Great hotel
Millennium gloucester i stayed there with my friend from the 3rd to the 11th of august 2008. i rate this hotel as excellent for a number of reasons. however, there was one item which caused a bit of trouble. but, over all for safety, location, convenience, cleanliness, and efficiency i do rate it very high. i rate safety as a very important factor in this or any hotel. traveling abroad, often alone or with another middle aged female, safety is my first concern. the location is in an excellent area of kensington, in a high market real estate district, but with several other very nice hotels nearby, so there always were lots of tourists around, as well as locals since the area is surrounded by these very nice neighborhoods. our room was across from a large and well cared for apartment, which had a huge garden area. i can only imagine the cost for living there. though i was never out very late or alone at night, the latest being just after 11 pm, and still the whole area seemed alive with people coming and going from restaurants, the tube, shops, other hotels and homes. so for safety of moving around on my own, i always felt very comfortable. also the hotel seems to attract a rather upscale clientele. i got a deal, otherwise i could not have afforded the generally posted price. to find the deal required quite a bit of surfing of sites, and the range of cost went to double of what i actually paid. even with this deal it was still expensive, though other hotels i’ve used and know the value (less) were as expensive as this deal. but, you are in london. but there were apparently special areas in the hotel for “member” guests, as some of the lifts went to certain floors marked millennial club and bypassed other floors, mine included. lots of people from airlines stay there, as well as other business professionals and tourists. there was always multiple staff at the front door, a concierge desk immediately inside, and people working reception. so, help and assistance was immediately available. in the evening there was always someone playing the piano, a nice touch, but i was so tired by the end of the day, i never really sat and enjoyed it. location and convenience are something i also value as i’m on holiday and want to get out and about easily. the gloucester road tube is less than a minute’s walk away from the front door. the main entrance to the hotel is under the covered “street” which runs the length of the front of the hotel. to reach the tube, when you exit the hotel, turn left and walk to end of the covered area and you are on courtfield road, turn right and walk a very short distance—30 feet maybe--to the end of the street, cross to your left, and the tube station is just on the corner of gloucester road—another 30 or 50 feet. gloucester tube is served by the district, circle, and piccadilly lines, so reaching anywhere else in london is rarely more complicated than one tube change. just across the road was a nice selection of shops and restaurants. there was a tesco express, open 24 hours, and a waitrose grocery stores. a starbucks, burger king, and kentucky fried chicken if craving american fare, as well as a number of other cafes and restaurants, several offering carry out, probably a good dozen or so within a very short walk of a block. i think the millennium gloucester and the adjacent the bentley kempinski hotel had 4 or more restaurants associated with them. a post office was also nearby, and several places to change money and atm’s. a little farther along, at the south kensington tube station and you came to another area of shops, restaurants, businesses, etc., and at the next tubes, earls court and high street kensington, all within walking distance, if necessary, there are a wide range of shops, restaurants, businesses and entertainment venues. again, for convenience and location, i rate this hotel excellent. cleanliness is something else i highly value. staying places where others have stayed, i want someone to come in and clean thoroughly. from the outside entrance, to the lobby, to the breakfast area, to the rooms, everything was immaculate. whatever rates above excellence i’d give to this hotel on cleanliness. our room was large by london or any standards. we had 2 beds with a shared night stand, a desk and chair, a small table and chair, another chair, and separate tv stand with mini bar and coffee/tea making storage, and still plenty of space for 4 large suitcases and walking room. a separate closet provided a 3 drawer chest, as well as a hair dryer, full ironing board and iron. and a full bathroom with plenty of room. there was a huge wide screen tv in high def, with good selection of channels, including english and american, as well as most other european and arabic languages. our only problem occurred with the shower. part was my fault as it was a bit “complicated” to figure out, but water pressure from the shower was virtually nil. my first attempt at a shower and i was nearly scalded. there were 2 separate spigots for filling the tub, and separate tap for the shower. the complicated part required the pressing of a “button” to adjust the water temperature, something i didn’t see before i attempted to use, and was unable to do with the need to “squeeze” the button while turning the tap all while standing in the scalding water stream without my glasses which renders me virtually “blind” to small details. all without any sort of instructions on how to use, and as someone with arthritis, the amount of strength required to squeeze the button was a struggle. i accept partial blame, but i would suggest the hotel replace this rather complicated button, squeeze, and turn set-up with a simple hot and cold set of knobs. that was what there was for filling the tub. however, the pressure from the shower was ridiculous. it was barely more than a trickle. this even after we reported and asked for it to be fixed twice. the maintenance person came and worked on it and explained how the shower worked, but was unable to improve the pressure. when i was using it i considered requesting a room change, but decided to just deal with it rather than pack and move everything. however, in the future if this occurred again, i would expect a room change or for the pressure to be corrected. the staff was very friendly and very helpful. we had benefit of a full english breakfast buffet as part of the deal , which was quite good. a wide variety of options were offered daily, even some items geared towards asian tastes. i’d recommend this hotel to anyone. when i return to london, i hope i can afford to stay here again. however without a really good deal, not sure i can afford it.
Cerrar