"Should have checked the negative reviews before my stay, because many of these are sadly spot on.
On the positive, the rooms are nice and the hotel is in good shape, likely because it is so new. The location is prime -arguably the best you can get for a London trip, especially if you need to commute to the ExCeL center. A genuine highlight is the excellent gym, which features Peloton bikes. However, while the hardware is great, the service is non-existent. The staff was extremely unwelcoming and severely lacking in basic hospitality training. I was not greeted a single time during my stay.
As a Hilton Gold member, my status was entirely ignored - no mention of an upgrade or any standard recognition, which I could live with, i don't care too much about that and the room was nice enough. What I couldn't live with was the frustrating breakfast situation. Nearly every morning, the staff failed to recognize that my status included complimentary breakfast. I had to explain it almost every day because no one bothered to update the system. On the final day, the woman at the entrance caused an embarrassing scene at 6:30 AM, calling reception and her colleagues while a queue formed behind me. All the while, I calmly showed her my Hilton app and even offered to let her read the loyalty terms for her own hotel. Does the staff not know their own chain’s program at all?
The breakfast service itself was chaotic: my table was cleared three times while I was not finished, yet sometimes dirty tables were left abandoned for ages, leaving new guests with nowhere to sit. The buffet is a far cry from a 4-star Hilton standard - it is incredibly sparse. The scrambled eggs were noticeably powdered/ready-made (essentially water with egg chunks), and the bread was completely stale one morning.
The final straw was checking out. When I asked for a printed invoice, the receptionist asked if I needed an envelope, then simply handed me the flat paper and the envelope, leaving me to fold it myself while a queue formed behind me. At that point, it’s hard to take this hotel seriously. Did they train these people at all, or just hire them off the street?
To top it all off, the bathroom had silverfish every single day, hinting at a hidden moisture or mold issue. Housekeeping was superficial at best; upon check-in, I found hairs from the previous guest in the bathroom. There was also thick dust in all the corners that the cleaners clearly rush past - a major issue if you suffer from allergies or asthma. Like some reviewers mentioned, the doors don't isolate against noise at all, so if you're a light sleeper, prepare to be wakened by noises on the corridor a lot.
Next time, I will definitely stay at the Motel One next door. It might be a lower-category hotel, but it is vastly more pleasant and professional than this place."
