First Hyatt stay in 2023 (November!) at the Great Scotland Yard in London on cash and points. Also, dropped from Globalist to Explorer this year; no upgrade for me.

Booked a twin room for 5 nights as I was traveling with my older sibling. Arrived at the hotel at 1 pm and our room was available 10 minutes after check-in. It was the smallest hotel room I’ve ever stayed in and not quite like the photo of the twin room on the hotel’s webpage. (For example, in our room there was no dresser under the television as in the website photo.) There was about 14” of walkable space between the beds and the wall; there was a bit more space on the far side of the room by the small window, as there was a small table and a single chair that had to be angled just so to enable you to open the nightstand drawer.

The bathroom was comfortable with a shower with excellent water pressure and both handheld and overhead shower heads. The toilet was a Toto washlet; the sink had a good sized mirror and excellent water pressure. There’s a small rod for hanging clothes. There was no place to store our bags, so we kept them in the far corner and accessed them every day for changes of clothes.

Staff at the hotel were exceedingly polite. We were thanked at one evening turndown service for leaving a 5 GBP note every morning for housekeeping.

The location was excellent for access to the West End theatres, the Churchill War Rooms, and was only a brief walk to Regent Street and Piccadilly. There was Prêt-à-Manger on Whitehall for quick snacks.

I’d love the opportunity to stay here again in a larger room but the rates are quite high, especially when considering the exchange rate with Canadian currency, now that I’m retired (thanks COVID!) and paying for rooms on my own.

I would recommend the hotel to others, especially if someone else is paying. But to be honest, next time I return to London, I’ll probably stay again at the Great Northern Hotel over in King’s Cross, which had been my favorite London hotel before COVID cut business travel.