Kip Hotel

The hotel has 105 guest rooms, which vary a lot from the tiny 3.25m² (35 sq ft) Kip Cabin single room up to a spacious penthouse and larger rooms that sleep up to eight.

All rooms are air-conditioned and have comfortable beds and a flatscreen smart TV although most other facilities are stripped out. Not all rooms have a desk (although, surprisingly, the smallest rooms do) and there are no in-room tea and coffee making facilities. However, you can get free coffee from the reception if you follow the hotel on Instagram. I don’t know about you, but I would rather walk to the hotel reception to grab a proper espresso than drink instant coffee in my room.

Double rooms, the Kip Studio, the Kip SuperSingle room, the Kip Buddy twin room, the Kip ForFriends group room, the Kip ForFamily family room and the Kip Penthouse all have en suite bathrooms but guests staying in the super small single Kip Cabin rooms need to use a shared bathroom. Some of the rooms, particularly the Kip Cabins, do not have windows.

There are no other shared facilities like you would find in more upscale hotels, which means that you need to leave the hotel if you want something to eat or drink. Not that this is a problem with so many places to eat and drink in the immediate neighbourhood.

Free Wi-Fi wireless internet access is available throughout the hotel.

A priority has been put into the hotel’s design, making it a considerably cooler place to stay than you average budget two-star hotel. You’re not quite getting the full boutique hotel experience on this budget and some guests complain that corners are cut with cheap furnishing and shoddy paintwork; however, you simply can’t expect the standard of accommodation to match a fancy hotel considering the price that you pay to stay here.

While it won’t appeal to everyone, there are plenty of people who would much prefer to stay here than the bland Travelodge next door, even if it means staying in a room without windows and forgoing an en suite bathroom and in-room tea and coffee making facilities.

The hotel is in the centre of Hackney in East London. It is a vibrant neighbourhood with plenty of places to shop, eat and drink within a short walk of the hotel.

Many of the rooms look onto Hackney Central station and it is only a five-minute walk to Hackney Downs station. Both stations are in zone two on the Overground network and it is just a short ride to many parts of London. From Hackney Central, it is 10 minutes to Stratford and a 13-minute journey to Camden Road and from Hackney Downs, you can get to Liverpool Street station in The City in around 10 minutes.