Yikes! I hadn't know about the FT Do there or I would have tried to warn you guys off the place. My stay was not as bad as that, but I still would not return, and agree that the service was poor.

As for hotels in the same general price range/class... hmmm.... I can recommend the Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury, and the Regent's Park Marriott near Swiss Cottage. The latter is a nicer hotel, with good service, large pleasant rooms, decent food, and it's in a quiet neighborhood (but not a lot to do there - you have to take the tube). The Russell is nicely appointed, but has smallish rooms (though probably above average for London), and the location on Russell Square is super. It has a lot of British charm, if you like that sort of thing (I did, for my first few trips to London, but not really at this point), while the Marriott is pretty much like a U.S. suburban Marriott (in both good and bad ways), even though it's in central London.