Aldgate by Excel Apartments

Really bad experience with this brand, their customer service is horrendous. Firstly they dont reply on their chat and when finally connected their staff feel they are doing a favour on you. I paid for a early check in, and it was rejected because the incompetent staff couldn’t connect with the cleaning team to see if the room is ready, and hence we had to wait in the cold since they want let you in. The lift doesn’t work, which they should compensate or let people know, the bathroom is in a filthy state, they charge a hefty cleaning fee but still expect you to clean and dump the garbage. There is no luggage space, so if you decide to leave your bags, you have to pay to a near by locker, and it’s right its a pure fraud apartment who are there to steal peoples money, will take the deposit immediately too but wont be returned upon check out but only after a week if you are lucky. AVOID IT AT ALL COST.

Apartment was nice and clean. But I was made to jump through hoops before I could gain access to the room. I filled all the details before hand but they still refused to let me in. They apparently rang me and ehn I tried to ring back. The line was not responsive a I got to the property and they made me wait for close to an hour outside while asking me weird questions like “how many bags are you carrrying?” Or “how many people are staying with you?”(a question I had answered at least THREE times prior) I protested this constant question and their response was “I can ask as many times as I want” - very rude. Did I mention I was on the phone to them and the line would cut and they wouldn’t ring me back? I would have to ring them back myself. Probably the weirdest thing I got asked to do was to stand beside a black car so that a security guard would come locate me which was a lie as no guard came. They just wanted to have a look at me in their CCTV. The room is nice but not sure it’s worth the hassle.

The apartment was lovely and clean. Easy to access and the bed was very comfortable.

The check-in process was effortless and communication was timely. These were two areas that previous guests seemingly rated this location poorly on. The Guest Portal communicated everything quite clearly and messages were responded to quickly. There was a slight problem that the Guest Portal kept asking about a third guest when I had only registered for two. I kept deleting it, but then would get an email requesting information about a third guest. An agent reached out to me via phone to ask about it and it was easily cleared up. The entry way was very welcoming. Keys were easily accessed to gain entry to our unit. I would have given this location an excellent, but there could be a few things improved. Heating the unit was a slight problem but not so insurmountable that we were uncomfortable. There were a couple of loose floorboards that should be replaced immediately in the hall and bedroom. Lastly, my mate and I received bug bites and identified that there must have been fleas or some other type of pest on the small sofa in the living room. He fell asleep there and woke up with multiple raised bumps all over his body. I only suffered a couple of bites on my hand. Most importantly my deposit, in full, was returned to me in a timely manner. All-in-all this is a location I could possible stay at again. I would love to have been on a higher floor.

Issues with heating sometimes worked. Saw no staff for the 2 weeks, nor had sheet change at all. Washing machine was always on error.No instructions for use of amenities. Very noisy from street. Not value for the price per night.