Best location in town!
I've stayed at the Thistle Charing Cross 4 times already on business trips, always managing to book a couple days on each end of the trip for personal "London" time. From here, one can do almost everything on foot---go catch a show in the theatre district, followed by a pub crawl in the Covent Garden vicinity, walk to Embankment for a magnificent sunset view of Big Ben and Parliament, go shopping in the Picadilly Circus area and beyond, walk to the National Art Gallery and sit on the steps overlooking Trafalgar Square, or, if you've got your athletic shoes on, even walk all the way to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard...the convenience is well worth the price of the room. The hotel itself is well appointed, and although the food in the hotel is nothing to write home about, there are a variety of ethnic restaurants in the neighborhood (INdian, Spanish, Thai, etc.) to resort to for a truly cosmopolitan dining experience. I thought breakfast was quite good but I'm a big fan on English breakfasts, and the Victorian dining room where it's served is worth at least one visit. The rooms are small, and I've never had a good view from my room, but then again I am never in my hotel room long enough to care about the view---after all, all I have to do is step outside of the hotel onto Trafalgar Sq. to have a stunning view of Big Ben. The beds are very comfortable and the linnens downright luxurious. Too many light switches to operate in the room and it can get complicated to figure out what operates what light but in the end, i'd give this hotel an 8 out of 10, purely due to its location (oh, and it's also next door to a Tube station entrance, which gives you access to the rest of London).