Town Hall Hotel, Bethnal Hall

“Beware - we were robbed out of the room safe!” My family of 5 recently stayed at the Town Hall Apartments for 4 nights on the last leg of a 2 week trip to Europe. HOWEVER, we had issues with our room safe on 2 occasions, only to discover on the day of our departure that $1600 had been STOLEN out of the safe! When we replayed the events that occurred leading up to our discovery, it suddenly seemed curious that our privately programmed safe codes didn't work on two separate occasions. Each time they sent someone to our room with a special key to unlock the safe. We picked a new code, reprogrammed it, only to have it happen again. As we were packing up to go back to the states, we emptied the safe and noticed that our money envelope was significantly deflated. The crook left the $20's but stole all the $100's... We filed a police report and the hotel promised to review security tapes, only to send us an email that they could not find a suspect. That was it. An apology. NO reimbursement. NO resolution. We had already checked out and had no financial recourse. Upon our exit, the cleaning lady confided in us that she has heard that it has happened before to other guests... so BEWARE and leave your valuables next to your dirty laundry or deep within your suitcase or DON'T STAY THERE AT ALL, because the safe is anything BUT SAFE and the hotel is anything but accommodating... even though they and their staff were clearly responsible for our loss. They said we are not responsible your stolen money. Really!

Warning: This hotel is extremely chaotic due to poor management. After discovering the bookings were non-refundable, I tried the following: 1️⃣ Contacted Marriott customer service immediately to request assistance with cancellation 2️⃣ Sent a direct email to the hotel asking for cancellation 3️⃣ Asked a local friend in London to call the hotel front desk to confirm The front desk explicitly stated: Both rooms are non-refundable! I accepted this and, as required, updated the details of one room to my colleague’s information. Here’s the key issue ‼️ The hotel then sent a confirmation email clearly stating that both rooms were confirmed and non-refundable! I double-checked this information and even discussed invoice details, providing my company’s information. To be thorough, I also confirmed with Marriott directly that the bookings were all in order. Then, just before my departure, I suddenly received an email from the hotel: One room had been canceled free of charge, while the other would not be refunded if canceled! I immediately asked my friend to call the hotel again. The front desk responded rudely, stating: ⚠️ The canceled room could not be reinstated ⚠️ They had canceled one room without any request from me ⚠️ They completely ignored the previous confirmation email they had sent How could they cancel one room from the same booking without notifying me?? What followed was even more appalling: 📧 The booking center staff went completely silent 👨💼 The General Manager I contacted was polite but shifted responsibility 💸 They claimed that "refunding one room was an act of goodwill" (even though my request was always for both rooms to be refunded or both to be honored) ❓ They even questioned why I wouldn’t stay in the other room! I have to ask: After such chaotic management and communication, how could I possibly stay at this hotel?! As a traveler on a long-distance business trip, this kind of treatment is truly unacceptable!