We had a really nice stay a few weeks ago.
We've wanted to stay at the property ever since it came online as a Renaissance a few years ago and decided to splurge for a Chambers room to really get the full experience. The fact that we were departing on the Eurostar made the stay even more attractive.
We arrived into King's Cross/St. Pancras via the Tube and found our way up to the entrance to the hotel. The signage isn't the most clear, but basically if you follow the signs to the international departure area and make your way to the upper platform (with the huge clock on the wall) you are in good shape. I didn't find an easy way to enter the hotel from the station unless you cut through the Booking Room restaurant. Given how busy it can be in the evening, I'm not sure that's always allowed. In fact, on night I was there the Booking Room was reserved for a private party and they were asking hotel guests to go around to the Euston Road main entrance (I got in when I told them I wanted to enter the Chambers wing via the door right next to the host stand at the Booking Office).
Much has been said about the property so I will try and address a few recent points:
Room Size/Location - we were given a room on the second floor (256) facing Euston Road.
260/262 is the Royal Suite and I think 261 and 263 will look into the station. 253 looks to be a smaller room facing the British Library; I wonder if this is the room type that
KeepMoving mentioned in their posts. Our room was also a big room with a high ceiling but it did have a small table seating two for en suite dining. My wife said the bed was one of the most comfortable she's ever slept in. Despite the proximity to the road, we didn't notice much street noise.
Our view.
We got a gold duck - I like this one and the blue duck over the black and white ones.
The grand staircase decorated for Christmas
Places to Eat in the Area -
lexdevil has done a nice job of providing links. We walked up to the Granary Square area (five minutes) and ate lunch at Granger & Co. (and really liked it). We did not go to Dishoom having eaten at the Soho location a few nights earlier but noted the queue for dinner, even on a rainy weekday night. There was also a branch of Wasabi serving take out sushi and onigiri that we contemplated for our train ride. There is also a large Waitrose supermarket in the area which was fun to browse through. One day, we encountered a farmer's market outside of King's Cross and had fun sampling food from some of the stands. My wife also found a very decent pop-up espresso stand there as well. Compared with the night we spent at County Hall, we found ourselves much happier with the food options near the Ren.
Hotel Tours - I was told these are only done on weekends and bank holidays.
Chambers Club and Eurostar VIP Transfer - We enjoyed having access to the Chambers Club. I invited a friend of mine living nearby to join me for breakfast one morning and there was no issue with guesting her in (I met her outside). I am glad someone posted about the option to order food from the Booking Office as I took advantage of that one morning and ordered an omelette and my wife ordered a bowl of porridge.
The Eurostar VIP transfer was terrific; the day before our departure, I stopped by the concierge desk with my PNR and it took about 5 minutes for him to take my information and print my boarding passes. We were on a 1 pm train, so I scheduled our luggage to be picked up from our room at noon while we waited in the Chambers Club. On schedule, the porter from the hotel arrived at the club to collect us with our luggage on a cart. He then proceeded to walk us out of the hotel and into the station. We used the Business Premier check in (we booked Standard Premier) and quickly cleared security and passport control. When it was time to board, the porter rode up in the lift with us to the platform and loaded our luggage into the racks at the front of our car. It was a fantastic and incredible convenient service and coupled with the overall Chambers experience, I was very happy to have paid up for it.
Gold Elite Benefits - No Chambers Club access without booking a Chambers Room; I've posted the welcome letter I received outlining the hours and access rules along with the separate letter outlining Gold Elite Benefits.