Royal National Hotel
3-star hotel · Bloomsbury, London
Long Weekend score
MixedNo serious reports. in 289 reviews
Guests rate nearly every hotel highly: half the hotels in London are rated 8.2 out of 10 or more. So our score shows how a hotel compares with the rest, not how luxurious it is.
- Rated higher than 31% of London hotels
- 85% of guest comments are praise
- 90% of guest photos show no damage
How this score is made
- Rated higher than 31% of London hotels. Compared with 5,640 hotels in London. Counts for 50% of the score.
- 85% of guest comments are praise. 552 praise, 100 complain. Counts for 30% of the score.
- 90% of guest photos show no damage. 54 of 60 photos. Counts for 20% of the score.
- Serious reports are never counted in. They are flagged beside the score, because one matters even when everything else is good.
- $125 a nighttypical for two, before tax · from $98
- 4 min walkto Russell Square station
- 289 guest reviewsfrom the last 2 years
- 60 guest photostheirs, not the hotel's
At a glance
For
- 11 min walk to the British Museum808 m by road
- A station within walking distanceRussell Square is 287 m away
- Staff176 praise · 8 complain
- Location153 praise · 1 complain
- Cleanliness78 praise · 7 complain
Against
- On a main road: Woburn Place45 m from the building
- Quiet at night36 complain · 8 praise
- Heating and air conditioning41 of 289 guests
- Room size15 complain · 12 praise
- Room condition14 complain · 14 praise
What guests reported
What guests say
289 reviews from the last 2 years. Most praised: staff (176 guests). Weakest: quiet at night, where 36 of the 44 who mention it complain.
Food130Strength
We have gluten intolerance in our family and Gosia was an angel couldn’t do enough for us, we ate like queens thank you so much.
Tripadvisor, August 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
The restaurant on the ground floor is very good, and the breakfast is plentiful for European standards.
Tripadvisor, September 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
Location1531Strength
The service was good, the location was good, and the rooms were good, but despite their size, there were a lot of people.
Google, September 2026, rated 3/5 by this guest
Clean, comfortable and good location.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
Staff1768Strength
The location and staff were great.
Google, October 2026, rated 3/5 by this guest
Very pleasant and helpful
Tripadvisor, October 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
The staff were not trained properly.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 2/10 by this guest
Beds282Strength
It was clean, it got cleaned and the beds where great.
Google, September 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
Rooms good, beds very comfortable.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 9/10 by this guest
The only downside is the beds; they're a bit small, and you spend the night balancing to avoid falling out.
Google, September 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
Cleanliness787Strength
Hi I am writing this for my friend Christina Raisi from Greece Andros who stayed at this hotel 3 days and wanted you to know that she was very happy there and met some good people and thought it was very clean and quiet.
Google, September 2026, rated 1/5 by this guest
Location,room size,cleanliness...bag storage in lobby a real bonus save having to carry luggage 🧳 around
Booking network, August 2026, rated 10/10 by this guest
Hotel in a good location but very dated with low quality breakfast and room cleanliness to be reviewed.
Google, September 2026, rated 2/5 by this guest
Value244Strength
A lovely stay and good value for money.
Google, October 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
Excellent value for money.
Google, September 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
Breakfast4613Mostly good
The room was clean and comfortable, and there was plenty to choose from at breakfast.
Tripadvisor, September 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
Neat and clean rooms, a wonderful hotel, and a delicious breakfast.
Google, September 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
Breakfast was busy with lots of school children bathroom was small
Booking network, September 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
Room condition1414Split
(British museum is free but book time slot online) Rooms a bit outdated but spent weekend touring the city and little time in hotel.
Tripadvisor, October 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
The carpet had leaked in places, the beds were worn out, and the windows offered no soundproofing whatsoever, so you could clearly hear everything happening on the street, even on the top floor.
Google, October 2026, rated 1/5 by this guest
A little dated room but bathrooms were beautifully updated
Booking network, August 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
Room size1215Split
Room was small and nowhere to put suitcase other than on floor.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
The rooms are a bit small if you’re with family, but I’d still recommend it.
Tripadvisor, September 2026, rated 5/5 by this guest
The room we checked in the first night was very small and half of the balcony was occupied by the air conditioning machine.
Booking network, August 2026, rated 9/10 by this guest
Quiet at night836Weak spot
Too noisy, window overlooking a courtyard; below, a pub and restaurant open late into the evening, sometimes even part of the night.
Google, October 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
Window onto a courtyard, a lot of noise late at night because of a pub and a restaurant.
Tripadvisor, October 2026, rated 3/5 by this guest
The hotel is very large with many guests, so at some moments it was quite noisy in the room (noise coming from inner courtyard or reception).
Booking network, September 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
Too few mentions to judge: views.
Who stays, and their score out of 10
From every review of the last two years that gives a score and says who travelled, including those with no words.
All 18,139 Google ratings
Problems guests raised
Raised most: heating and air conditioning, in 41 of 289 reviews.
Heating and air conditioning41 of 2891 in 7 reviews
Only complaint as others have noted is there's no air con in the room.
Google, September 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
The window can only open in a certain angle so the room is extremely warm at night.
Booking network, August 2026, rated 8/10 by this guest
Problems in the bathroom13 of 2891 in 22 reviews
The shower screen did not stop the bathroom from flooding!
Booking network, September 2026, rated 9/10 by this guest
Very small room, smelly bathroom, the extractor fan in the bathroom was always on so there was noise all the time.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 5/10 by this guest
Something broken in the room9 of 2891 in 32 reviews
It kept running after being turned off.
Google, October 2026, rated 4/5 by this guest
However, the windows did not open, there is no aircon (I requested an electric fan which was delivered very quickly).
Tripadvisor, September 2026, rated 3/5 by this guest
Not as shown or booked6 of 2891 in 48 reviews
Was pleasantly surprised at the hotel as the pictures do not do it justice.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 10/10 by this guest
Complaints the hotel left unresolved5 of 2891 in 58 reviews
Also room was warm and we requested a fan which was never delivered
Booking network, September 2026, rated 6/10 by this guest
The telephone was not fixed, because we didn’t want to wait around for maintenance to come back for it (he didn’t even realize we had told them about the phone not working).
Google, September 2026, rated 3/5 by this guest
A slow check-in5 of 2891 in 58 reviews
Took a very long time to check in.
Booking network, September 2026, rated 5/10 by this guest
Terrible check in experience - I've never had such a long wait to get in to a hotel.
Google, October 2026, rated 2/5 by this guest
Serious reports
None found in 289 reviews.
Photos, checked
6 of the 60 guest photos we checked show damage or dirt (10%).
Guest photos showing damage or dirt6 of 6010%
Of 60 guest photos, 6 show damage or dirt: stains in 5, dirty surfaces in 3 and peeling paint or cracks in 1, and some photos show more than one. Of the hotel's own 40, 0 do.
Guests’ photos confirm: restaurant (3), bathtub (4).
The hotel says it has no swimming pool, spa, gym or hot tub.
Price, place and rooms
Price
$125 is a typical night, from 224 dates checked in the coming year.
Weekends cost 13% more than weekdays
A typical night, month by month
Cheapest month: Jan 2027, $108Dearest month: Jun 2027, $147
Prices on booking sites, the day we checked
What each seller advertised on the one day we checked, so these sit outside the year-wide figures above and can fall below the typical price.
- Super.com$298
- billabook.com$324
- wego.com$345
- h-en.reserving.com$379
- loveholidays.com$396
- hotelsnest.com$436
- Trip.com$443
- clicktrip.com$447
Lowest advertised nightly rate for two adults; taxes and local fees are not included. Shown in US dollars.
Nearby
Russell Square station is 287 m away by road, about 4 minutes on foot. There are 5 bars or clubs within 200 metres.
- Nearest main road: Woburn Place45 m
- Nearest shop: Portland Food & Wine1 min walk84 m by road
- Nearest station: Russell Square4 min walk287 m by road
- The British Museum11 min walk808 m by road
- Big Ben3.0 km
- Buckingham Palace3.6 km
- Tower Bridge4.8 km
The lines are 5, 10 and 15 minutes on foot.
Distances follow the streets, not straight lines.
Rooms
16 room types, from 23 to 30 m².
- Standard Plus Twin with Extra Bed23 m²Sleeps 3
- Standard Plus Triple Room25 m²Sleeps 33 Twin bed
- Triple Room26 m²Sleeps 33 Twin bedBathtub
- Standard Plus Double Room26 m²Sleeps 2
- Twin Room26 m²Sleeps 2Bathtub
- Standard Plus Twin Room26 m²Sleeps 2
The other 10 room types
- Double Room26 m²Sleeps 2Bathtub
- Family Room27 m²Sleeps 31 Twin bed + 1 Double bedBathtub
- Standard Plus Family Room27 m²Sleeps 31 Twin bed + 1 Double bedBathtub
- Standard Plus Triple with Extra Bed30 m²Sleeps 4
- Standard Plus Triple - Extra BedNot statedSleeps 4
- Standard Plus Twin - Extra BedNot statedSleeps 3No view
- Standard Plus Twin RoomNot statedSleeps 2No view
- Standard Plus Double RoomNot statedSleeps 2No view
- Standard Plus Family RoomNot statedSleeps 31 Double bed + 1 Twin bedNo view
- Standard Plus Triple RoomNot statedSleeps 33 Twin bedNo view
From the hotel's own room descriptions, checked against each room's photos.
How it compares
How it ranks
Guests who booked rate it 7.8 out of 10. 31% of the 5,640 hotels in London are rated lower, and a typical one is rated 8.2.
Every review site, out of 100
Google rates it 72 out of 100 and Booking network rates it 78. Booking network only takes reviews from people who booked and stayed, while Google takes them from anyone.
If quiet at night matters to you
Here, 36 of the 44 guests who mention quiet at night complain. These nearby hotels do better on it.
More hotels in London
The nearest first, with our score for each.
How we know
289 reviews counted · 100 photos checked · updated 10 October 2026
- We collected this hotel's 884 most recent reviews from Google, Tripadvisor and the Booking network. 289 of them describe a stay in the last 2 years and are the ones counted here; the rest were 52 older, 214 in other languages, 318 with a score but no words and 11 about the restaurant rather than a stay.
- The hotel replied to 191 of its 200 newest Google reviews.
- 32 in every 100 reviews thank a staff member by name.
- 9 reviews mention a free upgrade, a cake or a gift.
- We looked at 100 photos: the first 40 of the hotel's own and the 60 newest from guests.
- Every number on this page is counted, not estimated. Anything in quotation marks is a guest's own words.