A lovely way to welcome guests to the Hilton London Bankside:

This is considered one of the best Hiltons in London and there are plenty of good pictures and reviews already on the main hotel thread in the Hilton forum. I won’t extensively review the hotel itself as that has been done there already. This review focusses on the Penthouse Suite, the top room in the hotel.

Floorplan (4th Floor where the Penthouse Suite is located):

I booked a room with cash during the Hilton Summer Sale on a weekend. The rate is decent for London but obviously still expensive. If you can find the room for a cash rate between £ 350 and £ 600 then I’d suggest it is excellent value for money for this city and the room you would get for that money. For this amount of cash I believe it represents the best Hilton chain hotel room in London (if not the UK). YMMV. I have posted a very large amount of pictures of the suite for you to help make up your own mind but I’ll definitely be back and book this room again with cash for weekends or any chance I get when in the city. Happy to share it with you, just don’t book it when I want it again please! :)

Please step inside: 

Check In

I was already staying in the city and so arrived quite early (around 11:00 AM) to check-in and leave our bags if the room wasn’t ready. I was told the room had been prepared the night before in case we did arrive early and so we could indeed have the room immediately. ^ I was offered to have someone come up and show me the room and features if I wished but I declined as I wanted to enjoy the experience on my own…

The staff on the front desk were always friendly and helpful and attentive whenever we happened to be in the area. They make a great impression for guests just arriving at the hotel.

I should say that I was greeted as a diamond member and told my benefits and the hotel explained to me in case I wasn’t familiar with the hotel. (I was and knew about the swimming pool, the exec lounge and restaurant and bars)…

Room

Ah, what a suite. I prefer an understated luxury and appearance and this suite was right on the mark for our tastes. Elegant and indeed high quality items everywhere but no ostentatious bling. ^ I also very much liked the layout of the room and proportions. The bathroom was huge with separate areas and with the walk in wardrobe between the bedroom and bathroom and of a decent size. The bedroom had a few areas to sleep and relax but wasn’t wasting space and the living room and kitchen / dining room area were well proportioned but not too big or cramped either. All windows were floor to ceiling and the entire North wall and East wall of the suite were windows. ^^ The suite has a private patio area that is very large and easily seats 4 people for relaxing or for eating in separate areas.

My only small point would be two things: there was no lock in the main bathroom for either privacy or for security in case of a break-in. (the only room with a lock was the guest WC!) and that there were no places to hang up towels directly beside the bath or the sinks so you ended up walking to the towel rail every time. (first world problems but the only small niggles of the place). The bathroom had 8 large 50 ml sized bottles of shower gel located around the bathroom and equally at least one of the other amenities at each location as well. The sink area was truly great as it had two over everything (glasses, tissues, soaps, facecloths, small rubbish bins, etc…

I did like the mix of traditional and new materials as well as the mix of artwork and design in the room, it won’t be to everyone’s taste but it hit the mark with us and likely those that are staying to be near the Tate Modern just a stone’s throw away.

The room was stunning. I think you will have enough of how it is laid out and the quality from the photos so will stop here. Any questions please ask and I’ll try to answer.

The pictures:

Entrance Area:

View into the Suite:

View back to the Entrance:

Below pics show: 4 umbrellas at your disposal!, the outdoor patiod cushions stored in a closet off the main entrance and each room has a choice of full brightness (scene1) or dimmed (scene2) lighting and finally a nice wall unit with various books about London as well as some design items on display.

Bedroom:

View from entrance to bedroom towards South wall and where the rest area is (the walk in wardrobe is to the right and the bathroom after that):

The bedroom TV is mounted on an artist easel that can be adjusted up or down!

There is a seating area at the entrance to the bedroom where people can apply make up, do their hair and such things as well as listen to the Bowers and Wilkins speaker setup using your phone as a source...

The bedside controls for lighting are very good, there are plug ins (2 each side for powering / charging devices) and the small reading light is automatic on/off when you pull it out:

Full floor to ceiling windows on the East wall of the bedroom (you definitely want to keep the backout curtains closed during the day if it is a hot sunny day!)

The Walk In Wardrobe Area:

A valet stand:

The Bathroom:

The view as you enter from the wardrobe area, that stunning bath on a raised marble pedestal;

The Loo (a glass door separates it from the rest of the room):

The Shower (fast a room in itself):

View back from the back of the shower (where some towels can be hanged):

The lovely lighted shower amenity shelf:

The towel Rail:

A quick image of the guest WC (off the main living area):

I'll post the living room pics in a separate section (near the bottom of this review) or this will get too unwieldy for me to manage as I add and edit this one section...

Service

We had great service here during our stay and not just because of the suite. Plenty of times we asked for help or if we could get something in the lounge, reception, restaurant, etc…and were immediately helped with a smile and friendly manner. The lounge has great service as it is unofficial but ‘table’ service generally, which is great.

Dining

We only really had a few drinks in the exec lounge and breakfast in the main restaurant so can’t comment on other meals or the bar, etc…

The breakfast choice is still very good with a large variety of cold and hot items, with the famous granola and a summer mix as well now. ^ The cook to order eggs chef was friendly and made our eggs perfectly. (poached and fried). The coffee machines are not barista quality but are decent for a chain hotel and to tide you over until you get to a proper coffee shop. The staff were attentive and quick to help.

I’ll add here that the suite has a small kitchenette like area with a half sized under counter fridge with two bottles of fresh milk and plenty of water with other mini bar items as well but still plenty of space to put your own items in here if you wanted to and then make snacks or small meals here. There was no heating device (no microwave, stove or hob) as these are likely not allowed? But there was a few plates, cups and cutlery and such of decent quality (not fine bone china but reasonable quality). The Kitchen Aid Nespresso Machine worked well and we could froth our own milk with the extra milk frother. A kettle was there to make tea but the tea selection was not very good (quality not variety) as all rather cheap tea bags rather than loose tea or better quality tea selection.

There is a dishwasher but that is for the cleaning staff to do your dishes I guess as there was no tablets or scrub brushes to do ti yourself if you were so inclined. I imagine you could ask the housekeeping if you wanted some to just get through the day and various drinks, snacks and such.

Location

The location of the hotel is very good with reasonable walking distance to most attractions including the Thames, Covent Garden and other areas but also convenient for the underground (Southwark station is the closest but you need to go through a bit of a convoluted path to get to it). Obviously taxis and a car park are available but you’d be mad to if you can walk or use the tube.

Overall

I very much loved this suite and will be back when time and money allow. It is not a suite they tend to upgrade to unless really full or you are lucky, however, for London, the price of the suite is quite reasonable and I’d suggest you’d be pressed to find the same value for money in the Hilton chain here or potentially with other chains in this city. (I haven’t obviously been to all of them and someone will prove me wrong, but it is my favourite suite and a very good hotel for both loyalty members as well as paying public patrons visiting this great city.

Living Room, Kitchen and Patio Pictures

Kitchen / Dining Area:

The Private Patio Area;

Hilton Bankside has a wildflower meadow and some bees they keep which gets used to make honey for guests ISTR:

Artwork/Design elements in the Suite:

Hopefully of interest, some of the neat details in the suite:

End of the pictorial review, hope you've enjoyed the review and pictures and you get a chance to try this great hotel and suite out yourself! Safe travels. ^