On a recent work trip to London, I stayed at the Hilton London Hyde Park. I booked the hotel under the Hilton Honors member exclusive sale plus this trip seemed like a good opportunity to use the benefits of my Hilton Honors Gold Status that came with my American Express Platinum Card. Additionally, I love boutique hotels, so the thought of living a few days in an early 20th-century townhouse sealed the deal for me.
The Hotel
The Hilton London Hyde Park is 1907, Grade 2 Edwardian Townhouse located in Central London. Much before Hilton took over, the building was called the Coburg Hotel. The hotel has also been used by Alfred Hitchcock to film the movie Frenzy. Till date under the Hilton flag, the hotel maintains it’s Edwardian character and has a boutique feel rather than offering a large chain hotel experience.
Check-in
I arrived at the hotel late afternoon around 3 o’clock on a cold January morning. The building is rather inconspicuous, and if it weren’t for my Uber driver, I would’ve mistaken it for the Queensway tube station. Once I walked inside, the first thing that caught my eye was the bronze leaves chandelier. The lobby is quite small with a seating area in one corner and the reception area lined up in another. With the rustic chandelier, flowers and the colour tones the lobby although compact looks beautiful. Without the Hilton branding, it did not feel like a chain hotel.
No guests were waiting, and I headed straight up to the Hilton Honors desk. The check-in agent recognised my Gold status and offered me my choice of benefits. As a Hilton Gold member, I could choose between complimentary breakfast and 1,000 bonus points. Opting for complimentary breakfast for six nights was a no-brainer in this case.
I had initially booked a Standard Single Guest Room, which sleeps one person only and could have been between 8 sq.m. to 13 sq.m as per the Hilton website. Before arrival, the Hilton app was showing a few of these rooms asking me to make a choice and check-in, but everything had a street view, so I skipped the check-in on the app.
The agent informed me that I’d been upgraded to their highest category of room, the King Deluxe Guest Room, with a view of the Hyde Park. She handed me the key card, along with breakfast vouchers that I was supposed to handover each day at the restaurant. She also slipped in a 20% discount voucher for dining at the hotel’s restaurant Aubaine.
Tired after a long flight from India via Doha, I took the elevator to my 5th-floor room. Just outside the elevator, there was a door with lattice glass work leading to the hallway where rooms are located. My room 512 was at the end of the corridor.
The Room
Since I’d been upgraded to the highest room category, the King Deluxe room, I was expecting reasonably large room, forgetting from my stay at the London Marriott Park Lane and the space constraint old buildings have. Staying true to London’s compact style, the room size was just enough for two adults to co-exist without bumping into each other, but still more significant at about 18.7 sq m. from the first room I was booked into.
There was no work desk, but there was a seating corner by the window with comfortable chairs and a coffee table. On a pleasant summer day, it would be the perfect place to sip some tea and watch the world go by.
A handwritten welcome note was placed on the table along with a pack of nuts, a pack of olives and a bottle of apple juice as a welcome amenity.
Paintings hung above the king-size bed, and I did like that there were plug points on both bedsides. An ironing board, iron and a hairdryer were all placed inside the closet.
Other room amenities included a large TV, a Nespresso machine, a kettle and a refrigerator. As a Hilton Honors Gold, I was entitled to two bottles of drinking water every day. Housekeeping would place one bottle of still and one of sparkling water. The water bottles were the only thing that the fridge was stocked with.
The bathroom had a nice bathtub and a handheld shower. The water pressure was good. The one thing that I liked was that the temperature control knob was not fixed under the shower. I’ve often had this problem with many hotels where I’m either shivering under cold water or scalding my skin trying to get the water temperature right during the first minute.
The bathroom amenities were Crabtree & Evelyn, an American body and home care brand. I was pleasantly surprised to notice that the towels were placed for two people.
Food
The hotel has only one French-style restaurant named Aubaine and a lounge bar. Breakfast was laid out every morning between 06:30 to 10 am in a part of the restaurant. Apart from fresh fruits, cereals and breakfast bakery, the hot-plate selection was rather good for a London hotel.
Every day, there was bacon, mushrooms, grilled tomatoes, sausages and baked beans to accompany eggs. I could choose among fried, scrambled or boiled eggs. The fried eggs were quite good.
There was a coffee machine in one corner that churned out delicious hot chocolate. For tea lovers, apart from the regular milk tea, there was also a selection of speciality tea. I liked the hibiscus tea and even carried some tea bags back to my room to sip in the evenings.
Location
One cannot fault the location of this Central London hotel. You can walk out of the hotel and walk into the Queensway metro station that is next door. In fact, the hotel is located above the tube station.
The hotel overlooks the Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, so even though there’s no fitness centre inside this Hilton, a brisk walk and a jog in the park was far more preferable to me.
Some days I would walk back to the hotel from Oxford Circus in the evenings after work. It is an easy 30 minutes walk. The main road is full of eateries, so for those who may not want to eat at the hotel’s restaurant, there a lot of dining options available, including Asian.
Even though the hotel is located on the intersection of the main road, it does not get very noisy. My room window faced the street overlooking Hyde Park, and I slept like a baby all through my stay.
Bottomline
The Hilton London Hyde Park is an excellent choice for anyone who likes a boutique feel and wishes to stay in the heart of London. The staff are polite, non-intrusive, yet caring. Even though the rooms are small, the location and public transport accessibility are fantastic. Additionally, the pricing is at about 100-120 pounds at most times, which makes up for some of the missing amenities such as a gym and a pool.
Have you stayed at the Hilton London Hyde Park? What has been your experience with this hotel?
Hilton London Hyde Park website
The absolute best shwarma in the city is just right next door. Its a small hole in the wall place called the Taaza Sandwich. Easily identifiable by the long lines outside the doors at most times!
Good review.
I am assuming as you were able to get the Elite Status perks for your stay, it was not a Corporate booking.
Can you please add what was the rate at which you booked, which card you was used for booking this and how much the breakfast would’ve costed if not taken up as an amenity.
@Ameya, it was not a corporate booking and the rate is already mentioned approximately in the review. What would you do knowing which card was it booked on?
The purpose is to understand which card works best for these spends. Now, if the booking is pre-paid in INR, then a different card maybe used (I would come to know a feature of a card I maybe holding but not using). In case the payment was done in GBP, which card would give the best benefit can also be learnt. As you guys are seasoned travellers, this would be helpful for me (and maybe others as well) to learn from you guys.
Hi Ameya, This is a hotel review to help readers make an informed choice and not a credit card insight for hotel stays. I did not ask for the retail price of breakfast since it was already included but going by London standards I don’t think breakfast would be priced less than 20 GBP. Again this is only an assumption.
I hope this helps.
The breakfast price is approximately 16 pounds.
As for the card, I’d suggest you use the Niyo card (provided there are no ongoing offers on other cards and that you don’t have access to super premium cards like Infinia/DCB/Citi prestige etc.