Holiday Inn Express London Excel
 

Here for a LCY morning flight. Food service is from 5pm to 10.30pm. Apparently that means ordering by 9.45 because 10.30 is "when you need to finish eating".

Nice!

I just had a surprisingly decent 'fishcake, salad and chips' at HIX Sheffield. As a Londoner, the price seemed like a bargain - until my brother turned up for a beer having just had 2 x full meals in his local for less than my fishcake!

Stayed here recently in post virus era.

Breakfast is being served in the ground floor restaurant again, but items are brought to your table instead of a buffet.

Windows can NOT be opened at this hotel for fresh air. :(

Nearest transport stop to the hotel is the DLR (docklands light rail) station called "Royal Albert". Warning ! If for any reason the elevator is not working it's a LOT of stairs.

Apart from 1 large and popular Chinese restaurant called "Yi Ban" there are no shops or restaurants anywhere nearby. (Except of course in the 3 other hotels along the same street). To get to the chinese restaurant just walk through the car park on the other side of the road and go up the stairs. They have nice views of the water and the airport. Large portions and reasonable prices, but don't expect great quality food. It was ok, but nothing more. Open every single day from lunch time till quite late. Postcode to find it on the map is E16 2QT. (Unfortunately it's closed until further notice cause of the virus). Check their website if they have re-opened by the time you stay at this hotel. Website here:
https://yi-ban.co.uk/


For a proper supermarket you will need to take the DLR train 3 stops to "Royal Victoria" station where there is a Tesco.

The Excel (Exhibition Centre London) is close, but you will need to walk under Connaught bridge to get there. The Doubletree and Aloft hotels on the other side of Connaught bridge are both closer to the excel. Hotel prices can be quite cheap here when there is nothing going on at the excel, but are ludricously expensive when there is a big event there.


London City Airport

Do not be fooled by the apparent closeness of this hotel to London city airport. While it is technically very close geographically, getting to/from city airport is not that easy no matter how you decide to travel. The cheapest and easiest way is to get a DLR train to "Canning Town" station and then get out, and get another DLR train going "backwards" to "Royal Albert" station.

The red TFL bus to/from the airport only stops at the lower side of "Prince Regent" DLR station. You then have to either walk either half a mile (800 meters) to the hotel, or go up a huge amount of stairs to the DLR station and go one stop to "Royal Albert".

Walking to/from the airport is only really possible if you have very light luggage and it's daytime, as it's a 1 mile (1.6km) walk. When on the north side of the river you will need to cross UNDER the Connaught bridge to get to/from the footpath bridge crossing the river. You cannot walk on the section of the bridge where the cars travel. I would not reccomend walking or taking the bus to/from this hotel at nightime as the whole area you need to walk through is quite dark and abandoned. If it's raining, forget about walking completely. Taxis to/from the airport cost about 10 GBP. Even more on Saturdays and Sundays and weekdays after 10pm.

Hotels located near "Canning town" DLR and tube (metro) station are much, much easier for getting to/from London city airport.

Holiday Inn Express London - ExCeL

Index to Genius1 Trip Reports

I stayed for three nights in September at the Holiday Inn Express London - ExCeL, and since I took a few photos I thought I'd post them here (if not write a full review). The property is decently located just a few minutes' walk from the Royal Albert DLR station, and around ten minutes' walk to the East entrance of the ExCeL conference centre. Early check-in was not a problem thanks to my Diamond Elite status.

Despite this property 'only' being a HIX, I had reasonably high expectations given the astronomical price the property was charging (to coincide of course with multiple conferences at ExCeL). HIXs don't have anything other than standard rooms in the majority of properties, and whilst small, mine was perfectly well appointed with what at first glance was a super king size bed, but in actuality turned out to be two beds pushed together. This meant that the headboard's various switches and sockets didn't match the location of what was set up as one bed. The room had a partial view of the DLR track, and a full view of the side of the adjacent Travelodge.

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In-room amenities were limited to the basics, and the lack of a safe was annoying in what is a hotel largely serving a business market given its proximity to ExCeL. Mineral water was available for purchase from reception.

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The bathroom was functional, with toiletries in large pump bottles.

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All HIXs offer a free buffet breakfast to all guests, and this particular property serves it in a bright and airy restaurant area just around the corner from the reception and bar on the ground floor. Be prepared for This Morning playing on the TV at a loud volume. Given everything is a buffet, the menus seemed slightly superfluous and were more than a little sticky.

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I was pleasantly surprised by the Holiday Inn Express London - ExCeL. Whilst this was a HIX stay necessitated by lack of availability at four star properties in the area, based on this experience alone I wouldn't be deterred from staying at other HIXs in the future in similar circumstances.