ralphshenkis

Has anyone stayed at this property? I've done a google search but could not find any postings. I need to attend some meetings in the area and am wondering what the hotel is like and how close it is to the underground. Thanks.

Alinlondon

A dump. Stay in London and get the train up to Watford from Euston, about 20/30 minutes.

CVO 1K 2 Million

Any change in "dump" status...since the last post is 1.5 years old..??
Is it "dumpier" than Wembley?

travisw

I stayed there a month ago in one of their renovated Plaza rooms. It had a spacious bathroom and the bedroom was divided (by furniture not by walls) between a sleeping area and a sitting area with a desk and dining table. Not a huge room by U.S. standards but comfortable for the U.K. The buffet dinner and breakfast were both very good. If I had to stay in Watford again, I would stay there. I would not use it as a base to get into London. I had a couple of meetings at the Hilton, followed by several days of meetings in London. I made the mistake of staying at the Watford the entire time. Although my company was paying so price didn't really matter, I didn't want to have to pack up and move. It was a hassle, though, and the price quickly adds up when one has to take a taxi each way to the train station (7-8 GBP each way), followed by a train into London (7 GBP/return), followed by an Underground pass to get around London. Although I had a car service, I did notice that one advantage to staying in Watford is that Virgin runs a bus service to all of the Heathrow terminals for under 10 GBP. If you wanted to avoid going through London with your bags on the Heathrow Express or the Underground and switching to a train to Watford junction, and didn't have a car service or a rental car, this is a good alternative.

The Wembley makes the Watford look the Trafalgar. IMHO, the Watford does not qualify as a dump. It is on par with one of the better Hilton Garden Inns except it has some amenities that HGIs don't often have such as a restaurant and room service. They also have a wonderful fitness center and pool.

honza

I was not travelling to the city centre, so I would choose Watford - it has a better service. I have been twice in Wembley, both times they have made couple of mistakes (wrong address on bill, smoking/non smoking room, long waiting at reception, no automatic miles after stay etc...). Swimming pool in Wembley is a littele larger, all others (room, breakfast, service, parking etc.) I found better in Watford.

mookie10

Recent 1 night stay here - property is on a main road outside Watford near the M1 - rather ugly looking property IMO - the website photos are very flattering. Plentiful free parking was available. Customer service was good throughout.

Welcomed as a Diamond - offered option of a fruit dish or complimentary bar drink as Diamond amenity benefit - no water, etc. in the room. Free wifi code also provided.

Room was larger than the average UK Hilton, but rather tired and dated, and breakfast was similar standard UK fare.

The leisure areas had a small gym (6 cardios and free weights) along with a small pool, jacuzzi, sauna and steam room.

Would seem best suited to those arriving by car who want cheap Hilton accomodation near London / motorways.

obs

Have stayed here 5 times in the last 14 months. I agree it does not look great from the outside and that in places the inside is a bit shabby. I have always had excellent treatment by staff at the hotel. 4 out of 5 times I have been upgraded to a king hilton relaxation suite which is basically a lounge/. dining room and a large bedroom. The pool area is very small and a bit tired. The restaurant is on the lower floor and we have had some good meals. If you want something reasonable then the Toby carvery is next door. Its an okay place to stay if you need to be near watford or Hemel. If you are into skiing the indoor ski centre at Hemel is only 10 minutes drive away.

Regards

Obs

mazzer

I remember when this was called the Spider's Web hotel in its pre-Hilton days.

jtatlanta

Yeah used to be the Spiders Webb and was a biker hangout. Was better then just like Watford.

ab007

Anyone any recent experience/ thoughts on this property?

Not expecting anything special but looking to stay here for one night in december and works quite nicely for where I need to get to the next morning (near Hemel H).

gnarly

Interesting promotion at the Hilton Watford at the moment. Spend £25 in the restaurant and you'll get 2000 bonus HHonors points. I went for it and had a pretty good steak.

I've been treated well as a Gold: free breakfast (which was a pretty good spread), Fruit basket, 2 bottles of water, upgraded room.

It's slightly too far away from where I want to be (Oxford), but I might visit again if other places are booked/too expensive.

BotB

I appreciate that there has been no activity on this thread for some time but hope this review can be added to it rather than starting a new thread for that purpose. Mods please move if you feel it should be elsewhere.

Hilton Watford Pictorial Review:

Double Bed:


Double Bed by BA_pics, on Flickr

I recently needed to be on the North West side of London early in the morning and therefore tried this hotel. It is convenient if you need to be near London and don’t want to fight the M25 traffic during rush hour. I had a decent stay here and the hotel was fine for business purposes but it isn’t a destination in itself and likely won’t appeal to leisure users. From the amount of drinks vouchers I saw on the bar the night I stayed…this hotel must have a very, very high level of gold/diamond members staying (there were around 50+ vouchers!) regularly.

To come to the point: I would use it again, however, only for work convenience and not for leisure. For the business traveler it is fine and has some nice touches that other ‘travel lodge’ style older Hiltons do not have in other UK locations. (Regus lounge and mini -store in the hotel).

Mini-Store:


snack shop by BA_pics, on Flickr

Check In:

I arrived quite late at around 21:30 on a weekday evening. The front desk is located straight ahead of the main entrance and during the times I happened to check, there were generally always someone coming or going. I was lucky and arrived when there was no queue but as I finished there were around 5 people waiting… I was checked in quickly and soon on my way. The lovely lady checking me in provided a proper diamond welcome and explained my benefits at the hotel. I was handed a bag with my water and diamond amenities (shown here


Diamond amenity by BA_pics, on Flickr

Reception:


Reception area by BA_pics, on Flickr

The hotel was full and I was not upgraded as such but at least had my room preferences taken into account with a higher floor and away from elevator room. I received a drink voucher for the bar. (There is no exec lounge here).

Rest of the Reception area and stairs down to Bar and Restaurant:


stairs down to bar restaurant by BA_pics, on Flickr

There is quite a bit of parking here and they do not charge for it ^ .

Room:

I had booked a basic room and received the same (given there were so many gold and diamonds here and many regulars I am not surprised). The room was on the 2nd floor (top floor of 3 floors). The hallways are very travel lodge reminiscent with the double swinging wooden fire doors.

View back to entrance:


View back to entrance by BA_pics, on Flickr

View into room:


View to room by BA_pics, on Flickr

Wardrobe:


Wardrobe by BA_pics, on Flickr

The room was not so quiet and I could hear the next door neighbour watching a movie quite clearly so assume the walls are paper thin. Luckily they weren’t watching a movie or making much noise once I had gone to the bar for my drink and come back.

The room is basic and the furniture quite tired but functional. The heater must not have worked as they had a portable heater (see photo) in the room to provide some warmth on this chilly night.

Portable Heater;


Heater by BA_pics, on Flickr

The bathroom was fairly small and again had seen better days but again functional. It was a shower over bathtub arrangement.

Bathroom:


Bathroom by BA_pics, on Flickr

The bed was okay but a bit soft and I wouldn’t want to spend more than one night here at a time IMO.

Hallways;


Travelodge style hallway by BA_pics, on Flickr

Service:

Service is the one shining point at this hotel and all the staff were very helpful and friendly and were on very good terms with many of the regulars here at breakfast.

Dining:

I had breakfast in the restaurant and a lovely staff member showed me the arrangement which was a decent selection with a cook to order chef also.

The coffee machine was broken but they had prepared several of the usual urns of coffee but when I asked for a cappuccino they didn’t hesitate to say they would get me one from the Costa machine at the bar (and did ^ ).

The bar area and restaurant are both in the basement of the hotel (floor 0 I guess and the hotel is on quite a gradient of land as the reception is on floor 1 and level with the bar and restaurant also having doors to outside on a level surface out back) with the bar area at the bottom of the stairs with the restaurant to the left as you come down and it curves around behind. The bar area had quite a bit of seating and a few tellies to watch a game or such and the bar staff were always present and helpful.

Location:

The hotel is quite close to the M1 and M25 so very convenient for many travellers (business or leisure) but geared for the business traveller with the Regus Lounge and mini-shop (see pic) for snacks, drinks and such for those arriving late.

The hotel is not very well signposted from the dual carriageway and so you need to know it is coming up or you’ll drive right by it before you know and can turn in. IIRC it was less than a mile back to the M25 / M1 junction.

Overall:

The hotel was a good choice for me as it was good value for money (for London especially) for those people not wanting to use the usual travelodge or premier inn setups. It is not a new Hilton or very nice inside but the staff did make up for this quite a bit IMO.

I would recommend it if the price was good and expectations were not set too high. Definitely not one to choose to get a wow factor or for access to inner city London as a tourist though. Hope this review is of use and help.

thomas199023

Thanks for the extensive review! Drove past this Hilton every day for over a year, and always wondered what it was like, but had never a reason to stay there.

Ahhh.... Watford..... What a place....

wizla

Another very well documented and thorough review from you botb, good work! ^

shorthauldad

I stayed on Friday night. Staff were indeed good. Got the bag with nuts, jelly beans and two bottles of water. Booked standard room (£44 in flash sale), got upgraded to family room right at the end of one of the corridors on the 3rd floor. View of car park.

Only took me 23 minutes to drive to LHR T5 on Saturday morning (but it was silly-o'clock).