The Grand "Old Boy" - Marylebone - by Frankie Says

Where do I start? There were so many issues with this place, its easiest to mention them here in a bulleted list: * the decor is nice but but quite dated, there were a lot of broken items throughout the apartment * kitchen was not very clean, for example: crockery and glasses were filmy and dirty; kitchen sink was filthy with food and debris * heating didnt work at all (management company fixed it on the third day of our five-day stay) * bathroom door handle was broken and kept falling off so you couldnt close the door properly * strong sewage odour in bathroom when we first arrived, as if the apartment hadnt been used in quite a while * ALL drains in the apartment were severely blocked taking a shower meant standing in two feet of water in the tub * shower head sprayer and the shower head hanging were broken so taking a shower was almost impossible * it was obvious there are smokers in the apartment below and the smoke rises up into the apartment (especially first thing in the morning- sleep with a window open!); also, there are building works in the apartment above, which started around 8am. Of course this is not their fault but it was frustrating nonetheless and you should know what you are getting into (for what its worth, the management company offered to relocate us but we declined as we didnt have time for that) * we arrived on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend. I didn't get through to anyone until Tuesday afternoon. Some issues were then attended to promptly, and some were never fixed. We had workmen in the apartment on two different days. The management company staff were lovely and they gave us a late checkout upon request. But I think this apartment is vastly overpriced and problematic for what you get Id rather just pay for a hotel. I requested a partial refund for all of our troubles and the management company said I would get a 2-night refund for our troubles. Interesting they are now offering 5% -Even getting a refund is frustrating