APARTMENT INSTRUCTIONS FOR FLAT. 23, PALM HOUSE


 IMPORTANT:
Before you go to the apartment building, which is called 'Palm House',
you must first visit a local shop to receive a temporary key.
The shop is open everyday, until 10.30pm.

On your day of arrival your check-in can be anytime after 3pm.
On your day of departure it is very important you leave the apartment by 12pm noon.


The temporary key will open the doors at Palm House. Inside Palm House, you will look for a stairwell. Underneath the stairwell is a wall-mounted safe box. You will find your permanent keys inside the safe box. 

You must then put the temporary key, given to you at the shop, in a mailbox within the apartment building lobby.


First Step:

You must visit the local shop to obtain your temporary key.

The closest station to the shop and to your apartment building is 'Vauxhall Station' on the Victoria Line. 

Click Here For A London Tube/Metro Map.


The shop address:

Embankment Grocery
9 Albert Embankment
Lambeth
London SE1 7SP

Click Here For The Location Of The Shop Using Google Maps.

 

Travelling By Car To The Shop:

There is no space for parking outside the shop. You will have to park nearby on Randall Road.

Click Here To See The Location Of Randal Road On Google Street View.

Walking To The Shop:

Exit Vauxhall Station, passing through the ticket barriers, up the stairs, using 'WestSide Exit #2'.

After climbing the steep stairs, you will be outside. There is a Starbucks Coffee Shop to your right. You must walk left.

Crossing the traffic lights, walk up a road called 'Albert Embankment'. With the River Thames to your left.
You are walking North. If you need help understanding the direction you need to walk, you can ask somebody 'Which direction to the London Eye'.

You will pass the famous 'Secret Service MI5 Building' to your left. Then you will pass a 'Texaco Petrol Station' to your right. Eventually, you will pass a very large luxury hotel called 'Riverbank Park Plaza' on the right. The shop you are looking for, stands to the left of this hotel.

The shop is hidden behind a small concrete wall. The wall is decorated with large sculptures of black metal 'boat frames'. The shop sits at the bottom of a large apartment building, and has a large green sign with 'EMBANKMENT GROCER' above the door.

Directly in front of the store, across the road, sitting on the river, is a yellow boat. This boat is a restaurant/bar and is named 'TAMESIS DOCK'.

Inside the shop, ask the shopkeeper "I would like the key for Palm House". Now you have obtained your key, you will walk to Palm House.


Second Step:

Please remember, unless you requested an earlier check-in time and it was agreed to, your apartment will be locked and inaccessible if you arrive earlier than 3pm.

To the left of the shop, there is a road called 'Black Prince Road'. Walk up Black Prince Road. Walk through the tunnel. Once through the tunnel, you will be turning right on the third road.

The first road on your right is 'Vauxhall Walk', continue walking along Black Prince Road. The second road on your right is called 'Tyler Street', continue walking along Black Prince Road. You will pass Bicycles For Hire and a Bus Stop. The third road to your right is 'Vauxhall Street'. Walk into Vauxhall Street.

Sancroft Street is on the corner of Vauxhall Street, to the left. The large building on the corner of Vauxhall Street/Sancroft Street is 'Palm House'. Your apartment is within this building.

Your apartment address:

Flat. 23
Palm House
70 Sancroft Street
Vauxhall
London SE11 5AH

 

Click Here For The Location Of Palm House Using Google Maps.


Click here for my own pictorial guide showing the journey from the station to the shop and then to the apartment building.

When you arrive at Palm House, you will now use the temporary key given to you by the shopkeeper, to touch the metal panel to the left of the main entrance door and enter the building.

Click here to see where you touch the key.

Walk into the main lobby. The main lobby has metal mailboxes on the walls. You will see two doors in the main lobby. The central door (directly in front of you) leads to the elevator and the courtyard. To the left of this central door is another door in the left corner of the main lobby. Go through this door and you will find a stairwell. When you enter this area, on the wall to your left, you will see a wall-mounted safe box.

The code for the safe box is '2,4,6' - your key will be inside, labelled 'Flat 23'. It is very important you lock the safe box again after you close it.

When you have taken your permanent keys from the safe box (a round plastic key for the building and the metal key for the apartment door) you must then go back to the main lobby (the room with the mailboxes on the walls) and put the temporary key (you were given in the shop) into 'Mailbox. 1'. Please do this on the day you arrive.

You are in Flat. 23, on the second floor.

Go through the central door in the main lobby. The elevator is to your left.


Locking Your Apartment Door:

You need to lift the handle up, while turning the key to lock the apartment door.

Your Apartment Internet:

The WiFi username and password are located on the back of the WIFI box in the apartment living room. On the back of the WIFI box there is a small label. One the label you can read the username and password. The network name will start with 'EEBrightBox...' or 'EEHub...'. The password will be three words, for example: 'three-blind-mice'.

Heating And Hot Water:

The central heating and hot water is on an automatic timer. They both switch on twice a day. Morning and evening.

To add extra heating or hot water, you open the cupboard (where the washing machine is kept), find the hot water/central heating panel and press the '+' button under 'CH' or 'HW'.

Central heating is 'CH' and hot water is 'HW'. Each time you press the '+' button, you will get 1 hour of either heating or hot water. For example: If you want 3 extra hours, press it 3 times.

You will not see any change on the panel display but the water boiler will start to work shortly after you do this. Then 20-30 minutes to have hot water or central heating.

Laundry In The Bedroom Cupboard:

If you find bags of clean laundry in the bedroom cupboard, please do not use them. This laundry is for the next guest. Your clean linen is already on the beds or folded on top of the spare beds. Your bath towels are folded on your beds and left in the bathroom. I welcome my guests to use the washing machine/dryer machine if they want to wash linen and their own clothes.

There is a very small chance I may need to gain access to your apartment to deliver laundry for the next guest. This is highly unlikely and always done before you arrive, but if I need access, I will knock very loudly and wait a long time before I use my emergency key to enter.

The Television: 

When you switch the television on, it might take 10-20 seconds to power up. If you change the language on the television, please always remember to change it back to English before you leave. 

The Washing Machine/Dryer: 

You can find the washing machine and dryer unit in the water boiler cupboard within the apartment. If you would like to use the dryer, select a separate cycle for drying after a washing cycle has completed. Do not select the combined washer/dryer cycle as this takes a very long time to finish.

Products:

I try my best to stock the apartment with essentials (soap, toilet paper, salt, sugar, etc) but because of the frequency of guests sometimes a product might run out and not be replenished in time for your arrival. As this is a self-service apartment, I ask you to purchase any relatively cheap item that you may find on the rare occasion is missing.

I do not have a coffee machine (Nespresso, etc) in the apartment.

Shopping:

There is a very large food store (called 'Tesco Superstore' on Kennington Lane) which is a short walk from the apartment building. It sells everything from light bulbs to fresh baked bread to pharmaceuticals, to kitchen napkins to food and drink.

Click Here For The Location Of Tesco Superstore Using Google Maps.

Post: 

Please send me a message if you would like mail delivered during your stay. It is not straightforward and I will need to share the options with you.

Free Parking & Local Car Park:

The road is a 'resident parking only' area and I can not give my guests a 'resident parking permit'. If you want to park for free, you will have to drive around the surrounding roads and find somewhere that does not require a permit.

There is a parking space directly in front of the building which does not require a permit and you can use that if it is not already taken.

Click Here To See The No-Permit Parking Space

There is a nearby car park on Black Prince Road, a very short distance from the apartment building.

Click Here To See The Location Of The Car Parking Using Google Maps.

The company is called 'ParkBee' and their prices range from £3 per hour to £15 for 24 hours.

Click Here To Read The Local ParkBee Advertisement.

Click Here To Visit The ParkBee Website For Their Black Prince Road Location.

Conduct: 

I ask all guests to always be respectful and considerate to the other tenants in the building. No loud music, television or shouting after 10.30pm. And no smoking within the building. Not on the balconies and not in the courtyard. If you want to smoke, you will have to stand outside of the main entrance.

Your Rubbish: 

You must not leave your garbage/rubbish/refuse/trash outside of the building on the street.

There is a large bin room for the rubbish. This is located on the ground floor, in the courtyard.

You must take your plastic building key so you are not locked out.

In the courtyard, there is a door along the wall. You will need the plastic building key to enter this door, then for a second door - where the bins are kept. The grey bins are for regular rubbish and the green bins are for recycling. Please be careful to put your rubbish bags inside. the bins and not leave them on the floor.

Click Here To Meet 'Binny' And He Can Guide You To The Bin Room 

Day Of Departure:

Please leave the apartment in the condition you found it when you arrived. This is a self-service apartment and you are expected to leave it reasonably clean.

Please do not leave dirty dishes in or around the sink. Please do not leave dishes inside the dishwasher (dirty or clean). All plates and utensils must be washed, dried and returned to the cupboards and drawers.

When you are ready to leave the apartment, close the apartment door and lock it. You must now walk back to the stairwell and return your keys to the safebox. Use the same code again, and make sure the safebox is locked once you have returned the keys. You will not need your keys to exit the building.

If a building door is closed, you will see a large green button you can press to open it - as you make your way through the lobby and out of the main entrance.

Contacting Me:

PROBLEM? COMPLAINT?

The best way to contact me is to send a message on the website you made the booking. I get immediate message notifications to my phone, and it is unlikely more than 2 hours would pass before I looked at my phone, usually I reply in a few seconds. I have a 100% correspondence rating on the booking platforms and my response rate is very fast.

Although I can not always answer my phone to speak, I can always read and reply to messages, so the quickest way to get my attention is to send me a message.

Using the booking website to message me, allows me to see your name, your booking reference number, the apartment you are staying - making it easier for me to answer your question or deal with your problem.

If there is a fault in your apartment, something is broken that needs repair, you arrived and your apartment is not cleaned, you are unsure how to use something, or you feel something is missing, whether you are unhappy or just want directions, for all your questions, problems and complaints - send me a message and have faith that it will be dealt with very quickly.

Emergencies:

IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY USE THIS NUMBER FOR SERIOUS EMERGENCIES.

An emergency is a situation were you are in danger. Example: You can not gain access to your apartment, or there is a flood or a fire. Then please call this emergency number: 07855747081

If you are unhappy or angry because of an issue, once again, I ask you send me a message and not abuse the emergency number - I will resolve your issue very quickly and always work hard to keep my guests happy.

 

You will find Palm House and the surrounding neighbourhood very charming. Pubs, riverside strolls and the iconic sights of this historic city. I know you will have a wonderful vacation and I am always just a message away should you need anything. 

Enjoy your stay!