We were "assigned" this hotel by Priceline.com after having offered $95 USD per night. It was a very good value for that price. Although the room was somewhat small, it was clean, and the bed was comfortable.

The hotel is a reasonable distance from the Kensington High Street tube stop. The tube tracks run along the back side of the hotel, but noise was never a problem since we were on the front side of the hotel. The air conditioning was welcome.

The staff was somewhat indifferent. They made no effort to accommodate our bedding preferences, and we had to wait 45 minutes for our room. We would stay there again if we could pay that price or less.

I also got this hotel on Priceline and like the many other post I was a bit concerned after reading some of the reviews. I stayed from April 13 - 16 2004. My bid on priceline was for $80 (before taxes) Considering how expensive London is I believe I got a great deal. I got a room on the 9th floor and had a big room. The room was not small by any means. The bathroom was a good size and the bathtub was huge. The only complaint I had cause you also have to take the good with the bad was that yes the walls are paper thin. I experienced this in most hotels in Europe so it is not isolated to this hotel.

The location is perfect! A hp and a skip from the High St Kensington tube station. Also you can catch the double decker buses on High St and take it down to Picadilly Circus. As someone already there is an a Mcdonalds right across the street from the tube stop. I always try to stay away from American fastfood when I travel but I couldn't beat the cheap breakfast and the internet access at this McDonalds.

Don't worry if you get this hotel on priceline. It appears that this hotel has made some improvements because I didn't here any noise whatsoever from the trains. The windows were double pained.

I would definitely stay there again. As a matter of fact I just recommended this place to my friend. If you are expecting a luxury 4 star hotel than you will be disappointed. However, if you want a clean, spacious room with a comfortable double bed than you will more than happy.

BTW...London has an amazing metro (tube) system. Very efficient and it goes everywhere. Don't be afraid to take the tube from and to the airport. Can't beat the price.

I recently stayed at the Copthorne Tara for 6 nights as part of a Virgin Atlantic Vacation package to London. Everything was quite nice and beyond my expectation based upon some of the reviwes on this site and the price. I have been in London numerous times and believe that this hotel was the best value ever, and by value I don't mean to suggest at all that the property lacked anything found in much more expensive hotels. My room was on the third floor overlooking the tube and a nice park on the other side of the tracks. There was hardly any noise, the windows were double paned. One curtain on the window was tattered, but this was the only fault I could find with the rather large room, particularly for London standards. In short, you will find this to be a very nice hotel at a good location. Don't worry.

I recently booked this hotel through Priceline and, like a few of the other reviews on this web site, I panicked when I read the reviewes on Trip Advisor. I became so concerned that my trip to London would be a disaster I immediately tried to contact Priceline to ask for a change in hotel. As many of you who are "travel savvy"know, I got nowhere with Priceline other than the suggestion to write to them after the trip. I have been living in Europe for the past three years and I have travelled quite a bit during this time. I know what to expect from the 4* rating. So off we went and I was amazed at what I found to be the case: great location - a lovely area ( Kensington Palace) and a few minutes walk from the tube and bus stop; a very pleasant lobby and friendly desk staff; clean, reasonably well decorated, good size room with comfortable twin beds as requested; quiet room as requested; clean, good sized bathroom with none of the previously mentioned problems. To sum it up I was astounded (and relieved) with how nice the hotel was and could not imagine how the negative reviews came to be. I would definately stay there again and the price was amazing for London ($115). I know that some of the other reviews listed their price as between 75 and 80 USD so perhaps I bid a bit much but after comparing the prices on the other discount hotel reservation sites, I still felt that it was quite a good deal. So, I would say: discount the critical reviews, this is a fine place to stay.