ibis London City - Shoreditch

Visited as a small family just a couple and a 5 year old. Had to wait for half an hour after check in till the room was ready. Thought the toilets in the lobby were a bad omen when my eyes were stinging as I walked into the gents, probably last cleaned when it was built. Booked a family room but not sure an actual family would fit. A random desk was at the bottom of the bed with a kettle but no plug socket within 4 metres. The fold out bed was something from a Victorian prison and did a great impression of Arkwright’s till. Just the sort of lethal metal death trap you want a 5 year old to use. Luckily the bathroom had clean towels which helped distract from the lack of any extraction in there, unless I mistakenly ticked the Turkish baths option? The shower tray was a level of slipperiness that Torvill and Dean would find challenging and Teflon would probably want to patent. After the second time my kid had fallen over we started using towels inside the cubicle. The room cooling fan had the power of an asthmatic 70 year old smoker, and the tele must have been specially created to infuriate the customer, as with over 30 years IT experience I struggled to get the thing to work, given it was hanging off the wall previous occupants must have had similar issues. In summary, easy access to Aldgate East station, but only stay if you’re a family of Olympic level ice skating borrowers, who always carry a 5m extension cable, hate television and like being excessively warm.

Ibis was basically a hostel. I booked a family room with three twin beds- I got room 140 which was an handicap accessible room. I'm not sure if all family rooms are like this. Outside was so so loud on this lower floor even with the window closed it was constant ambulances all night, it made me think it was maybe a common route from a nearby hospital. Constant people smoking in the alley also under the window so there was noise from garbage and smell of cigarettes. Beds very small and not very comfortable but the worst part was that the bathroom reeked like urine the whole time. We could smell urine in the bathroom. The "accessible" bathroom had a rolling door that was super hard to use and very loud. With three people in the room it was impossible to open/close the door without making a lot of noise. The shower curtain was brown with mildew on the bottom, floor would flood anytime anyone showered (very bad water pressure). For two nights the constant smell of urine was just disgusting. I don't know why it smelled so bad it seemed to be coming from drains or something. I would not stay here again or recommend it.