I stayed for three nights in January 2008.
I had asked for an upper floor room, and although it was not guaranteed, I got it.
A very nice surprise was the size of this room. Very big and comfortable, more like a suite than a room, with separate sitting area, and bedroom with double bed.
Overall, my experience was very good, for the money I paid.

After reading the reviews on here, I was a little nervous, but this hotel was really nice! PROS: good location- not right in the middle of the city, but in a safe and pretty area; the room itself was super cute, and had a nice view; at the end of the street/within a 2 minute walk there is a tube station, a pub, 3 fast food restaurants, 2 convenience stores, and a movie theater; staff was really friendly; and security was pretty good- you have to buzz to get in at night. CONS: there are only 2 that I can think of- no air conditioning, and a teeny tiny bathroom with a teeny tiny shower. It's not the Ritz, but overall I was very impressed.

We decided to stay an extra couple of nights in London and looked to Expedia.com for a good rate on a reputable hotel. Although the price was significantly higher than we had paid for 3 and 4 star rooms for the previous week, we thought the property looked quite nice and worth a try.
We were sadly mistaken.
When we arrived at the hotel, the front desk clerk (manager, I believe) reluctantly tore himself away from his conversation with an employee, then couldn't find our reservation, and asked how we had booked. We told him "Expedia" and he rolled his eyes, told his assistant to immediately call and close all "discount" bookings, and proceeded to give us the "Basil Fawlty" treatment.
Without any pretense at good manners or effort to welcome us to his property, he gave us the key to a "discount" room up in the attic, and turned his back on us.
Up in the attic, we found a clean, fairly well presented "British style" room that had been recently renovated. It would never win any prizes for tasteful decorating, but at least it was clean, safe and secure.
The only real faults with the room itself were poor water pressure and the fact that the hot water tap dispensed hot water and the cold water tap dispensed even hotter water. The bed springs were creaky and the TV reception was poor. But in an English 2-star hotel you learn to be forgiving, and overlook such deficiencies as "charm" or "character" :-)
At checkout time I received further attitude from a clerk when he was forced to accept a credit card instead of cash for my WiFi usage. You'd think that three pounds per hour for WiFi would be a great source of hotel income (usually offered for free in most reputable hotels), but at the Swiss Cottage Best Western the taking of money was just another excuse for eye rolling and bad manners.
I'm a well dressed, very polite and respectable guy. The one thing I do expect from any establishment where I spend hundreds of dollars and/or pounds is appreciation of my business. A simple "welcome", a smile, or even a simle "thank you" go a long way.
Thanks for nothing Best Western, you can be sure I won't be back.

What made this such a good hotel was the short walk to the tube and the safe location. We did not opt for the breakfast but found a little french bistro up the street that served a wonderful breakfast for the same amount we would have been charged for the continental. There are plenty of restaurants in the area if you like ethnic food (which we do!) The rooms were fine, spacious and clean. The plumbing is what I expect for a European hotel. The service is good but if you require hand and foot service, this is definitely not the hotel for you. And if you can manage London's underground (Jubilee line to most major attractions), you've got a great bargain (off season) and a great hotel! If you are looking for something clean, safe, comfortable and recognize you are still in a large cosmopolitan city and exercise some simple safety concerns, I would recommend this place. The only issues I had was the guest in the upstairs room left the bloody shower on our last night there and we had to change rooms in the middle of the night (night staff was efficient for a room change). Also, make sure you check your room carefully upon checkout because if you have left something, they aren't very responsive and chances are... it won't be 'found' or returned.