staff here that I’ve come across are all attentive and friendly which is nice. Guests at the hotel are also welcomed to use the gym directly behind the hotel. The gym includes a small weight room and a small pool. If you’re visiting London I wouldn’t recommend staying here as it’s about 30 miles southwest of London proper, and you’d have to get a taxi to simply go down to Shepperton’s train station. The cab ride alone will cost you 7 quids.

I’ve stayed in the Holiday Inn in Shepperton 10+ times in the last 9 months, and I feel qualified to say that this is not a great hotel at all.
The rooms are not spacious. Last year I was greeted with a card with a note from the manager telling me how lucky I am that the hotel rooms had been refurbished (lick of paint and a new shower curtain) but really these things are no-​brainers for me… I expect a shower curtain without mould on it, don’t you?
The maids like to arrange the hand towels on the bed in the shape of swans — a reference to the hotel’s proximity to the Swan Sanctuary. This is a nice touch, but only really for the first visit, The towels themselves generally are thin, too small (tiny bath towels, I end up using two), and they strangely seem to smell of ginger nut biscuits and vinegar.
The staff are generally friendly and welcoming. The bar staff are polite and friendly especially to repeat visitors. The bar has two TVs that show football matches when they are on, although with low volume so as not to disturb the restaurant patrons. Bar food is not great — I find it is better to eat from the restaurant menu in the bar. I had a steak and ale pie that was a soggy floppy affair with peas and chips — for £10.95. Not great. The burgers are a little too charred for my taste, although I like the Hot Bite burger — it comes with Jalapenos and hot sauce.
Unfortunately the room refurbishment didn’t extend to the air conditioning, which blows out heat in the winter and cool air in the summer — with about the same volume as a jumbo jet taking off. This is very disturbing at night and in the winter if you choose to switch it off, the rooms get very cold.
There is a health center with a pool but I have not tried it. The hotel has a large car park to the rear which is very convenient. It’s very well situated for Twickenham. I pay around £120 per night during the week to stay.
I have only visited the buffet breakfast once — all the hot food was stone cold — it’s a shame because there was a decent selection — 2 types of sausages, beans, fried eggs, scrabbled eggs, black pudding (yum), bacon, button mushrooms etc. Coffee and tea come from self service vending machines :(
Wifi in the hotel is extortionate, and there is no decent mobile broadband signal. Many of the rooms get no mobile signal at all, or at least not enough for a phone conversation, which is very frustrating. Not the fault of the hotel though.
In summary, this hotel does the basics, but really, I’ve stayed in much better places for much less.

My daughter booked us in here and went on how awful it was — why did she book us in?
Anyway this hotel was great the staff were all so polite and friendly. Saying good morning to you etc.
The surroundings are quite lovely, parking is great and safe.
The food was plentyful (more than actually) and tasty.
Best deals are at the weekend — business rates apply at the weekend.
Best bit there is a pool — there is also a gym but I was not going anywhere near that! They also have rooms for smokers.
Bad bits — the windows do not open fully — health and safety I was told!!!
Bad bit — The internet is very expensive to use — I think if you are paying for a room it should be free.
Small warning here if you happen to be struck down by what the Americans (God bless them) call the stomach flu and you have to stay an extra night and it happens into the business rate you have to pay this and not carry on with the weekend rate.