Gary and Bianca are truly superhosts. Gary was incredibly responsive and helpful. He promptly responded to questions when we made our reservation, before we departed and several times after we arrived and had trouble with delivery of our Day 2 test. Thank you Gary!
As for the studio, it’s exactly as it is described. It is sparkling clean, quiet and contemporary. We were traveling with our college-aged daughter and the small room with a twin bed worked out well for her.
The kitchenette allowed us to bring home and prepare some light meals. Although the stove and oven was different then we are used to, the helpful instruction manual let us figure it out.
The beds were firm but not uncomfortable and there was plenty of bedding and a variety of pillows. We slept well after our busy days sightseeing.
We didn’t hear any outdoor noise or noise from neighbors and we loved the ceiling mounted fan that worked perfectly for white noise at night. The heating was great and easy to adjust.
The bathroom was surprisingly spacious with lots of shelf space for our toiletries. The shower worked great once we figured it out; it had good water pressure and warmed up quickly. The only downside is a lack of an electric plug in the bathroom for a hair dryer or curling iron in the bathroom.
I’ve never been to London and I was a little nervous about how transportation would work but it was quite easy. We arrived in the UK from the US at 7:30 am UK time, and booked the place for the night before so we could go straight to the studio. So glad we did! We took an Uber from Heathrow. It was morning rush hour so it took about an hour and a half and the fare was 72 pounds. (We also took an Uber to Kings Cross Station when we left because we had so much luggage. It took an hour on Saturday morning to get there and cost 42 pounds.)
Once we settled in though we were able to use public transportation with no problem. We walked the 10-15 minutes from the studio to the East Croydon station every day. We never timed the bus quite right (and didn’t really try) but it does stop right across from the studio so that’s definitely an option. We weren’t able to buy our Oyster card at the East Croydon station. There are some vendors in town that sell them but the one they directed us to wasn’t open on the weekend when we wanted to get ours so we bought tickets on the train instead. The discounted price was 24 pounds round trip for the three of us. After that we purchased and used an Oyster card. We did spend a fair amount on transportation but not anywhere as much as if we had booked a place in the heart of London. It was easy to get wherever we needed to go and we found Google maps to be quite accurate in telling us what platform/stop we needed. (Tip: When leaving the East Croydon station take the main exit to be closest to the studio. The side exit is further away and a bit confusing.)
We loved Box Park right next to the station. It is filled with all kinds of interesting international restaurants. (Lots of choices for vegans too.) We shopped for groceries at Sainsbury’s by the station. We took the tram from the East Croydon station to Wimbeldon one day and noticed there was a lot of shopping and a farmer’s market just two tram stops down so that's an option as well.
All in all, this studio worked out beautifully for the three of us. It was small but comfortable and, in our opinion, a great value. If we get back to London again we would love to stay here again.