Budget hostel in central London right across from Hyde Park
One-minute walk to London Underground station
20 minutes via public transportation to a plethora of London hotspots
Private rooms with safes and electric tea kettles
Free continental breakfast; free full English breakfast for private-room guests
Communal kitchen and dining area
Traveler-friendly amenities in lobby, including luggage scale and adapters
Discount at attached cafe
Rooms are unadorned and show wear and tear
Some guests complain of cleanliness issues
Wi-Fi costs extra (hourly fee) and it's slow
One single shared bathroom for each dorm
Frequented by school groups, which can be noisy
Dorm guests must bring their own towels
Some guests say shower temperature difficult to control
No air-conditioning
Luggage storage costs extra
The Royal Bayswater Hostel is located directly across from Kensington Gardens, a one-minute walk from the nearest Tube station. It's a functional spot for school groups and budget sightseers, with 52 rooms that range in size from private singles or doubles to dorm-style rooms that hold up to 20 people. Dorm rooms are basic and unadorned, with bunk beds and shared bathrooms. Private rooms are slightly more stylish. But the hostel shows wear and tear throughout, and some guests say it’s dirty and dusty. Despite the digs, many guests rave about the hostel’s proximity to London sights -- a 20-minute tube ride takes guests to most major attractions. A continental breakfast is included free with the stay, but Wi-Fi costs an hourly rate, and some guests complain it's slow. For more fashionable and well-tended accommodations, budget travelers could try Clink78 Hostel.
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Scene
Ideal location for budget travelers -- but a bit drab and scruffy
Sitting in a pink Victorian building that’s halfway between dilapidated and charming, this hostel occupies the same location as the former Royal Bayswater Hotel, whose sign is still displayed outside. The building itself has beautiful elements, including elegant white trim, bay windows and attic dormer windows -- though it’s in serious need of cleaning and painting. Inside, the lobby is generic with a gray carpet and white walls. The “decor” is mostly functional; the lobby contains a reception desk, stacked safes, wall maps and bulletin boards, travel essentials for sale, and a front area that serves as a computer room. Wear-and-tear is visible throughout, and some guests complain that the hostel could use a good scrub. The rates, though, are hard to beat, making this a location full of young people on a budget, including school groups and backpackers.
Location
Across the street from Kensington Gardens and one minute walk to London Underground
Located on a busy thoroughfare that runs parallel to Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, the Royal Bayswater Hostel is in the cosmopolitan, hotel-heavy Bayswater and Paddington area of London. It’s in easy walking distance (one to five minutes) to a plethora of transportation, including several bus stops and two London Underground Stations, which comprise four total lines of the city’s metro system. From the metro, guests can go pretty much anywhere in London, finding themselves at most city hotspots in about 20 minutes.
Indeed, location is the biggest upside of the Royal Bayswater. While many hostels sit inconveniently outside of the city center, this one is right in the middle of things and can hardly be closer to the London Underground.
Rooms
Dorm rooms and private rooms with few frills, designed for the budget traveler
Designed for the budget traveler, rooms at Royal Bayswater are largely unadorned with few extra frills. Community rooms are basic bunk-style dorms and come completely unadorned: hardwood floors, white walls, blue metal bunkbeds with sheets and pillows. The wear-and-tear shows through, and some guests complain of lack of cleanliness and dust. Only guests 18 to 45 may stay in the dorms. Bathrooms are similarly generic with a toilet, sink, and either a wet-room style shower or a tub and shower with a wraparound curtain. The four- to twenty-person dorms all contain a single shared bathroom each, so there might be some waiting, and some guests complain that shower temperature is difficult to control. Note that guests bath towels are not included with dorm rooms.
Private rooms are slightly more stylish and better equipped, with a wooden headboard over the bed, blue accents, a hung picture, a wardrobe, a flat-screen TV, and a hot water kettle. These also have their own en-suite bathrooms, which are similar in style to the dorm bathrooms.
Light sleepers should bring earplugs -- the hostel is frequented by school groups on trips, which can be noisy. Front-facing rooms may also get street noise -- but they offer a surprisingly good view of Kensington Gardens right across the way.
Features
Free continental breakfast and discount at attached cafe
There’s a dining-hall style eating area and spacious kitchen with three stoves, a large sink, toasters, a microwave, and three fridges. Though both spaces show signs of wear-and-tear and occupy windowless rooms, they’re functional. The hostel serves a free continental breakfast (toast, jam, coffee, cereal) for those staying in dorm rooms an an English breakfast for those in private rooms. Those staying at the hostel can get a discount at the attached cafe too, which offers meals, fresh fruit, baked goods, and drinks. The lobby has a luggage scale, several safes for storing valuables, and individual computer stations for guests' use. Towels, phone cards, outlet adapters, and luggage storage are available for low extra fees. There is also self-serve laundry machines on-site. Some guests mention that this hostel has less of a social vibe compared to others. But the main complaint about the hostel is related to the Wi-Fi: It costs an extra fee at a per-hour rate, and it’s extremely slow.
