The Caswell offers some good and some bad points. Having stayed there for 5 nights, I feel somewhat qualified to comment, and , since I am a very forgiving and kind person, tolerant of much, I'll start with the positives.

The Caswell is very conveniently located, within easy walking distance of Victoria bus and rail stations, the Pimlico Tube stop, Buckingham Palace, Parliment and the rest of the Westminster attractions, the Thames, etc. It has close-by internet cafes, laundrettes, restaurants, and other services.

We felt very safe in the neighborhood, which is made up of private homes and hotels much like the Caswell - at least from the outside.

The staff was very pleasant and helpful, courteous, and went out of their way to assist us whenever they could.

On the negative side of the ledger - the place is a dump.

The carpet is dingy and overworn, the furniture is stained and tired. When I tried to pull our desk chair out from the desk, the back of the chair came off in my hand.

The rooms are small and cramped, and the walls and floors are not plumb - many items for furniture listed noticeably in one direction or another.

The en-suite facilities looked to have been taken from an RV and stapled into the corner of our room. The WC was VERY small - but cleanish. It was hard to use the sink without kneeling on the commode. You couldn't move in the bathroom without bumping things, including the toilet paper holder, which routinely fell off the wall.

The shower was so small that it was almost impossible to stand in it without the shower curtain clinging to you, which was kind of icky. Even though we had facilities in our room, we thought seriously about using the shower down the hall, just because it looked like you could bend over in it without clonking your head on the sink.

The breakfasts at the Caswell are spartan - cereal, toast or croissants, juice and coffee or tea, but served by very charming and gracious staff, and everything in the simple breakfast room was very clean and tended to.

If you are budget conscious, and only need a mostly clean bed to collapse into at the end of the day, maybe the Caswell is worth it. If anyone in your party is the slightest bit squeamish about stains and close confines, go elsewhere. There are dozens of similar hotels in the same neighborhood - I have to believe some of them are better appointed and better cared for.

The net result of our experience is that we won't be going back, and won't recommend it to anyone we like.

my sister and i reserved a double room after viewing their website. i should have checked it out before paying. we seriously contemplated staying up all night rather than sleep here. We were given a room downstairs, dingy, filthy stains on the carpet, and food stains on the quilt., bottomless drawers. we asked to change rooms and were forced to pay 8 pounds more for the upgrade. in this room i found a silverfish in my bed and hair, nail clippings on the floor. my throat hurt from all the chemicals being sprayed there (to kill bugs?) DO NOT BOTHER CHECKING THIS PLACE OUT.Its worth spending more money somewhere else to not have to put up with what we did.

I arrived back into London late one night, and at the Victoria Station I decided to try lastminute
That was a mistake, in my opinion. In fact, I hope someone from Lastminute sees this and has the heart to refund my money. I paid only 30 pounds...but that is at least 50 US Dollars $. Anyway, the girls who booked me the room were kind, and from what they said, the room sounded ok.
I took a taxi to Caswell and went inside. The only nice thing about this Hotel was the young Indian boy who waited on me. The place was bad news. Dark, dirty, dreary...etc.
I am an older woman who travels mostly alone, and I do not mind the majority of places I have ended up in, however, this was not going to be one of them.

To start with, I would have had to walk up 4 flights to my room, which had no bathroom or telephone...both of which were important to me. My husband called every night from the States and I would lay in bed and talk. Mind you, It was 11pm in London when I arrived at this hotel.
When I told the young man that I was not willing to climb the stairs (no elevator), He kindly tried to get me to go in the basement. It was a long flight of stairs also. There was a room down there with a bathroom ensuite. Witout going down I declined and left. I knew I would not get my money back. I then took a taxi to Westminster Hotel on Leinster square. I had stayed there several days before and I loved it. They took me right in...and honored a very low rate from the Internet.

When you arrive somewhere late and tired you tend to take anything.

I have never been so shocked and appalled by anywhere as I was when I walked into Caswell Hotel. I do want to make it clear that I was not expecting an upscale hotel or anything, but really, this is far beyond anything I expected from 'cheap accommodation'.

The first moment I entered the place I was worried, even the so-called lobby smelled damp and unpleasant. I was told I was on the top floor (4th, which is really 5th since 1st is ground), and there was no elevator and no one to help me drag my 30 inch suitcase up the narrow and winding staircase. Well, what a hassle, but that's ok, I am not paying an arm and a leg to be here.

What was not ok was the condition and cleanliness of the room and the bathroom, the latter of which is shared by everyone else on the same floor. The room, which JUST (and may I emphasise again on the word 'just') fits the bed, an old cupboard and a sink was not in a good condition at all. The carpet was stained all over, the walls were cracked in several places, and the bed.... let's just say that after seeing how old the comforter was, I was too afraid to look underneath.

The bathroom, well, if you can call it that, was right outside my bedroom. There were 2 doors, the first opens up to reveal not really a shower room, more like a cubicle that was covered in old mouldy tiles, it was so small I'm not sure if there would be enough space to bend over to pick up soap or shampoo bottles on the floor, since there was no shelf in there. The light in there was just a bulb hanging from the ceiling, reminded me of some horror movie where someone is locked up in a tiny dirty cell. The 2nd door for was the toilet, which after seeing, I would rather hold it and use the bathroom in a restaurant nearby instead.

I immediately went downstairs and told the guy I no longer want to stay here and would like to cancel my reservation. He told me I was not allowed to, I didn't care however, I just wanted to get out of there and if worse comes to worse I'd rather sleep in the bathtub of a friends house than to have to spend one night here, in that rotten bed and that mouldy shower cubicle. They can take the money for all 5 nights if they want to, but I was too concerned for my own health and hygiene to stay here.

All I can say is, if you are looking for cheap accommodation in expensive London, make sure you do a bit more research than I did. You can get much nicer cheap accommodation than this place for the same price if you spend more time looking. The Caswell hotel maybe cheap but it is not worth it. God, even my boarding shool's bedroom and communal bathrooms were in better shape than this. This place is not worthy of calling itself a hotel, it is more like a hostel, at best.