Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Accor

  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Whitechapel Ibis Budget

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Whitechapel Ibis Budget

    I rather like the Ibis Budget chain of hotels and I positively miss the one in Torun with its all you can eat hot dogs for breakfast (I’m easily pleased). They’re basic, but usually clean and functional. And, best of all, generally they’re pretty cheap. I haven’t seen this one listed before, so it has either recently reopened or I’m just not very observant, and the latter is always a distinct possibility. Anyway, I opted to stay here for two nights given that it was keenly priced and I liked how central it was for the City of London (which was an excuse to visit a few more pubs in that area).

    The interior of the hotel is bright and well maintained. I’ll contact the hotel [done, and they’ve kindly sent the below] and see if they can let me have some photos of the public areas (I also forgot to take a photo of the large teddy bear on one of the seats, but there are some on the team’s Instagram channel at https://www.instagram.com/ibisbudgetlondonwhitechapel/), as I didn’t get chance to take any of my own. And the hotel staff were unfailingly polite and helpful, offering a friendly welcome and an engaging farewell. The hotel didn’t feel very busy at all, but there were always staff visible in the public areas and it felt like a safe environment.

    Above two images supplied by hotel, the one on the left is the large breakfast area, the one on the right is the reception area. This is far more Ibis Styles than Ibis Budget in design, I remain impressed at the investment that has been made here.

    This isn’t the Ibis Budget room that I’m used to, there has been some sort of large scale refurbishment here. The bathroom is modern and all within one room (often Ibis Budget have a separate toilet, a shower that is sort of open plan and a sink that is in the bedroom). There’s a pull down bed at the rear and a small desk in the corner. Some money has been spent here in this refurbishment and I think it’s looking rather good and certainly entirely functional. The hotel doesn’t offer hot drink making facilities or irons in the rooms, but, I have a Pret subscription and don’t use irons as I’m scared they might burn me, so this wasn’t an obstacle.

    I didn’t experience any noise issues either internally or externally, to the point that I did wonder how many guests were actually in the hotel. The air conditioning made the room very cold, which pleased me greatly, and I’m impressed at how easy it was to control the temperature, better than most other budget hotels.

    Not the view from my room unfortunately, but a view from one of the hotel windows near to the lifts. It’s about a ten-minute walk to the Tower of London and about a twelve-minute walk to Greggs.

    Perhaps not “sinfully decadent”, but this is a really sensible list of snacks that is easy for the hotel to provide. The prices aren’t unreasonable and this seems a well thought through list of options.

    All told, this was a hotel which exceeded my expectations, an engaging team of staff, a clean environment, modern rooms, decent air conditioning and a short walk to the underground and the city of London. For anyone who can get a room here at a similar price to Travelodge or similar, I’d pick here, as the rooms are better kitted out and that air conditioning is very useful (and would have been at Stratford Travelodge). All very lovely.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Again)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Again)

    I stayed at this hotel about ten times last year, and have done so again this year several times. I stopped posting about the hotel given that I had little new to say (not that this usually stops me to be honest…..), but thought I’d do a little update here. Nothing much has really changed at the hotel, although breakfast is no longer included in the room rate. It was just a takeaway bag which was lacking a little in innovation towards the end, and I suspect that quite a lot of the food and drink was just being wasted. It’s possible to pay for this takeaway bag, but I haven’t yet been tempted to do so.

    The free welcome drink offered to me lacks in excitement, they don’t even have Tiger any more, so I selected a bottle of Budweiser. I see this as useful, as I’m trying to lower my average Untappd score (I don’t want to sound like I enjoy everything) and this is a perfect way of doing it.

    My room rate was £22.50 per night and I was staying for two nights, making this really quite excellent value for money. The hotel is just a short walk from Earls Court underground station, so is convenient for central London. There’s also a Greggs around the corner for those who need food and drink, as well as the Bolton pub which is nearby.

    For that price I was entitled to a solo room (since that’s what I booked), but I was upgraded for what I think is now the fourteenth time in a row in this hotel. What they lack in decadent welcome drinks and welcome gifts, they make up for in room upgrades. I even had my own little corridor in the room, as can be seen in the above photo. As an aside, the staff members here are always friendly and helpful, with no change to that on this visit.

    And the rest of the room, which was air conditioned, clean and comfortable. I didn’t have any noise problems from either inside or outside the hotel, so I still like staying here as it feels a safe and reliable environment. It’s a series of houses which have been joined together and turned into a hotel, hence the rather strange shape of the rooms. I think it all adds character to the arrangement though.

    Richard was staying at the same hotel, and was on the floor above. He laughed when he discovered the lift was out of order, as he likes carrying his giant bag up two flights of stairs. And, as an extra treat, there was a football outside of his room. Someone must have known that one of Norfolk’s biggest football fans was staying there. On a more petty level, I was very pleased to note that Richard didn’t have his own corridor in his more expensive room (although he did have larger cardboard cups than I did for his drinks, so he had a win there).

    Anyway, for £22.50 per night, this remains excellent value, and highlights how there remain problems with so few tourists coming to stay in the city. I can’t imagine the prices will be anything like this again in future years, so I will continue staying in London for as long as they are……

  • Accor Hotel at Heathrow – A Bit Shut

    Accor Hotel at Heathrow – A Bit Shut

    I arrived with great excitement to my Accor hotel near Heathrow (I’m not going anywhere from the airport, it was just where I was staying) and had the slightly annoying situation that it was shut. I said to myself that this definitely wasn’t ideal. A staff member on site helpfully told me that I’d come to the right hotel, but that it had been shut for five months. They added that this was the problem with booking with third party sites, and I’d need to contact them to deal with the issue.

    Unfortunately, I hadn’t used a third party site, I’d booked directly with Accor. So I phoned them and was delighted when a real life person answered the Platinum/Diamond support line (I was pleased my call got routed there, it made me feel important….). They were really quite friendly and they apologised several times, realising that the booking was valid for a shut hotel (if there’s such a thing as a valid booking for a shut hotel). The first stage of their resolution was to set up a complaint which they immediately upgraded to Stage 2. I don’t know what that means, but it sounded exciting. The second stage of their resolution was to rebook me in a nearby Novotel hotel as I didn’t fancy sleeping at the airport (I didn’t intend to recreate the film Terminal) and Heathrow never liked that at the best of times, so I imagine it’s impossible now. That worked out (the rebooking, not the sleeping at Heathrow), although they couldn’t get through to the hotel to guarantee the booking, but they booked it internally anyway.

    The resolution team is meant to be getting in touch with me over the next couple of days, although I like the hotel that I’ve been moved to. They did tell me to keep my receipts and get a taxi there, but I couldn’t be going through all that stress so I just walked the thirty minutes to the new hotel. It was a lovely walk near the Bath Road with the sun setting. Not the three night stay that I had expected, but I won’t complain at three nights at the Novotel.

    I would be annoyed, but I like Accor and to be honest, I quite like the drama and excitement….. The two staff members on the phone actually sounded interested in helping, so that was all positive. Although I’ve now got to work out where to get the 222 bus to get to the Piccadilly line….. I could get the Hotel Hoppa bus and charge Accor, but I hate that service and I don’t fancy faffing about sending receipts. Anyway, that’s another adventure I’ve gotten myself into.

  • London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Ibis Shoreditch

    London – Tower Hamlets (Borough of) – Ibis Shoreditch

    Back a few weeks to when people could actually visit London, this is the Ibis Hotel in Shoreditch which is just a short walk from London Liverpool Street. Ideally also, it’s opposite Aldgate East Underground station, so it’s an easy hotel to get to.

    This visit was at a time when people could have a drink if they were also ordering a substantial meal. But, although the hotel was offering meals, there wasn’t much of a take-up.

    Part of the hotel’s decor, trying to give that East London theme to proceedings. The whole arrangement felt modern and welcoming, with something of an Ibis Styles type approach to the design rather than Ibis.

    This is the free welcome drink, one of the better ones which I’ve been offered. It’s not the finest in the Brewdog range, but I do very much like Punk IPA, nice and citrusy…. I look forwards to other Ibis hotels offering something slightly more exciting than Budweiser.

    The bedroom, all clean and comfortable. And it was located on the top floor and away from the elevator, just where I like. There were no noise issues either, although I’m not sure that the 348-room hotel was actually that busy. The hotel also had windows that could open, as I’m one of those slightly strange customers who likes the noise of city traffic and police sirens. It also meant that the temperature in the room was easy to control, something which I do most appreciate.

    I did very much appreciate the gesture and that’s a nice handwritten card, although secretly (well, not that secretly actually) I would have preferred chocolate…..

    Anyway, the stay as all sufficiently uneventful, which is ideally how hotel stays should be if it means that no disasters took place. Staff seemed friendly, although slightly underworked through the lack of guests, and I’ll come back here again.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Eighth Visit)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Eighth Visit)

    This blog wouldn’t be complete without yet another post about this hotel in Kensington…. I still like the hotel, the welcome is friendly, the hotel is clean and the prices are highly competitive. Not only have I managed to post here multiple times about this hotel, I’ve also bored friends with it as well and one of them also happened to be staying here for the weekend.

    I was upgraded to a larger room and I think this is one of my favourites in the hotel. Spacious and with numerous seating options dotted around the place.

    There was a bath, as well as a separate shower (that isn’t in the photo), all very decadent.

    There is a balcony as well, but they’re locked that off.

    This was the view on Sunday morning. Rain. Not ideal…..

    There was no Tiger left, so this was my welcome drink choice. It was free, so I won’t complain.

    My obligatory breakfast bag photo…. I did go down in the basement to get a coffee, although it seemed to be measuring out rather small portions, albeit delicious tasting small portions.

    So, once again, all was fine and nothing exceptional happened that I feel the need to mention. And, this is good in a hotel, I don’t want too much drama. Incidentally, I hear that Richard had lots of drama in his two hotel visits this weekend elsewhere in the country, it’s a shame he doesn’t have a blog….

  • London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (Third Visit)

    London – Brent (Borough of) – Wembley – Ibis Wembley (Third Visit)

    Once again, this post is more for me to remember another night in Wembley rather than any extra use that a third report on the same hotel can offer anyone else. There’s not much useful I can add about the welcome, the staff member was friendly and the check-in procedure was painless. Certainly nothing negative to mention.

    The room, on the fourteenth and top floor again. All clean and as it should be, although it doesn’t have a television like the first time I stayed where I could cast my phone to it. I managed to get by without such decadence. I did note that the desk had been fixed, by use of supports, from what looked like when a previous guest had sat on it or similar…

    The Government’s new rules means that hotel bars can stay open if customers order a substantial meal with their alcohol, or if they just have soft drinks. The hotel rules do though allow customers to take alcohol to their room, so that’s what happened to my welcome drink. Not really ideally poured, but I was just pleased that the drink option was still available and that Goose Island Midway Session IPA was still there.

    The view from the room over the Borough of Brent. There’s no shortage of construction work going on around here, I assume primarily residential as it’s quite an easy location to commute to and from for those wanting to work in the capital.

    And the view over Wembley in the morning, although I think I prefer the night-time view. Anyway, all was quiet in the hotel, they have windows that open to allow for ventilation, the temperature was perfect and I have nothing negative to say. How very lovely.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Seventh Visit)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Seventh Visit)

    There has long not been much point my writing up my repeated visits to this hotel for anyone else, the duplication is rather high to say the least. But, since I’m writing this to remind me where I’ve been, I shall happily indulge myself.

    For the first time I’ve been given a room that I’ve had before, which was an upgrade to a larger double room. Spotlessly clean and with a window that opens to ensure ventilation. I like that. Incidentally, the hotel had a heap of heaters near to reception, so I’m probably the only guest that decided the room could be just that bit cooler. The only fault with the room was the one that was there weeks ago, the light on the table doesn’t work. But, I battled on without such luxury and decadence.

    The free welcome drink, my standard choice…..

    The breakfast hasn’t changed much over the last few months, it’s probably not going to satisfy some, but it’s perfectly sufficient as a little snack and I like their coffee. It’s hard for me to find fault, especially taking into account that this room cost under £25 per night, even before reward points are taken into account.

    So, not much else to add to my previous visits, but this is an excellent value for money option and just a short walk away from Earl’s Court railway station.

  • London – Croydon (Borough of) – Ibis Styles

    London – Croydon (Borough of) – Ibis Styles

    I think this was my fifth stay at this hotel, it’s a handy and convenient option for getting flights from Gatwick Airport (or what I call convenient anyway). I suspect the hotel would have wished I hadn’t booked two nights before my flight from Gatwick Airport in April, as I’ve postponed this stay on three occasions and had to contact them to ask why it suddenly got cancelled entirely a couple of months ago. But, they fixed the issues and all was well. Then, when I was at the hotel, I decided I want a different room on the second night. Although they were no doubt annoyed at me, they managed not to show it, which is a definite plus.

    The reception area and where the breakfasts would usually be served. I actually quite liked their breakfasts in the past, they were basic but entirely satisfactory, but they’ve been replaced now by grab bags until the current health crisis is over.

    This was my first room where I should have been for two nights. It’s in the crypt of the building (well, cellar, but I prefer the word I’ve used) and I didn’t much like it, although the design is fine, as there was a slight smell of damp. But, the room was well ventilated, with the option of opening the window and using the air conditioning, so all was well there.

    Well, until the room next door moved in, which involved a birthday party, what seemed like endless numbers of guests and banging of doors. I don’t know the rules on this at the moment, and nor did I check, but it wasn’t ideal. Headphones get rid of most of these issues, although they were pushing their luck a bit here in the neighbouring room. But, to be fair to them, the hotel hasn’t got door dampers on and it absolutely should have done.

    Anyway, I tolerated that situation (I don’t like conflict at the best of time) and hoped the guests wouldn’t be there the next day. I popped back to the room in the afternoon of the second day and the noise situation didn’t look like it’s improve. One woman shouted loudly to another guest “make sure you put your clothes on for when the food arrives” and after something like thirty door bangs which shook the room over the next ten minutes, I decided I wasn’t going to risk this debacle continuing. So, I had to do what a typical British person hates doing, which is to actually complain rather than tut silently about the situation.

    Now, I wouldn’t normally expect a hotel to say this, but since they did I assume they’re content for everyone to know, not that I’m one for gossip. But they told me that the room was occupied by a doctor and this seemed to be a first attempt to negate my complaint. I did add that I didn’t know if the guest they now had in was the same as the night before, although their pattern of behaviour was little different in terms of noise. I had by this point given up on the room, despite the suggestion they’d speak to the room occupant. I’m not sure that’s the best idea in these circumstances, as I don’t know what the occupant might think of that. To be fair, the manager did agree to a room change without my needing to ask for a third time, so all was well. And I’d add that this is the first room change I’ve requested in at least the last 100 hotels that I’ve stayed in (I had hoped for one in a hotel in Warsaw as the room was a bit small, but I didn’t ask for that) so I hardly make a habit of this.

    The second room, I liked this one (and it had a desk that was useable).

    As an aside (another one), I discovered that the air conditioning switched off if the window opened, which isn’t a bad policy. I was pleased I had moved, I much preferred this new room and there were no noise issues. There were clearly some minor damp issues as the hotel had painted over them, but it didn’t smell of damp and I was entirely happy. And, as a bonus, the shower in this second room had a choice of temperatures, where the first room was locked into just offering a scaldingly hot water temperature.

    The breakfast on day one, this isn’t a bad little effort. The milk is quite hard to open, so the easiest solution is to use the straw to pierce the carton and try and drain it from that. I say easiest, it was still a slight challenge, but that helped me wake up.

    And a little variety for the second day.

    So, overall, I can’t much complain about the hotel as the prices were towards the lower end of the scale. They do though perhaps need to look at the internal noise of doors slamming, but otherwise, there were no huge problems. I’m not sure I dare stay again, but I wouldn’t suggest that there are any reasons why others shouldn’t.

  • London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Sixth Visit)

    London – Kensington and Chelsea (Borough of) – Ibis Styles Kensington (Sixth Visit)

    My sixth visit to this hotel, which I wasn’t going to write up as I was meant to be coming back for a seventh visit during the week. Unfortunately, given the latest news, I’ve cancelled that and been refunded, so this will be my final Accor hotel of the year…. And that deserves a quick mention (to amuse me, not necessarily anyone else).

    This was an upgrade from a single room to a basic twin. I can’t complain, before loyalty discounts, this room cost £19 per night. Even the staff member was surprised at this pricing.

    The room from another angle, with my welcome drink of a Tiger beer. I’ve commented before that the drinks could be a bit more inventive, so I won’t drone on about that again….

    The breakfast, and I’m pleased to see that the Coco Pops are back. All rather satisfactory for £19 and the room was clean and tidy once again. It’s probably true, as a few reviewers have noted, that the breakfast offered could have been varied a little more, but this solution was convenient.

    For the first time, I had a look at the six buildings which make up this hotel, all knocked through to create a maze of corridors. The 1939 register shows the variety of people who lived here before the Second World War, it’s possible to work out who lived in each building and from this who used to likely occupy each of the now hotel rooms. Anyway, this hotel has been a useful base for my stays in London, I’m sure I’ll be back in 2021……

  • London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Ibis Earls Court (Third Visit)

    London – Hammersmith and Fulham (Borough of) – Ibis Earls Court (Third Visit)

    In danger of repeating myself, but I’ll take that risk, this was my third visit to the Ibis at Earl’s Court. A short walk from West Brompton underground station, it’s a huge hotel which is running significantly under occupancy by the looks of it. The receptionist remembered me, although I imagine that there aren’t that many guests to have to recall at the moment. And I probably made some faux pas that made me memorable.

    The welcome drink of Leffe, once again, which is something a little different to what is offered by other Ibis hotels. I accept it’s not the most exotic drink that they could have, but it brings some slight excitement to proceedings. Although it wasn’t as good as the drink at the Craft Beer Co at Old Street that I’d had shortly before, but I digress.

    Room number 1010 on the tenth floor, which was next door to room 1009 that I had last week (I don’t expect anyone to care about that, but it interests me, which is case again that I need to get out more). This is something that the hotel isn’t doing brilliantly on, which is keeping guests at least slightly apart. If the hotel is near empty, it probably makes sense to put gaps between occupied rooms, not particularly for health reasons, but for noise reasons.

    This is a new addition to proceedings, a selection of soaps. Normally these are in dispensers, and they still are in this room, but this was extra and I didn’t have this on my last two visits. Perhaps it’s a welcome gift to reward me for my loyalty, I’ll pretend that to myself. As I’ve drivelled on about before, this is a clean hotel and although it probably needs a little refurbishment, it’s all organised and the staff are suitably helpful. The cleaner was so chatty I struggled to get away, but I appreciated the positive attitude at the hotel.

    Given the Government’s announcement about a potential lockdown, well, the Daily Mail’s announcement about a potential lockdown, it might be a while before I’m back at this hotel….