Initially when planning our routing home, we had a later British Airways flight from Rome to London with a short, overnight, connection before flying on to Houston. By shuffling our flights around, we were able to leave Rome earlier which would give us some time to actually head into the city. Since we wanted to maximize our time in London, I cancelled our reservation at the Renaissance London Heathrow and decided to book a hotel in town.
Booking
Since we were changing our plans last minute, hotel prices in London were through the roof, coming in at over $500 a night for something decent. Therefore, I turned to points for this booking. Checking both Marriott and Hilton, Hilton won out and I used 59,000 HHonors points for our one night stay at The Westminster London Curio Collection.
Location
The Westminster London is located in Westminster just a few blocks from the River Thames.
It is within a mile of major attractions including Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. This made it a great location for us as we were able to cover a lot of ground in a very short time. The only downside to its location is the rail connectivity, especially coming from the airport. We took the London Underground to the Westminster Station and then walked the 3/4 of a mile to the hotel.
Check-In
We arrived at the hotel around 7:15p and headed straight for the check-in desk. The lobby was bustling as people got ready to head out for the evening and I found the space to be well appointed, albeit a little dark. Later I would learn that dark corridors and spaces were by design as the hotel leans into its "spy" history. Vauxhall Cross, the headquarters of MI6, is visible from the upper floors of the hotel.
One of the check-in agents greeted us, verified our documents, and handed us our room keys. She also informed us of the breakfast time in the morning and told us about the on-site steakhouse, though we wouldn't be utilizing either during our short stay.
Room keys in hand, we headed through to the rear of the lobby and the elevator bank. We rode up to the 10th floor and caught a glimpse of Vauxhall Cross as we stepped off the elevator.
Room
We booked a Queen Guest Room online and with a completely full hotel, that's what we got at check in. We headed down a long, dark hallway to our assigned room on the 10th floor.
Upon entry, my first thought was that the room was on the small side. However, hotel rooms in London are notoriously small and we were planning to spend the majority of our short stay out exploring. The room was essentially a small box divided in two, with the bathroom and closet area near the door and the sleeping area towards the rear.The bathroom featured a sink with a small vanity that was big enough to hold our toiletry kits but not much else. Next to the sink were two tinted glass doors that led to the shower and toilet.
Across from the sink was a rather large closet space given the size of the room. There was a safe, iron, and space for a suitcase and hanging clothes.
The toilet and shower were clad in floor to ceiling black marble and both felt dark, though this was likely intentional. The photos below are with the lights on and backlight from the room.
The shower was spacious and featured a handheld and rain shower heads. There were also reusable toiletries that were hotel branded.
In the bedroom, I found the space to be small but well thought out as there was a chair and a desk occupying two corners of the room, making up the divider between the bedroom and the bathroom.
In a corner closest to the window, there was a Nespresso machine, water kettle, and a sign with instructions on where to find the items you would typically see in a mini-bar.
A queen bed took up the middle of the room and was fairly close against the window. This didn't leave much room to maneuver on that side of the bed but it wasn't an issue for us since it was just a quick overnight.
Also, while we didn't have a view of Vauxhall Cross, we were high enough up that we had a view of some of the surrounding apartment buildings.
Property
Since we were just here for a brief stay, we didn't have much of a chance to explore the property other than the lobby. However, I did find the lobby well appointed with some fun and funky furniture and art. While it was packed when we arrived, it was virtually empty when departing.
Also, if you're hungry, the hotel has breakfast available in the morning along with two restaurants. The first being a full-service branch of the STK Steakhouse chain which seemed to be packed during our one night stay. There is also a more casual bao restaurant called Bao Yum. In addition to the restaurants, there are meeting rooms as well as a fitness center on-site.
Summary
This hotel was perfect for our needs on this trip as we just needed a clean room near many of the major attractions. While the hotel was walking distance to many of the sights, the surrounding neighborhood was almost completely residential and didn't have much in the way of shops or restaurants. If I was spending more time in London and wanted to be able to explore more, I'd likely pick a hotel closer to one of the major rail stations or Underground stops, though it was more than sufficient for this trip.
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