PumHarrow, Greater London, England
8.0Nice hotel at a reasonable price
Liked mostWe were in room 205, which is a “suite” at the back of the building, with windows looking out on Campo San Toma. Not so much a suite as a good sized, very nicely decorated room with a bathroom. The room is only accessible through the outdoor courtyard garden and up a flight of stairs – no elevator. Nice high ceilings and characterful decor that felt quite Venetian. Quite a lot of wardrobe space for a hotel room. All seemed very clean. Some noise in evenings from Campo San Toma, including live music, but always finished at a reasonable time. Closing wooden shutters as well as windows insulated noise well. Pretty good selection of food at breakfast. Eggs made to order scrambled or fried, as well as pancakes and crepes. Staff were friendly and helpful. Quite a convenient location, just across the Grand Canal from the centre of Venice. 2 min walk to S. Toma pier where you can get the water bus or taxi, or take the gondola ferry service across the Grand Canal for €2 pp. Quite a few very nice restaurants, bars and cafes within short walking distance. Handy little supermarket on just around the corner. WiFi internet good: 87 Mbps down, 67 Mbps up. Not so good things: The Heating/Aircon controls were awkward and idiosyncratic. It seemed that the cooling was not working at all, and I suspect that as it was winter the hotel had turned them off to save energy — this was not a problem as such, except the heating was very “enthusiastic”, especially in the bathroom, and we struggled to sleep the first night due to the excessive warmth. By the second night I had got the hang of controlling the heat in the bedroom, with the help of opening windows for a while, although the bathroom radiators remained blasting out heat 24x7. No low level lighting controllable from bedside. Paper cups in room — we borrowed proper ceramic mugs from the bar/breakfast room. The rainfall shower head needs a thorough descaling or replacement. Water pressure quite low in shower.