The grand-ish Strand

Advantages: location, location, location!
Disadvantages: Work in progress

...When Lee Mead won BBC's 'Any Dream Will Do' my mum was ecstatic. She had probably spent half her wages voting for him, so tickets to see him play Joseph were an obvious choice for her birthday in November last year. Thinking it was a brilliant idea, she then invited my nan and aunt, and just for good measure, I decided to drag my husband along as I'd never experienced a show in Londons famous theatre land. We soon realised it was a fair way to travel and we had might as well make the most of our adventure and booked a show and stay theatre trip. After reading up on the choice of hotels, we opted for the 3 star Strand Palace as it a) looked pretty swanky from the photo, b) was only 5 minutes from the Adelphi where Joseph was playing c) was cheaper than some of the others AND included breakfast! Bargain. Our cab driver was...

watkins11 02.05.2008 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

My Strand Experience

Advantages: Fantastic Location, A Breakfast to Set you Up for the Day, Very Reasonable Rates
Disadvantages: Small Room in Need of a Refurb (but don't let that put you off!)

...I was only staying overnight in London for one night in early June, as I was attending a wedding being held in the vaults of the Royal Society of Arts, which is also just off Strand. The Strand Palace Hotel is about 3 minutes stroll from the RSA so it was an absolutely perfect location for me. I booked via Hotel Pronto (via QuidCo!) way back in March so getting a single room was fine and the room rate of £79 included breakfast, which, if you pay for it separately is £14...so you could say the room only cost £65 if you want to break it down. Upon arrival at the hotel, which is just minutes walking from Charring Cross tube station, I was quite impressed with the entrance but not agog or feeling out of my league in casual KIT trousers and a summer top! It's a spacious entrance with gleaming lift frontage, a concierge desk...

RSH123 12.06.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

Stranded in London!

Advantages: Excellent central location; good bars and restaurants
Disadvantages: Rooms a bit old fashioned; a little pricey

...Two nights at the Strand Palace and a visit to see the new Dirty Dancing stage show - bought for my wife's birthday. I even paid the extra £20 pppn for a superior "club" room. We were really looking forward to it. Total price was around £240 for the two of us for two nights (no breakfast). We arrived at Covent Garden tube station (the nearest one to the hotel), and after a little finger-in-the-air direction finding, got to the hotel on foot in under 10 minutes at a leisurely pace. Check-in was a little busy when we got there at 2:30 - we waited in the queue for around 20 minutes, but it was fairly quick when we were seen to. We were checked-in to a room on the 7th floor (there are 9 in the hotel), but we were *so* disappointed when we walked in. The room was tiny - smaller than our bedroom at home. It also overlooked the "well...

tall_andy 12.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

The Strand Palace Hotel

Advantages: Central location, clean
Disadvantages: Food, rooms

......

kate44 03.05.2007 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

"Help! l'm Stranded!" ~ Actually l'm resting!

Advantages: I'm planning to be stranded, so l WILL be prepared!
Disadvantages: You cannot plan for every eventuality, and you can only have 5 items.

...~©~ ~©~ ~©~ ~©~ ~©~ There is something rather odd about this subject, "If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 items would you take?" After all, once you are stranded, it is too late. Perhaps the question ought rather to be asking what 5 items would you hope to have with you if you became stranded through some quirk of circumstance? People don't choose to be stranded, do they? And if it was NOT by choice, what hope would ANY of us have, to actually HAPPEN to have had stranded with us, the 5 items we would CHOOSE? All would also prefer an island with some vegetation and pure water supply rather than an arid desert as well, I expect. Do desert islands have caves? Those caveats aside, let us consider what I would hope to have with me . . . I think I would have to plan my "Stranding" carefully in advance...

jesi 29.10.2007 · Read review
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Review of If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 items would you take?

STRANDED ON AN ISLAND - MY FIVE ITEMS

Advantages: lovely peaceful time
Disadvantages: too many things to choose from

...Stranded on a desert island sounds like a good idea at the moment. I am trying to sell my house and buy another one and it is very stressful as the person whose house I want to buy has changed their mind and might not sell it!! i could scream!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anyway, off I go to my stress-free desert island. Assuming that there is no electric on this island then there is not much point in taking my mobile phone or my laptop? I am also assuming that I am not allowed to take a person, or else I would choose my husband. So short list of what I would take if these things were allowed: 1. Husband - because I miss him when he's not there 2. Laptop - so that I can still do Ciao 3. Mobile phone - just because its nice to text people 4. A pile of books (counts as one item!) - because I love to read 5. Book of soduku puzzles - to...

kismet 24.03.2006 · Read review
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Review of If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 items would you take?

Stranded? HA!

Advantages: Obvious answers!
Disadvantages: Not sure!

...Okay okay, so the question goes something like "What five items would you take with you if you were stranded on a desert island?" . okay straight forward enough.. what would i take.. well, being remotely clever item one would be - A Boat Oh yeah, like im going to stay on a desert island on my todd! which makes way fr item number two, a must have really! - A Large outboard motor Score, okay so i'm going home in a motor propelled boat, what else could i possibly need? - Yogi Bears picnic basket Just incase i get a bit peckish on the trip home! which leads me to my fourth item, which i think is a bit of fun really! - Captain birdseye style stick on beard, eye-patch and hat Ideal for when coming into a random port or other populated island for ultimate comedy effect! Which brings me to my final item - A Sign...

b2uk 11.11.2006 · Read review
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Review of If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 items would you take?

LONDON'S CALLING

Advantages: Pleasent stay, good food, central location
Disadvantages: Views from room

...The strand palace hotel is as the name suggests in the Strand and is owned by Granada/Forte. It has been established at the same spot since 1907. Needless to say it has come up with the times, and is a highly popular hotel for a variety of reasons. In my view there are a few essentials when you stay in a hotel including: cleanliness, there is nothing worse than paying to go somewhere and loathing touching anything because it?s not clean. After all you are paying a quite substantial fee sometimes, so cleanliness is utmost important. Second on my criteria is the ability to make tea in your room. Imagine waking up and being desperate (for a cuppa that is) only to find you have to wait until Breakfast for your first cup of the day? So that?s a close second. Next come sin staff politeness. I have lost count of the times I have asked...

dabmim 28.03.2003 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

Partying at the Palace (ish)

Advantages: Comfortable, clean, good staff
Disadvantages: A few faults, doesnt live up to expectations

...This review is about my Christmas party experience at the Strand Palace Hotel. This year, I was in charge of organising our office Christmas party, and, being based in South East London, the department tends to head to Bromley or Greenwich for a meal. But this year we decided to go all out, and go 'up west', and so I came across the Strand Palace hotel on my googlequest and we decided to go posh as well. The booking process was slightly tiresome, seeing as the particular member of staff we made our booking through was somewhat challenged in the brains department. The initial booking process was easy. We booked ourselves in for the three-course carvery meal, and then Channy and I (the office babies) were sent scuttling around collecting everybody's cash (£33 per head). All was sent in when a couple of weeks later, the girl calls me...

fabulous_girl 19.12.2005 · Read review
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Review of The Strand Palace Hotel, London

Sun, sand, but unfortunately I'm stranded!!!!

Advantages: Plenty of time on my hands
Disadvantages: Plenty of time on my hands, I'm stranded

...I was trawling through the Ciao cafe looking for something to write in when I saw this category - interesting I thought, but what exactly do they mean by stranded?? I assume that it means 'on your own' with no living thing with you and with no opportunities for help, which kind of cleared a few points up in my mind:- Firstly, anything to aid games that I may want to play with Dido or Ruth England (although if she wanted to do a Wish You Were Here feature on my desert island she would be most welcome!!) would be out of the question - not much point taking useless items with me. Secondly, in the absence of any friendly crab (as in the Carling ad) who may be happy to generate electricity for me, any electrically powered items would again be of no use whatsoever. Thirdly, there seems little point actually taking items such as...

m.lyon 27.04.2004 · Read review
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Review of If you were stranded on a desert island, what 5 items would you take?