CityStay Albert Duplex Apartment in Hendon NW4

The bed wasn’t very comfortable and the neighbours above made such a noise you can hear them easily through the ceiling till late and again at 3am banging down the stairs.

We requested and paid for a travel cot but it was broken when we arrived. We have been given a refund for this which is appreciated however we didn't have an alternative for our very young baby. It just added unnecessary stress onto our trip and if the person who put up the cot would have just informed us we could have brought a travel cot with us.
I'm unsure why it was put up and left in the first place as it wasn't a subtle break, one side was completely broken.

The shower downstairs was unclean and broken and held together with some tape.
There was a second shower luckily but again when it's advertised as having 2 bathrooms and there are a few of you, this is an annoyance.


The apartment in general is a bit run down, the photos aren't a very accurate representation but as it wasn't particularly expensive and it's quite convenient for getting into London, this didn't bother us too much.

The boiler stopped at one day. Had to call out the owner to fix the issue. Took half hour to fix.

There were a few things that we disliked about the stay at this apartment.

First, we were instructed by the owner/manager that the apartment was a "no shoes inside" apartment. I'm not a big fan of these types of apartments and had we know this, we probably would've found another place. With that in mind, it's not the first time that we've stayed at a rental property where this rule was in place, however, the other place we stayed that asked us not to where shoes inside had a small, inside foyer with a bench and a place to put your shoes. This apartment did not have any place to sit down to take shoes off, put shoes on and the foyer area was extremely small. Additionally, there was some type of rough outdoor carpet that would poke your feet through your socks. Very difficult and inconvenient.

Second, we were supplied with one (1) towel per person for the duration of our stay. Five (5) adults, staying 8 days and we were given one large towel per person. No hand towels, no washcloths, one towel per person. The apartment does have a washer/dryer, however, the washer is in the kitchen (2nd floor) and the dryer is in one of the bedroom (3rd floor). Also, it's a hassle to try and wash towels while on vacation. There's no reason more linens/towels couldn't be provided.

Third, there were two (2) bathrooms in the apartment. Each bathroom was supplied with three (3) rolls of single ply toilet paper. Again, we had five (5) adults staying for eight (8) days. Towards the end of our stay, we ran out of toilet paper and when I contacted the manager, I was told what was supplied is all we get. If we run out, we would need to purchase our own.

Lastly, and it's not a huge issue, but a minor issue that I know had been mentioned on another review. The refrigerator did not have shelfs in it and so any food that was placed inside of it had to be stacked.

Our only minor complaint would be the pillows, they were very deep and firm - probably ideal for an extremely broad shouldered side sleeper, but not for us.

No shelves in the fridge - we had to pile the food on the floor of the fridge.
Only one bath towel per person was provided. Two of the towels were decent. One was paper thin. No hand towels were provided. We were told there would have been a charge for extra bath towels. The manager ordered hand towels from Amazon and asked us to wash them in order to use them.
There was a layer of dust in the drawer under the bed, and a thick layer of dust on top of closet, which was the only place to store our suitcases.
The flat was generally a bit grubby.
One of the blinds was missing from the master bedroom - we saw it in the closet. As a result, we couldn't sleep in that room because it gets light so early in the UK in the summer.
The beds were VERY uncomfortable and old. The mattresses were concave, and definitely need to be replaced
No instructions were provided for any appliances.
This is not the owner's fault, but the people in the flat below apparently are smokers, and at night there was sometimes a strong smell of smoke in the flat.

Bathroom needs upgrade as there is black mould on the silicone around the bath

A couple of the kitchen cupboard doors were a bit dodgy. That's about it.

bit pricy

I can’t lie I wasn’t a fan of having to take my own rubbish out whilst on holiday and empty the bins before check out. just seems strange and something that a cleaner could do?