Hampden Apartments - The Charles

Close location to Windsor Castle, restaurants and convenience stores. Very spacious accommodation Quiet, secure location Access to variety of TV channels Clear instructions for access

No blinds on doors to patio with blinding westerly sun streaming in. The pictures on Booking.com must have been taken when it was new. It’s dated and worn and didn’t live up to pictures on the listing. Cleanliness was an issue. Carpets are stained and the common stairwell is putrid. Some maintenance required. Door handle to the apartment is very loose.

The host, Jeremy, was very helpful prior to our visit as he sent through all the access information in advance and agreed for us to park at the property prior to check-in time. The apartment is very spacious, in a great location (with shops/restaurants in easy walking distance), with well equipped kitchen and the beds were comfortable.

Our biggest annoyance was that we were unable to open the twin bedroom window, which made it very uncomfortable to sleep in 30+ degrees during the recent heatwave. I messaged Jeremy to raise this but got no response. It looked like the frame had been varnished and stuck shut, so has probably been an issue for some time. There were some fans provided but one of which didn't work. They could also really do with a blind on the large kitchen window because the evening sun comes streaming in from the balcony and it's uncomfortably bright when your trying to eat dinner at the dining table. A couple of minor points were some spot light bulbs needed replacing in the kitchen/dining/living area, the shower was draining slowly and the toaster was a bit temperamental.

Spacious, bathrooms have great water pressure and plenty of hot water, lots of light, full size appliances in kitchen, walkable to many sites

Kitchen ill equipped- 1 wine glass, 1 dull knife, no coffee except instant, no salt or pepper. Oven needs cleaning. No placemats or napkins. Entry door to apartment has failing lock and handle mechanisms.

Great location, big bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (1 is en-suite). You definitely go wow when you walk in, as it’s just so spacious. Nice wooden floor in part of the flat. En suite looked newly done up, and everything worked. Free parking is available - and they were happy for two cars to be parked. Good information on how to access flat via lock box etc.

No info pack! So had no idea how anything worked, had to experiment and google. Luckily it wasn’t cold, as had absolutely no idea how to adjust the heating, if it’s even possible to. Main bathroom toilet flush button was broken, and the flush mechanism was running constantly. We took off the cistern lid, so managed. Only half of the living area lights seemed to work, so it was quite dimly lit in the evenings. Main bedroom bed slats had some fallen/missing, we were able to put some back so it was useable, but it was a bit odd. Smaller bedroom window doesn’t open at all, would be grim in the summer. Spa bath doesn’t work. No coffee machine (did have a cafetière). Uncomfortable sofa and chairs, still have backache. Toaster didn’t really work properly. Carpets in bedrooms were really stained, as was the main staircase carpet in the building. Beige, who does beige carpets in a heavy wear area! I did text some of this to the managers through booking.com messages, but have yet to have a response. (Weeks later). I didn’t phone the emergency number as nothing was an actual emergency. But a response would have been nice. Overall, the place looks good on first arriving, but all the problems made it a lot less appealing. It was expensive, so I did expect better. Don’t think we would return unless we knew things had improved.