Although I can give an overall recommendation for this flat for other guests, both for the location and excellent service by Emily and especially if your visit is during a cooler month, because of not being able to go directly to the Airbnb flat (ie. via lockbox) and because there is no A/C (as is common with most flats in the area), we won’t be returning to this flat next year for the next Prudential RideLondon 100 which was the primary reason for our visit. This was our first visit to London and although the weather is normally cooler, due to the recent heat wave, the flat was much warmer than we would have preferred at night to sleep. Therefore in order to ensure against unusually warm weather should we return for the same event in August 2020, we will book a flat with A/C or stay in a hotel.
We flew into and out of Gatwick airport (which was fortunate considering a strike at Heathrow resulted in 177 cancelled flights the day of our return home). We arrived at Gatwick at 9:45am and after picking up our luggage and taking the 30 minute Gatwick Express to London Victoria Station and walking to the hotel office, we arrived at the office at noon. If you are arriving via Victoria Station, although the distance to the hotel office (where the keys are picked up) and the actual flat aren’t that far, when walking with luggage (and especially when it’s raining as it was upon our arrival), it becomes much more cumbersome so consider taking an UBER or taxi. Although check in time is normally 2pm, Emily had said the flat might be ready sooner so when we arrived at the hotel office at noon and were told by the guy behind the counter that the Airbnb flat was still being cleaned, we were disappointed but not surprised and were asked to go downstairs to a little restaurant to wait. We were only there a few minutes when a woman running the restaurant (turns out it was Emily’s mom) asked where we were staying. When I replied the Airbnb, she looked at her tablet and said the Airbnb was indeed ready and that the guy at the front desk was new and didn’t know about status of the Airbnb (even though I specifically said “Airbnb”), so I was glad we didn’t have to wait that long.
Access to the flat building is via a key fob (or phone on the wall if someone is in the flat to let you in). The flat is on the 1st floor which means going up one flight of stairs or taking the elevator. We were in Flat #4 which is laid out into three separate rooms (bedroom, living room, bathroom) with a huge living room window overlooking Rochester Row. We did have a couple of minor issues during our stay (ie. shower head nozzle came off and missing a shower mat) which Emily quickly resolved by the next day. To cool down the flat, we had to open the living room and bedroom windows which cooled down the bedroom at night; however, introduced all of the outside night noises to include police cars barreling down the street with sirens blaring at all hours as well as noisy pedestrians chatting away while walking past the building returning from a pub or walking their dog in the early AM before going to work.
There is a small combination washer/dryer in the flat which was nice to get a few things washed half-way during our trip. The refrigerator has no separate freezer so it would be nice if a styrofoam picnic chest was provided in which a bag of ice can be stored. There is a Local Sainsburys grocery store about 5 minutes north up Rochester and both a Tesco and Little Waitrose grocery stores about 5 minutes south on Warwick to purchase food items during your stay. Internet access is very quick.
A bus stop is just a few minutes walk up Rochester for easy access to other parts of London. And of course there is Victoria Station for access to the tube and Gatwick Express. Rather than having to deal with an Oyster card (bus, tube, and train travel) and figuring how much to add and dealing with any resulting balance, we had our credit card company issue us with “contact less” cards instead as these (Amex, Visa, MC) are accepted on the above modes of transportation as well. Still somewhat new to the USA, you simply tap your card on a panel and you’re good to go. Note however, there is a £30 maximum limit on using a contactless card, so I had to use the credit card slot instead when purchasing two £19 Gatwick Express tickets.
For bus tours (Windsor Castle, Oxford, Stonehenge, Harry Potter), we used Evans Evans tours. Their office is about a 15 minute walk from the flat.
There are several restaurants nearby including two Italian restaurants. Our experience at 2 Amici (few minute walk up Rochester) was not good as there were gnats flying around us the entire time we were there, not to mention, it didn’t sound like any of the employees were Italian. We weren’t offered bread, so when I asked, each slice was burned. We much preferred Gustoso (one street down and turn right on Willow Pl) where both the food, service, and employees were all excellent and authentic Italian. As the locals generally eat later (7-8pm), we found we could get into restaurants immediately when they opened (generally 6pm) without a reservation.