Access Kensington Olympia

Lovely day out Christmas theme Carol singers loads to see and buy, food stalls. Hard to get round the whole in one afternoon but worth the visit. Loads of Christmas ideas and certainly gets you in the mood.

check in is at the Best Western burns hotel off Earl's court road. Check in here was smooth, and as pre arranged the reception staff telephoned for our free taxi to take us to the apartment. The driver was told to take us to Richmond court which was I presumed, where Access apartments were. The journey was longer than expected and took about 10 minutes. He dropped us off at the end of an alley, down which was a security panel to gain access. There was just a large metal gate in front of us and we felt nervous as it wasn't lit. I used my mobile phone light to see the panel and enter the code I had been given at the Best Western. It didn't work and kept coming up as "error". This is 11pm and I was with my sister so we became more nervous. The taxi driver tried to enter it but he said "we always have problems with this one". He didn't succeed so drove off, leaving two women alone in a dark alley feeling very anxious. We had been given an emergency number to call, which I did but it took 3 attempts to get a reply. I was trying to reassure my sister who by now was frightened. Apparently, we had been taken to the wrong place and the front door to the apartments was actually on the main road.We finally got into the apartment block and into our own apartment (number 5a). It was like an oven and despite looking at the panel in the hall, I needed a degree to figure it out. We tried everything to make the room cooler but no success. We opened the windows but the traffic noise was unbearable. The room was spotlessly clean and this was the only good thing for me. There was no kettle, even though it should have had one. We were not advised to call housekeeping, except in an emergency, so we made do with a pan until the morning. We were unable to sleep due to the heat and the traffic noise but eventually, exhausted fell asleep about 3;£0 am and had to be up early next day to get to Wimbledon :-( We informed housekeeping about the kettle and asked for a fan. On our return, the kettle was there but no fan available and we were told there was no air conditioning in the apartment. It was a very different experience from any other trip to London and would not recommend it to anyone who isn't familiar with the city. A folder inside he apartment gave us checking out instructions to mop the floor, remove rubbish and leave in the hallway, and to leave the keys on the dining table. Ok, how do we leave the property secure then? Would we be responsible if anything was taken after we'd left? Like I said, absolutely never again! I contacted Best Western hotels after our visit but was told they were just key holders and had no responsibility. I won't be using Best Western again either.

I booked this apartment purely to close to the Olympia exhibition center. When we went to pick up the keys they had substituted the apartment I had booked for another one. They had not informed me of this to the email I had made the booking with nor did they bother to inform me when I picked up the keys, leading me to go to the wrong location. When we eventually got to the apartment, the place was brand new and nice but it is right next to a busy tube line and not only can you clearly hear the trains passing you can also feel them. The company were unwilling to move us or offer compensation. Other people in the building had also booked apartments at the Olympia location only to be moved to this apartment block. I have written to trading standards to complain about this clearly unethical behavior.