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The New York Times Decides Sanctum Soho 'Looks Cheap'

Where: 20 Warwick Street, London, United Kingdom, W1B 5ND

Well, we went into London's brand new "rockstar hotel", The Sanctum Soho, and checked it out for ourselves — and we dug it. It was a cool concept, what with the teensy "Crash Pad" rooms meant to appeal to the just-here-for-the-night partiers, the always-open bar to appeal to the post-gig rockers, etc.

But the New York Times didn't really share our sentiments. To be exact, the Times writes in their The Moment blog:

When I stayed last week, I didn’t actually see any rock stars or groupies boozing in the roof garden. Instead, I saw a pair of older women with shiny leather purses the size of potato sacks checking in at the front desk.

Sigh. Yes, well, this happens. But the other big thing:

The real problem is that the hotel looks cheap. Maybe it was the diamante-studded door handles or the custard and rhubarb walls, the copper booths and red velvet chairs in Sanctum’s No. 20 Bar and Restaurant that had me thinking, “Two years of remodeling and this is rock-star luxury?” Some of the suites have white or black Rococo-inspired furniture that appears plastic, uninviting and uncomfortable. Other suites, most costing upwards of £350 per night, are dressed in gaudy mirror tiles and windows covered with curlicue decals for privacy.

Lovely. The only two things the reviewer did seem to like? The bathrooms — which are "superbly appointed," and the Crash Pads, the design and price (£175) of which the reviewer was diggin'.