More about Crowne Plaza London - Docklands
Don't go there unless you're attending a conference at Excel
by TripAdvisor Member Rawcliffe Rover
We stayed at the Crowne Plaza Docklands over the Easter weekend having stayed at the Crowne Plaza St James previously. There is no comparison. I'd made the reservations in January for my husband and self and for my parents-in-law. When we arrived there was only one booking although we had prepaid and I had the confirmation numbers with me. One booking was in a completely different name!
Our rooms were shabby - there was a water mark on the ceiling in one room and the furniture was badly damaged in the other. Only one room had a safe, neither had a trouser press or mini bar and by 4 pm on the second day of our stay one room hadn't been serviced! The linen was decidedly grubby, the air con and extractor fan in the bathroom didn't work.
On Friday evening we went for a drink in the bar but didn't stay long as it was like the local youth club - full of "immigrants" playing pool - not what you'd expect at a Crowne Plaza. The lighting is very dim both in the bar and in the lifts and bar staff seemed indifferent so we didn't bother with the restaurant.
We gave up and went to the Novatel nearby where the bar is on the first floor overlooking the water, has comfortable seating and the staff couldn't have been more attentive even though they were aware we weren't guests in the hotel.
The Docklands Light Railway service is excellent and, if you buy a single ticket to, eg, Canary Wharf (well worth a visit) you can buy a travel ticket for the whole underground system and the bus service.
The Excel centre is open during the day and evening but, when there's no conference taking place, it appears to be a meeting hall for the locals. There are one or two fast food shops open but it's not a place to wander around alone.
do yourself a favor and stay Anywhere but this place
by A TripAdvisor Member
The good things. Less then 5 min from the Docklands Light Railway. The hotel has a gym and a pool. Breakfast is pretty good.
The bad things - could not get a good night sleep because the mattress was old and soft. When I complained to the hotel they offered to use wooden board, but hotel does not have enough of these boards for every room. Not enough water pressure to shower and temperature switching from burning hot to icy cold - this never been fixed. The rooms are in need of renovation. The furniture is old. Internet service in rooms does not work.
I would not recommend this hotel to anyone.
Enjoyed my stay
by TripAdvisor Member mark037
stayed 1 night
Good
adjacent to Royal Victoria station which will take you into central London in 20mins and London city airport.
recption staff friendly and helful.
room service efficient and good choice.
hotel clean and modern
room nicely furnished and comfortable
pool small but otherwise fine. good hot tub and suana.
bar and restuarant modern and funky overlooking dockands water.
cheaper than central london hotels and has a pool.
adjacent to Excel conference center
poor
NOT in any way in central london, if you are a tourist you will need to travel via tube 20mins at cost of £6 return.
car parking is around £10-14 per day
no where to walk etc few bars nearby.
summary
great if you are a delegate attending a conference at the excel center. Also you get more for your money as slightly out of central london as long as you dont mind travelling on the tube to get everywhere. i stayed on business and took my family they enjoyed the pool and the staff were children friendly albiet this hotel is really set up for business peolpe.
Stay Elsewhere -- Staffs do Not cooperate with Customer
by A TripAdvisor Member
I stay in this hotel on a business trip. I told the receptionist that, I requested a room, which was quiet such that I could finish my work in a day. I told him that I knew this hotel was located near the City Airport runway and I wished to have a room, which was not facing the runway. He replied that it was no problem and my room should be OK. On the morning of next day, I found that my room was not only facing the runway but also a construction site. I requested to change room. I finally moved to another room at 4:30 pm after I requested at 9:00 am. The whole day was wasted.
In the first room, I cannot turn on a light to have some reading. I phoned the receptionist and no one came to change the light bulb. In the second room, the safe was not working and I could not lock the door. I did not bother to call to deal with this kind of staffs. When I came in the hotel, I found that the automatic door of the main entrance did not open. The sensor did not see you and did not open the door for you. No one in this hotel even bothered to put up a sign to inform the guests that the door did not open. Therefore, a lot of people stood in front of this door and have waited for a minute to find out that this door was not working.
If I traveled to the Canary Wharf area for another business trip, I will stay in another hotel. There are a lot of hotels in the Canary Wharf area with staffs who are willing to provide a quiet room for a business traveler. A lot of hotels are much nearer to the Canary Wharf, the financial district. If I travel to the Exhibition Centre, I will like to stay in another hotel in this area. The DRL is convenient. If I travel to London for holiday, I would like to stay in the center of London. Why should I stay in a hotel, which is far away from the major attractions, and I get a room, which was noisy?
Don't Bother
by A TripAdvisor Member
The location is good but the staff are arrogant, rude and don't put the customer first.
I reserved a double room but could only be offered a twin even though I booked a month beforehand!
Don't be impressed by the grand looks - it's on a flight path to London City airport and is clearly run by immigrants who don't care about you.
In-room internet is expensive (£15 per day)....
Keep Away!
Decent business hotel
by TripAdvisor Member M_ALondon
I stayed here for a week while working at Canary Wharf. Unlike a lot of the other posters here I found it an enjoyable experience. My room was clean, modern and large and well set up. My room faced the water which was much better than the car park. At no time did I hear a plane arrive at the airport nearby.
Breakfast in the hotel was very good although staff did get a bit confused a few times. My partner ate dinner in the restaurant with a friend and both said the food was disappointing.
The other facilities in the hotel (gym, pool, spa, steam room, sauna) are simply excellent and better than most hotels I have previously stayed at. These facilities are 5 star and really add to the hotel.
I would recommend this hotel for business travellers for Canary Wharf or Excel. Due to the location and the lack of entertainment after dark I would not suggest this to anyone visiting London.
Very nice but undertrained staff
by A TripAdvisor Member
We ended up staying here when our airline decided that they couldn't carry us that night! We were flying from City Airport. The hotel was fairly new then, and the rooms were very comfortable indeed - and clean. Decor was imaginative and funky. I also loved the views from our room across the Greenwich Peninsula and the docks.
The food in the restaurant was good (without being first class) but the serving staff needed a little more training. Our waitress was trying to pour wine with her thumb in the base of the bottle, which was obviously something that she was not well-trained at since it nearly went all over me. The bread rolls did all end up in my lap when they were served in an equally trying- to-be-very-upmarket way.
Not as good as Beijing!
by TripAdvisor Member chickenne
Having recently stayed at the Crowne Plaza in Beijing and being very impressed, I was very excited at the prospect of staying at the Crowne Plaza in Docklands.
Sadly the two cannot be compared.
The reception is dull, the lifts badly lit. The room was ok-ish, but it felt and looked just a bit grubby, as if nobody really cared whether it was cleaned properly or not. The sheets though were beautifully crisp, white and clean.
Unfortunately we were put in a room overlooking a building site,so we were rudely awoken at 8am by the sound of drilling.
The breakfast certainly wasn't anything to write home about - it was ok, but having sampled the breakfast in Beijing I was just left disappointed.
If you are used to the high quality of the Crowne Plaza elsewhere, do not stay at their London Docklands branch.
Don't go for a Celebration!
by TripAdvisor Member MOS2JAC
We booked a "celebration" package for one night which included 3 course dinner and champagne, fortunately we weren't celebrating anything other than going to the Roxy Music concert at Ex-Cel. First impressions were fine, lovely room (excepting the building site opposite). Our first problem was at the bar, the eastern european staff are all winging it with none of them really knowing what they are doing, the service was dire and our free drink (another part of the package) was queried as Reception hadn't hit the right button the the pc when we checked in. At dinner we requested our champagne and waited for 15 mins before a bottle of Verve Cliquot was shown us, only to be whisked straight away and replaced with the house champers! Dinner was very average, can say no more about it.
Breakfast was the usual buffet service, the juice was so weak it was tasteless. We had to go over to the waiters who were standing chatting at the service point to ask for some tea - and then all they have to do is top up mugs from a large thermos!
For the money it was completey unworth it - thankfully the concert was great but if it had have been a celebration weekend it wouldn't have been a very good one!
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