After weeks of careful online research I decided to look into Athena, i was looking to plan a 3 night trip to london, i had a reservation at the dorchester and tickets to see shrek at drury lane thursday and a show at the 02 arena friday.
what i wanted from a hotel;
-cheapish
-reasonable price parking space near hotel
-short distance to most tourist attractions
-close to the tube
-close to the 02 and park lane
-clean hotel

Athena seemed to offer all of these things, i called up the hotel and was quoted around £297 for me and the fiance for 3 nights, and a bonus, you get a fried brekkie (before you get excited its on the smaller side, but will fill your belly until brunch)
car park was 15 pounds a day and its a first come first serve basis for the parking, but if you cant get outside we were told about a church you could park near, went on and booked, no problems, rang up week before to confirm, no problems.
arrived in london, using a sat nav we found the hotel pretty easy, i to tend to go on the cheap side of hotels, but thats just me, i will have an expensive hotel if im not paying ;)
looking at it from the outisde, i was pretty pleased, parked right outside the hotel, no problems, i had a gut feeling something bad would happen to the car but its quite out the way so no one would need to go near it, the hotel entrance was literally metres from where we parked the car. No problemo!
okay so i go into the hotel, i walk over to the man at reception, tell him my name, go to ask a question and ..... oh sorry whats that, hes gone and answered the phone WHILE im talking, WITHOUT excusing himself....i work with the public 5 days a week and sometimes have to excuse myself, but i would never walk away from someone speaking to me, this then puts me in a bad mood, and i become a little... lets say touchy.
right fiance comes in, we pay for the hotel, parking space get the key, no problem
(the reception is rather nice, quite clean aswell and the men at reception do always look immaculate)
so we go off into a little door and then into a lift up onto the 3rd floor (not a fan of heights, but i have stayed 10 up before so im usually okay)
get into the room... okay so it reminded me of a studio apartment, wooden flooring, very bright lights, clean, nice colourful pillows,yeah its on the small size, then i walk over to the window, its open so i look outside and down, i plan my escape route and its a long way down, theres really not much hope for me if i needed to jump out, it would be half and half as to whether i would make it, so i close the window, lock it...theres nothing for me to lock and i dont mean a key, just a general catch.... this is a problem, hubby to be is a HUGE sleep walker/jumper/shouter, what if he tries to get out the window in his sleep?
im now really doubting staying here, right lets check the bathroom... it STINKS of cigarrettes, someone has clearly had a crafty one at some point and its soaked into the walls, i cant stay in this room, i tell the fiance, and after a HUGE debate, off he trots to the reception (i was always told to view a hotel room before i paid, i will now)
he comes back up, new room key, this time in the basement, sounds good to me, open the door, yes okay its a little musky and a bit retro maybe hasnt been decorated since late 90's maybe, but its bigger, and just feels comfortable and safe, i can get out the window (its a basement where the outside is just below pavement level but its open, not underground) its just a place to lay my head each night, first nights sleep, very comfy, nice bathroom, basic, waters not too hot and theyve stuck the shower so its only warm/hot it doesnt get hot hot, how i like it. first day at breakfast, sat at the table and waitresses came straight over, take order and its there in minutes, food is a personal preference so what i do like someone may not and vice versa.
our first day out to park lane... fanstastic to get to, so i come out of hotel, 2 minutes right, 1 minute right again, and the tube is right there. about 10 mins on the tube and i got to my destination, and about 30 mins to travel to the 02 friday. no problems for the rest of my trip, no problems checking out, no problems with the car.

All in all, this hotel is basic, it is clean, a little 'mature' but its a bed, its comfy and its safe, there is food, there is hydration, 24 hour manned desk, its cheap, theres a parking space, and its close to the excitement of london.
i enoyed my stay, and after being a 'diva' at the start as the man likes to call me, the rest was fine. no problems.

This is a great location - 2 minutes to Paddington or 5 mins to Lancaster Gate tube. The breakfast included was not too bad - there was a choice of hot food as well, which was nice.

The room was poor. The bathroom door and tv cabinet door had stains on them. The bathroom sink was blocked. There was a generator outside which was noisy through out the night and my heating wasn't working the first night there.

I paid more than 90 pounds a night to stay here for 4 nights, for a onepersonsroom. when I arrived they put me, without asking, in different hotel (of not even 2 starres). The room smelled, was noisy, the light was broken, the bed was rock hard and the room itself was not even 4 m2 big. The day after they promised me the rest of the stay a triple room to make up for the first terrible night. Then they put me in a triple room where there was a constant noise in the bathroom, like vaccume cleaner is continuesly on. I asked them if there was something like a button to put it off, there wasn't so i had to deal with it. Then when i came back the third day they changed my room again, and put me in the smallest room possible again - ánd moved my stuff without asking! Now I lost some papers, receipts and usb stick because of them moving my stuff. and when i'm complaining about they changing me everyday they pretent like i'm asking too much of them. I asked them 3 times if they can look again for my usb stick and receipts but everytime they said come back later.
Overall very very bad service and no understanding

Was woken up at 8am by what can only be described as a building site outside our hotel door. Constant banging and drilling making it impossible to sleep. As customers we were given no prior warning. Was in London for a friend's birthday and ended up with less than four hours sleep. There was no phone in our 'newly refurbished' room (which stank of paint) so had to use our mobiles to complain. The noise than stopped briefly but continued shortly after. When leaving the room, we had to climb over all of the equipment that was being used as it was blocking the whole corridor..
We were then told by reception on the way out that we will be compensated for a stay, but after numerous calls to the hotel, we are still waiting!!
The other issue is the 'parking' which is offered by the hotel, and costs £15. Which actually consists of a 'no parking' area which staff have to rotate the cars if one car needs to leave.
Would never stay at this hotel again!!