Hilton London Tower Bridge {GBR}
Dec 29, 2016, 5:47 pm
we're looking for information about their breakfast benefit at Jamie's and what is actually included. Could someone elaborate who has experience on what's on offer at breakfast for Diamonds?
Is it purely Continental, our Full English, plus are a la carte items which appear to be priced separately on their menu are included?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Dec 30, 2016, 1:43 am
we're looking for information about their breakfast benefit at Jamie's and what is actually included. Could someone elaborate who has experience on what's on offer at breakfast for Diamonds?
Is it purely Continental, our Full English, plus are a la carte items which appear to be priced separately on their menu are included?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Dec 30, 2016, 2:27 am
Cheers & Safe Travels. ^
Dec 30, 2016, 1:48 pm
Points seem pretty high for award stays, so Im debating on maybe finding a B&B or something instead of a hilton property
Dec 31, 2016, 8:31 am
Points seem pretty high for award stays, so Im debating on maybe finding a B&B or something instead of a hilton property
It seems to me that no matter where you stay, you can only be within walking distance of a few major attractions. Most important is to be near a good tube station, and to order Oyster cards in advance to make travel more convenient. Also good to have small umbrellas since rain can be unpredictable. Good luck and hope you have a nice trip!
Last edited by catawba; Dec 31, 2016 at 8:36 am Reason: Add comment about use of points
Jan 4, 2017, 8:04 am
The wifi network simply didn't exist in our room, the 'hhonors' network did not appear and in fact no network appeared on any of our tablet, phone or laptops. We also got poor mobile phone signal too.
Using ethernet/a wired connection, our laptops could get to the log-in screen. When we entered our details, we were met with a Hilton-branded webpage stating that "The connection has not be properly set up at this location" error. We tried using our HHonors login details, our room details, even an access code provided by the hotel. All to no avail.
The HHonors membership usually affords decent enough wifi/ethernet access so this was a real disappointment. Usually, we'd just chalk it up to a maintenance issue. However, the issue was compounded by some particular poor service when trying to sort the issue out. We phoned reception who sent somebody up, who confirmed that the ethernet connection was not working, and that the wifi internet signal did not exist in our room. We were told that it is a known issue and that the internet situation may improve in a few months. I had to highlight the futile nature of such a comment, because our stay was that night rather than in a few months time.
We received a phone call about 15 minutes later with an update from the front desk. We were told that the Internet was not the responsibility of Hilton. Instead, we were transferred to the internet service provider's (BT, i.e. British Telecom) technical support phone desk. This was ridiculous, and really did not make us feel valued. It made us feel like Hilton did not care about our experience, nor providing the room services we had booked (bear in mind, this is a fairly basic service of a hotel and was even written on our room key card in big letters as a benefit of the HHonors program). Clearly, the program nor the hotel were delivering on this occasion. Being transferred to BT’s technical support was a ridiculous escapade: we were transferred to an automated telephone service that was no help! We had to press a few options, none of which were relevant to us (the technical support was designed for hotel staff to call, not their guests). We ended up giving up after a few minutes because we did not see sitting on a phone with technical support to be a good, nor respectful use of our time. We thought the hotel really should have handled this, rather than redirecting us but I know others on this forum might think differently.
Given the issues, we asked to be moved rooms given that the lack of wifi was presumably due to the lack of a nearby router (we were able to see the hhonors wifi network when outside other rooms on the same floor). We were refused, and we did mention that this was part of our advertised room rate but we were told that it was not possible to move. We gave up at this point with trying to fix the problem with the room. There was basically no attempt to ‘make it right’ at the time of the stay and we were really disappointed by this experience. We would not have booked the room nor hotel if we had known in advance that internet was unavailable, as we ended up having to go use the Internet elsewhere in public which was a hassle and wasn’t entirely sustainable given the length of time we needed connectivity.
I’m sure others have had fine internet in their experiences at the hotel, but I thought I’d mention it as something for people to bear in mind when staying at the hotel. We stayed in Room 528, and stayed on points. It shoudl be noted that we had some very positive experiences with some of the hotel staff and was very glad to have encountered them. They were lovely. I sent a Guest Assistance note to compliment these staff.
Despite the above:
- Lounge was nice, terrace views were great. This is a lovely property for the lounge! A bit crowded, but not as crowded as I expected on New Years eve during Happy Hour (I popped up for about 5 minutes). Drinks selection was decent enough, though the cava wasn't to my taste! (I'm sure others loved it though).
- Jamie's restaurant was good. The only option was a buffet - there was no options to order though (we tried asking!).
- We received a free drinks voucher on arrival, thanking us for being HHonors Diamond members. We used this for two glasses of white wine (house whites). This was a nice touch that some hotels don't offer, and quite even more exceptional given the hotel had a decent enough selection of drinks in the lounge.
- No upgrade, but we didn't expect one - it was a busy hotel and the Hilton app/website didn't show any upgrade availability.
James.
- We didn't use late checkout or early checkin as we didn't need them. We arrived around 9am after landing into London City around 8am, then dropped our bags to go out for a few visits until checkin at 3pm. We were out around 9am the next morning, and the checkout experience was very quick.
- Had UK and US plug outlets on the desk which was handy for us given we have both sorts of devices, though the lack of any Internet did mean we didn't use too much power in the room.
Last edited by Simon Schus; Jan 4, 2017 at 8:18 am
Jan 4, 2017, 8:18 am
The wifi network simply didn't exist in our room, the 'hhonors' network did not appear and in fact no network appeared on any of our tablet, phone or laptops. We also got poor mobile phone signal too.
Using ethernet/a wired connection, our laptops could get to the log-in screen. When we entered our details, we were met with a Hilton-branded webpage stating that "The connection has not be properly set up at this location" error. We tried using our HHonors login details, our room details, even an access code provided by the hotel. All to no avail.
The HHonors membership usually affords decent enough wifi/ethernet access.
The issue was compounded by some particular poor service when trying to sort the issue out. We phoned reception who sent somebody up, who confirmed that the ethernet connection was not working, and that the wifi internet signal did not exist in our room. We were told that it is a known issue and that the internet situation may improve in a few months. I had to highlight the futile nature of such a comment, because our stay was that night rather than in a few months time.
We received a phone call about 15 minutes later with an update from the front desk. We were told that the Internet was not the responsibility of Hilton. Instead, we were transferred to the internet service provider's (BT, i.e. British Telecom) technical support phone desk. This was ridiculous, and really did not make us feel valued. It made us feel like Hilton did not care about our experience, nor providing the room services we had booked (bear in mind, this is a fairly basic service of a hotel and was even written on our room key card in big letters as a benefit of the HHonors program). Clearly, the program nor the hotel were delivering on this occasion. Being transferred to BT’s technical support was a ridiculous escapade: we were transferred to an automated telephone service that was no help! We had to press a few options, none of which were relevant to us (the technical support was designed for hotel staff to call, not their guests). We ended up giving up after a few minutes because we did not see sitting on a phone with technical support to be a good, nor respectful use of our time. We thought the hotel really should have handled this, rather than redirecting us but I know others on this forum might think differently.
Given the issues, we asked to be moved rooms given that the lack of wifi was presumably due to the lack of a nearby router (we were able to see the hhonors wifi network when outside other rooms on the same floor). We were refused, and we did mention that this was part of our advertised room rate but we were told that it was not possible to move. We gave up at this point with trying to fix the problem with the room. There was basically no attempt to ‘make it right’ at the time of the stay and we were really disappointed by this experience. We would not have booked the room nor hotel if we had known in advance that internet was unavailable, as we ended up having to go use the Internet elsewhere in public which was a hassle and wasn’t entirely sustainable given the length of time we needed connectivity.
I’m sure others have had fine internet in their experiences at the hotel, but I thought I’d mention it as something for people to bear in mind when staying at the hotel. We stayed in Room 528, and stayed on points. It shoudl be noted that we had some very positive experiences with some of the hotel staff and was very glad to have encountered them. They were lovely. I sent a Guest Assistance note to compliment these staff.
Despite the above:
- Lounge was nice, terrace views were great. This is a lovely property for the lounge! A bit crowded, but not as crowded as I expected on New Years eve during Happy Hour (I popped up for about 5 minutes). Drinks selection was decent enough, though the cava wasn't to my taste! (I'm sure others loved it though).
- Jamie's restaurant was good. The only option was a buffet - there was no options to order though (we tried asking!).
- We received a free drinks voucher on arrival, thanking us for being HHonors Diamond members. We used this for two glasses of white wine (house whites). This was a nice touch that some hotels don't offer, and quite even more exceptional given the hotel had a decent enough selection of drinks in the lounge.
- No upgrade, but we didn't expect one - it was a busy hotel and the Hilton app/website didn't show any upgrade availability.
James.
- We didn't use late checkout or early checkin as we didn't need them. We arrived around 9am after landing into London City around 8am, then dropped our bags to go out for a few visits until checkin at 3pm. We were out around 9am the next morning, and the checkout experience was very quick.
- Had UK and US plug outlets on the desk which was handy for us given we have both sorts of devices, though the lack of any Internet did mean we didn't use too much power in the room.
Jan 4, 2017, 8:23 am
We walked from the hotels around 1145pm to Tower Bridge Saw some nice fireworks towards Canary Wharf, and then saw some other fireworks which must've been somewhere South East of the river). We saw the top of the fireworks from the London Eye but it was a bit of an obscured view from Tower Bridge. It was just nice to be around the atmosphere though We walked back to the hotel before the London Eye/Mayor of London fireworks were finished, and we were quite surprised that we got a pretty good view of the fireworks the walkway outside Jamie's restaurant. We saw the finale really well with basically nobody else around!
As for the Internet, it was a bit of a hassle (though I'm originally from the UK, I don't have a UK mobile phone and instead had a US cell phone. Though I get international internet service with my phone plan, it isn't particularly fast when in the UK despite what my carrier states about the expected speeds there when travelling!). I would have been slightly more understanding of the issue with the hotel wifi if a) we were in an end room, but we weren't. We were mid-corridor, and b) the ethernet/wired connection had been working which it hadn't, and c) responsibility to deal with the problem hadn't been passed over to us to fix the issue (the automated BT helpline didn't fix the issue and the menu options were designed for the hotel to answer rather than the guests. At one point, we were asked questions that would have needed us to know about what contract the hotel had with BT. As if I knew!).
Last edited by Simon Schus; Jan 4, 2017 at 8:28 am
Jan 4, 2017, 10:02 pm
The wifi network simply didn't exist in our room, the 'hhonors' network did not appear and in fact no network appeared on any of our tablet, phone or laptops. We also got poor mobile phone signal too.
Using ethernet/a wired connection, our laptops could get to the log-in screen. When we entered our details, we were met with a Hilton-branded webpage stating that "The WiFi connection has not been properly set up at this location" error. We tried using our HHonors login details, our room details, even an access code provided by the hotel. All to no avail.
We received a phone call about 15 minutes later with an update from the front desk. We were told that the Internet was not the responsibility of Hilton. Instead, we were transferred to the internet service provider's (BT, i.e. British Telecom) technical support phone desk.
I’m sure others have had fine internet in their experiences at the hotel, but I thought I’d mention it as something for people to bear in mind when staying at the hotel. We stayed in Room 528, and stayed on points. It shoudl be noted that we had some very positive experiences with some of the hotel staff and was very glad to have encountered them. They were lovely. I sent a Guest Assistance note to compliment these staff.
I was connected to the BT helpdesk, the BT helpdesk set me up with an openzone account for 24hr and I was able to login to the Ethernet connection with that (and use my own portable wifi router).
I also found the front of house service level at this hotel average at best on my first day and slightly better on the second day.
Location wise the hotel was great, but as a diamond slightly disappointed I was not even able to get a (standard) room on the square side of the hotel and instead looked out into a central courtyard and other buildings. No Upgrade and I was to be grateful I could check in at noon stead of 2pm.
I also stayed on points.
Globalist
Jan 5, 2017, 2:41 am
I was connected to the BT helpdesk, the BT helpdesk set me up with an openzone account for 24hr and I was able to login to the Ethernet connection with that (and use my own portable wifi router).
I also found the front of house service level at this hotel average at best on my first day and slightly better on the second day.
Location wise the hotel was great, but as a diamond slightly disappointed I was not even able to get a (standard) room on the square side of the hotel and instead looked out into a central courtyard and other buildings. No Upgrade and I was to be grateful I could check in at noon stead of 2pm.
I also stayed on points.
Globalist
Jan 7, 2017, 12:04 pm
New Year Stay
* Location is convenient for London Bridge tube station (& suburban rail) - walking distance to Tower Bridge (each 10 mins +). Currently extensive road works on Tooley St.
* Thai & Indian restaurants across street - Mexican take-away and English pub also there. Coffee shop, Marks & Spencer food shop, etc. next to hotel. More dining options in Hays Galleria very nearby.
* Rooms and Executive Lounge have been remodeled recently. Hotel in great condition overall.
* Lounge has reasonable breakfast options (bacon, scrambled eggs, baked beans, tomatoes, hash browns + cold meat/cheese) from 6:30 - 11 am. As Diamond we also had access to Jamie's Restaurant (7 - 10 am?) giving many more options with an Italian twist, eggs cooked to order, etc. - can be busy later on a weekend morning. GBP 20 if not Diamond.
* Afternoon tea in Lounge is just a cake (used to include scones etc.).
* Evening drinks & food in Lounge were excellent. Available from 6 - 9 pm. Red & white wines with choices, sparkling wine, beers (limited choices) and spirits are self-service. A couple of hot food options plus cold selection - possible to create a small meal by choosing multiple small plates.
* Internet could be iffy - not helped by Diamond password being changed at New Year without telling guests. Two computers available in Lounge.
* European staff was friendly/helpful.
* Had to rent car from London City Airport (half hour away by tube) for 2 days. Was able to park for free on nearby streets from 7 pm to 8 am - possibly available because of reduced traffic over Holiday. Parking garages were GBP 25 per night - & further away. No hotel parking. GPS required to navigate local one-way streets. Hotel is inside Congestion Charge Zone (not applicable weekends/Holidays) so not normally a good option for having a car.
* Used Thames Clipper fast ferry service one night to get from Woolwich to pier between London Bridge and hotel. Great public transportation option.
* No upgrade on check-in. As Diamond was able to get 3 pm checkout without problem.
In my opinion, good hotel option just south of the Thames - walkable to the City, Tower of London, etc. or good public transport options. Lounge is a GREAT benefit for Diamond members.
Last edited by nigelglong; Jan 7, 2017 at 1:18 pm
May 10, 2017, 1:44 pm
Hilton London Tower Bridge
5 More London Place, Tooley Street London, GB SE1 2BY
Hilton London Tower Bridge (3 Photos)
Hilton London Tower Bridge
We hadn't stayed here in a while and wanted to do a fairly last minute London trip, it used to be our favourite hotel (before the Conrad and Bankside hotels were part of the network) and the rates were good so we decided to give it another try.
We booked using points, 84,000 for two nights on a weekend which we found to be very good use and value for points. In the past I seem to remember this hotel wanting 80,000 points for a night at peak times so since the recent changes this seems great value for London to me.
I have posted reviews in this thread in the past (before the new FT review format) so you can check those out on the Hilton FT forum hotel thread in post # 146 (text only, review in 2011), posts # 186 and 187 (text and pictures, review in 2012) and post # 234 (text and pictures of the exec lounge in its current 'dress', review in 2013). All of these reviews were before the latest renovation work was done in the rooms and lobby area (and before it became a Jamie's restaurant) but are still useful as many points made are still valid.
I only took a few pictures this time as my wife was with me and I didn't have time to get any good pictures before she took over the room and starting spreading her bits about!
For those that have seen the youtube video about the DYKWIA mentality and 'diamond members' throwing a strop, this will bring a laugh: (I didn't act like a Giraffe though, I behaved, honest!)
Room
I didn't take any pictures but it is still very simialr to an older 'exec floor' room in my previous reviews, albeit with a different colour scheme. (now warm earth tones instead of the more comtemporary red glass panels in some areas in the past.
I haven't seen towels be managed wirelessly before so this was a bit of a surprise to be honest...I hope it is only needed for managing which hotel the towels belong to rather than hotel guests walking away with them!
EDIT: I realised that I hadn't said much about the room so:
-Nespresso machine in the room with 4 different coffee types for pods.
-Bottled water in room (all still water though)
-Bathrobes and slippers in room
-separate shower (and very large with good pressure and plenty of hot water) and bath (full size and well placed in the bathroom, similar to photos up thread mentioned in opening to this review)
-decent bed, not as good as some we've slept in but still decent enough, certainly on the firm side.
-power points on each bedside so you can easily charge devices.
-smallish TV, my guess was a 32 or 37 inch wall mount TV but functional and with reasonable channel selection.
-the usual room safe, ironing board and iron in room. Plenty of wardrobe space to hang things up.
-opening window to outside fresh air. Not a great A/C control and it didn't work that great when we did use it (to heat or cool, YMMV).
-wifi did keep kicking us out but worked well when we would get a connection for a few minutes.
Check In
I checked in online using the app as I noted I had been upgraded two levels from a double room to a double deluxe plus room (which is the new name for an exec room here). I took the room they had selected for me as it was a nice corner room and still convenient for the elevator but not right beside it.
I used the main entrance check in desks to get our room keys as I was not sure if they still offer check in at the executive lounge (or even where that was located now) and this was fine. The single front desk agent was busy with a first time stayer so I did wait a minute or two for someone to come out from the back but this was not a problem or a long wait and there was no queue. I was greeted as a hhonors member and asked if I needed any infromation on the hotel or if I still remembered my way around (a nice way to ask instead of just launching into the usual spiel)
You could try to check in at the exec lounge (it used to be possible) as you can get to the 9th floor (where the exec lounge is located still) but you won't be able to enter as it is key card controlled, so you'll need to buzz to get a staff member to come and assist you. The desk at the entrance to the lounge is still there so they may be able to do it but I did note a diamond member roped off area at the ground floor reception area so imagine they may not do exec lounge check-in anymore.
A picture of the reception seating area, with curtains to help privacy if desired, quite nice and classy:
Service
We found the front desk staff friendly and helpful in our limited dealings with them but maybe just a bit more run of the mill in comparison to our stays back in 2012/13 from memory (when the staff here were truly outstanding.)
The lounge staff were a mix of great staff and didn't want to be there staff, generally there were plenty of staff in the lounge and they did go around quite often trying to keep the lounge clean and offer assistance. The great staff in the lounge were truly excellent, friendly, helpful and polite while constantly working to make it a nice experience and deal with the very heavy use in the lounge, whereas the poor staff were obvious and you simply avoided them when they did make the effort to do a sweep of the lounge area.
Breakfast staff in Jamies were also excellent and they were always very busy but still had a smile and genuinely cared about the work they did and dealt with the high turnover of guests and non residents that were eating there (for breakfast only...we didn't eat here otherwise).
Overall, staff were excellent. Not quite as good as Bankside but very, very good and giving Bankside a run for their money for the most part.
Dining
We did not eat here in the evenings or use the lobby level bar area so can't comment on those aspects.
We did use the lounge for evening quick pit stop before going out to eat in London and we also used Jamie's restaurant for breakfast each morning.
The lounge had a good variety of nibbles and drinks and it looked decent enough that one could scrimp and not bother eating out afterwards if so inclined but we just tried one or two bits and had a quick drink before heading elsewhere.
Jamie's restaurant is very nice for breakfast, busy by all means but very good and as wizla once said, I think it is also now my favourite breakfast location in a Hilton in London. Why? The cooked breakfast was great, excellent thick and big rashers of bacon, cooked to perfection (still juicy and not dried out but equally not undercooked), very nice, ripe fried tomatoes that were outstanding for flavour, two types of potato dishes and decent beans. Besides that there was very good fruit selection with fresh offerings that were juicy and decent sized along with berry compote and the great granola we all talk about in some of the Hiltons. The pastry / bread selection was a bit more limited in quality but not choice (several choices of breads and pastries but they were a bit dry and good but not great. The juices were good and plenty of choices and the coffee...ah, the coffee, you could have the stanard flask of coloured water if you so wished but equally, you could use the barista machine that produced some very good specialty coffees. (quite a queue though as freshly ground beans each time and it does take a bit of time to do the drinks right)...great tasting though and worth it.
I'd go back to this hotel for the Jamie's restaurant alone and it beat the Bankside restaurant in my opinion. (for that matter, it also beats the Conrad for quality and choice but not for noise or setting).
Location
The hotel is well located, close to tourist sites and the Thames and also close to the rail station and tube network. Plenty of tips mentioned in the hotel thread so will leave it with the fact that it is convenient.
The tube stop is London Bridge on the Northern line or Jubilee line, about 200-300 metres from the hotel.
Overall
A great hotel, newly renovated and with nice quality rooms, common areas and a great exec lounge (with an outside terrace, unique in London for Hilton network). The Jamie's restaurant is great for breakfast and the lounge is great for an evening (if extremely busy, similar to the Waldorf for how busy!)
We'll stay again if the value is good, as it was this time. Bankside was 93k points for a weekend night whereas this was 40k...
Not sure about cash rates or value for money but worth comparing to the Bankside hotel as both are brilliant and great examples of Hilton brand in London.
May 10, 2017, 3:15 pm
Aug 21, 2017, 4:20 pm
Re-kindling the old Tower Bridge flame
Impressed with the hotel, as usual ... and while the room renovation seems fairly limited, the place was always in good order, so renovation wasn't actually necessary in my view. No issue whatever with the wifi service either. Sadly the gym is under renovation, but they have a deal with a very extensive local gym which worked out fine.
The lounge was excellent tonight. Not too busy - lots of great food out! Soup, duck spring rolls, frittata (with roast potatoes), and cheese ravioli... plus, the usual crudités, dips, salad, cheese and a lovely cherry/almond torte thingy. Fantastic.
Looking forward to trying the highly commended breakfast in Jamie's, and hoping that ordering from the a la carte menu continues to be a diamond amenity... will let you know how this goes...
5 stars from me, so far.
Aug 21, 2017, 7:16 pm
Impressed with the hotel, as usual ... and while the room renovation seems fairly limited, the place was always in good order, so renovation wasn't actually necessary in my view. No issue whatever with the wifi service either. Sadly the gym is under renovation, but they have a deal with a very extensive local gym which worked out fine.
The lounge was excellent tonight. Not too busy - lots of great food out! Soup, duck spring rolls, frittata (with roast potatoes), and cheese ravioli... plus, the usual crudités, dips, salad, cheese and a lovely cherry/almond torte thingy. Fantastic.
Looking forward to trying the highly commended breakfast in Jamie's, and hoping that ordering from the a la carte menu continues to be a diamond amenity... will let you know how this goes...
5 stars from me, so far.