fabulousflygirl

Will be back in a couple weeks. Had an absolutely brilliant stay last time. I am definitely looking forward to returning and having the housemade granola .

Pjh104

We've just returned from a couple of nights stay here, which only cemented our view that this is the best of the Hilton brand in London. This was booked on points so we had a base for 3 days in London to celebrate a combination of my birthday and our recent retirements, and part of what will be my last year of Diamond status.

We travelled down and checked in early on my birthday itself. There was a slight oddity on check in where the member of staff checking us in said something like "oh, and I see there's a note on this booking..." only to receive a slight shake of the head from MrsPJH104, Some backtracking followed, along the lines of ",,,just to confirm your Diamond membership" so a good recovery there. As our room wasn't ready, we left the bags and set off for the first of my birthday treats, a trip to see a matinee performance of "Glengarry Glen Ross" with Christian Slater in the role of Ricky Roma. MrsPJH104 had presented me with five dated and timed envelopes, each to be opened two hours before the marked time to reveal a treat.

On returning, we collected our keys and as all good folk do headed straight to the Executive Lounge. Very quiet, with just a few business folk talking thought their days. One of the funny things was a group of three twenty something newly minted IT consultants revelling in the availability of beer and g&t, starting out on the path from which I had just departed. The hot food offerings were crispy chicken and cauliflower and onion bhaji, and the drinks were in pour your own mode with the usual range of spirits, wine and beer. As we were heading out for dinner we restrained ourselves on the food and drink front.

Whilst in the Lounge I opened the next treat envelope, which revealed dinner at Hawksmoor in Borough so we headed up to our room. We'd been upgraded to a corner one bedroom suite, and a small welcome plate had been prepared.



This I put down to whatever had passed between the member of staff and MrsPJH104 when we checked in. Nor had I expected the upgrade, for even with Diamond the last couple of times we've stayed here we had been in standard rooms. MrsPJH104 did look a bit surprised though, which seemed odd, but more of that later. As in one of the suites we had gratis access to the soft drinks and snacks in the minibar.

We were early for Hawksmoor, so had a beer in The Rake opposite. When we entered the restaurant it was manic; too loud and too busy, full of people half our age shouting at each other. It calmed down after a bit, and the food was excellent. So good that we just opted for the Lounge breakfast the next day, before heading out first to Chiswick to do the Fuller's Brewery tour and then over to Spitalfields for Dennis Severs' house.

Feeling cream crackered we again repaired straight to the Lounge on our return (our default transport mode in London is walking) where the real reason for MrsPJH's communication with the hotel was revealed, which was the appearance of #1 Son taking a break from somebody's leaving do over in Holborn. Emails had been exchanged asking if the hotel would let him into the Lounge as a birthday surprise for me, and it was a treat to see him. The Lounge was a lot busier than the previous evening, but quietened down fairly quickly (some of the guests filling glasses to take back to their rooms). Once #1 Son left we repaired to M&S to buy a picnic which we consumed watching "Sleepy Hollow".

Next day we left out bags, took in the matinee of "Young Frankenstein" and then headed home. One thing we have learned about the hotel is that it isn't as far away from the theatres etc as you might think. 20 minutes from just north of Trafalgar Square.

In short, another excellent experience and another reason we will be booking Bankside again.

PaulH1

mmogdan

Hello Paul, I admit, I stay here frequently and have never, ever drunk any alcohol from the lounge. I then stayed here this weekend with some friends and got so drunk on Saturday night in the lounge I can't really remember the rest of the evening, so, I very much apologise for this!

PaulH1

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Mycell

We stayed there since boxing day for 5 nights and is gold. Agree that it is just an ordinary hotel even if you are gold. No greetings from the front desk when we are back or so. We understand that the restaurant is busy- we are at the restaurant for breakfast everyday, we are asked for our room number at the enterance and no any address that we are only lead to the table (should be at least by our reservation name, right) this doesnt make us feel home.
The room keeping, i want to say is good, but then I remember there was an opened chips in the drawer when we arrived, then we closed the drawer and checked it every night and it was still there (is anyone giving the hotel a test?)...

PaulH1

Just completed our third stay of 2018 at Hilton Bankside this weekend.
Still as good as ever and very consistent in service delivery.
Been saying for a long time that this is the best Hilton in London,
I see on Tripadvisor today that Bankside is now within one place of Conrad St James and they are ranked 55th and 56th overall in London.

wizla

whimsey21

This is a very belated report on my one-week stay in mid-December. The quick summary is that after a small hiccup at the beginning, I had a good stay, with service having improved from my previous visit, and the lounge offerings having declined slightly.
Before arriving at the hotel, I had emailed to request a quiet room away from the lifts (I'm a light sleeper)-- I also always put this in the notes when I make a booking. On check-in I found myself on the 7th floor far from the lifts, but next to a stairwell, with doors that seemed to get slammed on frequent intervals. My room also looked out on the train tracks, and the rumbling from the train at frequent intervals was a bit annoying. It was very late, so I decided to see how the night went and then deal with it in the morning if an issue. The train in the early morning hours did wake me, so before breakfast I asked if I could be moved to a quiet room. The desk staffer told me that they were full, and there was no chance of moving until later in the week (the app, of course, showed multiple room types available). Later in the day I sent an email to the front desk manager, to ask that they move me whenever they were able to find an open room. When I returned to the property, I asked again at the front desk. The staffer (different from the one in the morning) said "oh-- I think we've arranged something for you-- are you Mr. Whimsey21?" They did, in fact, have a new room available - 6th floor facing the internal courtyard. I moved my stuff and was much much happier, as the new room was extremely quiet. The rest of the stay was good- I did notice that the two "deluxe" rooms were a bit smaller than the ones I had occupied the previous summer, and the mini-bar was stocked with one bottle of water and one can of soda, as opposed to the juices and candy bars I had received previously. My "gift from the chef" consisted of three un-ripe plums. I also noticed a decline in the variety of the lounge offerings in the evening; while still a pretty good spread, it was about 25% smaller than on my previous stay, and the liquor offerings had declined a grade in quality (no jw red label for me, thanks). On the other hand, I found the service levels to be better (excepting the staffer who told me I couldn't possibly be moved that first morning). On my first visit, the lounge staffer walked me and my colleague through all of the different snack and drink offerings, and made sure our drinks stayed full. He recognized me each time I returned to the lounge, and made sure I had enough food/drink. The front desk volunteered that I could have breakfast as a diamond in the restaurant (on the last stay they told me that it would be 750 points extra over eating in the lounge), and I was very pleased with the variety and quality of the restaurant breakfast. Definitely the best breakfast I've had at a London Hilton property, even excepting the exceptional granola. Staff in the restaurant were also very friendly and provided great service. So no complaints after the first morning, and still a nice place to stay, especially given that that the price was significantly lower than the Waldorf and Conrad for the duration of my stay.

wizla

whimsey21

Hi Wizla,
I can't say 100% because I don't drink JD, but I'm pretty sure that I did see a bottle there.

wizla

whimsey21

Don't get me wrong-- I definitely drink (a lot of) spirits, just as it happens, not JD I was definitely torn between the Waldorf and Bankside on this last stay, because i much prefer the Waldorf location. At the time of my visit, however, the pound was very strong against the dollar, and so the cost differential ended up being just too high for me not to stick with the Bankside. Had the costs been similar, I probably would have opted for the Waldorf...

wizla

Barnaby100

Conrad has the same granola- run by same company as the Bankside.