Summary:
I stayed at the Watling St managed apartments for just under two months. My stay at 75 Watling Street, managed by City Relay, has been marred with poor customer service and multiple maintenance issues. The managed apartments themselves are in a great location but let down by a lack of customer focus from the property managers and I suspect a non-existent maintenance schedule. I would stay in these apartments for a short period if it’s close to where you need to work or visit, but would probably think twice before staying for longer than a week. I detail my reasons below.
City Relay:
-	I booked an apartment via AirBnB for two months, due to arrive on the 29th of January 2022. I was informed by the UK passport office, that due to COVID related delays, my visa would be delayed. I contacted City Relay on 17 January, requesting for my stay to be pushed back by two weeks. They declined that request and I was required pay for an additional two weeks. By comparison, changing my flights was a completely breeze, costing me nothing. I think that in the post COVID world, businesses in the travel industry need to have some degree of compassion and understanding that travellers are now dealing with increased levels of uncertainty.
-	When communicating via email you speak with a different person every time. There is no continuity and often this results in a poor understanding of the problem and frustration for the guest.
-	If you contact the office via phone, they will take a message and then respond by email. For example, when trying to arrange an international transfer for thousands of pounds, I was unable to speak to the person in accounts, only leave a message and they would respond by email.
-	City Relay are not proactive, everything needs to be driven by the customer. For example, I was required to move units, as I needed to extend my stay two weeks (see above). At 5 PM the day before I was due to move, I thought it was strange that I had heard nothing about my electronic access key. I sent an email asking what was going on, they responded indicating they did not have my security deposit (despite the fact I had been staying in a unit with them for the past six weeks and paid for my accommodation in full). If I had not called, I would have been unable to access the new unit.
-	When I moved units (from unit 8 – 9), after staying with them for six weeks, they told me I would only be able to ‘check-in’ to the new unit after 11am ? After further probing It became obvious this was completely arbitrary as the unit next door was empty? It would have been great if someone contacted me and we discussed what was going to be convenient for me.
-	The 4g internet has been poor during my stay. I require a decent connection for work. For weeks they have been installing faster internet, and will send you an email saying ‘ a technician will be accessing your apartment tomorrow, please give them access or we will’.
-	At one point I was locked out of the apartment because the smart lock failed. I was able to contact City Relay. They gave me access to another apartment and initially tried to tell me I could not gain access until the next day when maintenance was available. This was unacceptable as I needed to work the next day and had no clothes etc. After pressure from me a locksmith was arranged and I was able to gain access. I found it surprising that City Relay would think it acceptable to just put a guest into another room until it was convenient to get maintenance. The first locksmith was unable to fix the lock and I was trapped in the unit for much of the next day until the regular maintenance guy could come.
Watling Street Apartments:
-	I stayed in unit 8 for 6 weeks and unit 9 for a further 1.5 weeks.
-	The location of the apartments is great, very close to Mansion house and Bank tube stations.
- The left was out of service for 2 weeks.
-	Maintenance issues Unit 8:
o	Some aspects of the kitchen in unit 8 are tired, for example the timber bench top is uneven and water damaged. The tap is not fixed to the bench correctly (see photos).
o	Large water marks in the main bedroom ceiling
o	Mould around parts of the shower
o	Cracking and disgusting looking shower base.
-	Unit 8 fronts the street and on Thursday to Saturday the pubs below get very busy and noisy. At times I needed to sleep with noise cancelling headphones. In addition, the office across the road leaves their lights on at night shining through the timber shutters.
-	Maintenance issues Unit 9:
o	The door handle isn’t really attached, it dangles (see photos).
o	The shower doesn’t drain, and you end up having a bath/shower (see attached).
o	The shutters in the living room are fixed in the down position.
-	Unit 9 is quieter (possibly same for 3, 6, 12) in terms of pub noise but there are two large air extractors from restaurants below that result in ambient noise. There is no issue with light pollution from offices.