More about Park Plaza Westminster Bridge London
Lovely hotel, excellent location for us
by TripAdvisor Member nupi
We stayed at the hotel from the 5th - 7th March after getting a great Travelzoo deal. First impressions - the hotel is certainly impressive and the lobby and swanky decor was great. Our room was a Superior room (I think) but the view wasnt great but for the price we werent that bothered.
The decor of the hotel is exactly what me and my partner love so loved the room. A good double bed, cmofortable mattress and we had a seating area to entertain guests - and 2 LCD tvs!
Nothing was too much trouble for the staff - I had guests over on Friday night and they were great bringing up extra wine glasses, room service etc promptly. They were great on the Sunday as we had plans for Sunday afternoon they allowed us to have a late checkout for no futher fees.
I would love to stay here again, I suspect prices will rise sharply however when all the facilities etc are opened which is a shame.
Also location was great if you're planning on using the trains - Waterloo is less than a 5 min walk away. We also had our car and there is a contract car park they use that is opposite the hotel which is £10 a day which isn't too bad.
Recommended!
ideal location
by TripAdvisor Member sopranoLCS
we stayed 1 day after hotel officially opened, and staff could not do enough to help. Very friendly. We had booked a deal with travelzoo and were upgraded to a suite very nice indeed (although the wine promised on the booking confirmation never materialised). Breakfast was excellent. We had a room on 10 floor overlooking back of St Thomas Hospital, and did have a few sirens overnight.
Concierge very helpful with travel details
Great treat to stay in London
Westminster Park Plaza
by TripAdvisor Member jomotheman
Spent two days last week in this hotel, staff very friendly, we checked in after 4pm our room wasn't ready so we were upgraded toa studio room, this was an excellent room with the two tvs and lovely leather suites, the only problem we had with it was the bathroom had a really bad odour like blocked drain smell.
On friday morning we went to breakfat the staff were a bit dis-organised and the full english was cold and not very apetizing, no fried eggs, powdered scrambled, no fried bread and very sour mushrooms, I would be broken hearted if I had paid the full asking price for breakfast £22 very poor.
Saturday morning was exactly the same at breakfast time but staff were not clearing the tables fast enough as a fairly large queue had formed outside the main dining room extra tables and chairs had to be set up to accomadate, again all, the food was cold and we had to ask several times for some of the food to be replenished.
What is needed in this hotel is a little more organisation especially at meal times, someone to be in charge, there are plenty of staff but they need utilizing properly and lets have a better stanard of the full english if your charging that amount of money
Still it is early days and they are not officially open until July hope they manage to improve by then
Wait - not ready yet
by TripAdvisor Member uk_hotel_expert
This is a pretty swish hotel in a near-perfect location, overlooking Westminster...albeit a little walk to the tube. Because everything is new there's not much to go wrong, apart from the 'teething troubles'. For example, the lifts are a bit cranky and there's no ice machines or shoe polishing machines installed in the designated areas yet. Acutally, the builders are in and you can expect drilling from about 9am.
Worse still I had a fire alarm go off each night (4am/5am) for two consecutive nights! Breakfast is also dissappointing, no fried eggs!! Moreover, there's no mobile phone signal throughout the hotel and the in-room internet is the usual rip-off £10 a day.
Rooms are nice, beds are comfy, some rooms don't have any view of the outside (a window that overlooks an annex). I found my room a little stuffy - it's one of those hotels that you needs the air fan on all the time. Staff are very attentive.
Don't let all of this put you off, there's a lot worse in London. I would pay £100 a night but nothing more, particularly as it shouldn't really be open. If location is your thing then you'll probably enjoy your stay.
Major, Major Kinks need to be worked out.
by TripAdvisor Member dieterhansi
Stayed 4 nights in conjunction with a conference. Rate cheap but expected considering not even technically 'open' yet. Room fine, except that sink clogged and toilet periodically made fairly loud noises not associated with hotel guest (me), also toilet smelled somehow (also not associated with me. Plumber was in a rush i think.
Twice at 430 AM (maybe tonight, I'm still here, I hope not) Alarm went off, loudly but briefly, I assume this applied to the entire hotel because I heard others complaining and they were staying on a different floor from me.
The day after my first night there was no housekeeping provided in my room. This could not have been due to me being in the room or bc the do not disturb sign was up (I was out all day
No phone service in the conference area.
On check out, GBP was automatically converted to USD...when I reviewed my bill, it noted that there was a 3.5% surcharge applied for the luxury of said conversion. Of course, when this was initially presented no such charge was revealed. I have heard of this happening elsewhere and find it offensive. Anyway I asked to have the charge reversed but was glad I noticed.
Positives: Food at conference was quite good. Conference facility nice . Swank if you like that. Employees generally competent.
Overall: Go if the rate is EXTREMELY competitive but even then be wary.
Nice hotel in prime location staff very very helpful
by TripAdvisor Member ontour2007
I have just returned from another hotel in London but, took the opportunity to look around the new hotel as it has just openned.
I found the staff to be really helpful and I asked to see 3 room types, standard, family and a suite. All are decorated to a great standard, bathrooms are lovely. The rooms seem to be narrow and long compared to the other plaza hotel I stayed at.
The hotel does have some construction work to be completed, executive lounge was not finished but, they maybe taking you to another area.
This is a very large round hotel, the best views are on the westminster bridge side, that you have to pay a premium for. Some rooms do not have a view I think it is called atrium view but, if you just want a nice crash pad, these rooms are just perfect.
It will be a fantastic hotel once the pool is open and all work is finished I am sure the price tag will reflect that.
Look forward to staying here in the future.
Great location and lovely stay
by TripAdvisor Member businessstuart
I stayed here with friends after being on a week long business trip and it was my forth hotel of the week! The hotel is new and needs to work on some of its teething issues however you can't expect a new 1000 room hotel to open with out any minor issues!!
The staff are always trying really hard to make sure your stay is as pleasant as possible!
I never had dinner but the breakfast was nice and fresh although to room was busy there was plenty of staff to serve you!
Checkin can be a bit slow as staff seem to still be getting trained.
Beware of bad smells and early morning fire alarms!
by TripAdvisor Member s-and-dw
We stayed three nights (9th-12th March) and although our initial impressions were very good, we quickly began to see cracks with the hotel both in terms of service, and the rooms. On the plus side, the hotel is in a great location, the lobby is lovely, and there are lots of friendly staff waiting to greet you and help with bags etc. Check-in was smoothly done and all was well until we entered our room and found ourselves greeted with a foul smell in the bathroom. To be fair the smell went away reasonably quickly with the bathroom fans so we thought no more of it, that is until we returned after a day out and found that the smell had also come back. We reported the issue to the reception who assured us that it would be investigated the next day (this was our choice not to have maintainence come up immediately as we were so tired). After crashing out, we were rudely awoken by a fire alarm going off at approx 5.30am, we put it down to a blip with it being a new hotel, but the fire alarm went off again the next two mornings with each morning getting progressively earlier (5.30am the first time, 5.10am the second, and 4.20am the third). By the end of our short stay we looked like zombies. The most annoying thing about it was the way that some hotel staff found it amusing, and the conflicting reasons for the fire alarms going off. We were given the following reasons for the fire alarms - they were accidently set off by workmen who were finishing off the spa, the fire alarms were being tested "for our safety", a member of the hotel staff had set them off on purpose, someone had burnt toast! Whoever we spoke to about it, no meaningful apologies were ever given.
In terms of the smell in the bathroom, nobody came up to resolve the issue the next day (as promised) we complained again and were again assured it would be dealt with which it wasn't until the final night when it eventually transpired that it was the drainage system, the solution... they stuffed toilet roll into the drainhole to lessen the smell!
What else can I say about the room, it was very nicely done but there were snags, for example our bathroom door wouldn't shut properly as the catch was misaligned and even if it had shut, there was no lock on the door and the lighting system didn't always work properly. Minor things which I guess you would expect from a new place.
Breakfast was disappointing, we asked for well done toast which appeared to be impossible for them to do. We ended up with bread which was completely untoasted on one side and was v.v.lightly toasted on the other. The waiting staff were lovely but there clearly was a language barrier when it came to asking for well done toast. The eggs were powdered scrambled eggs (we were told that fried / poached / boiled eggs were only available if you ordered room service (at an additional cost) as were veggie sausages!!!) and the black puddings were a v.unusual shade of light brown...
Would I go back, maybe, but only in a few months time when things have improved and only when I know I have to be up early (and thus wouldnt mind the fire alarms!!!)
GREAT LOCATION. SMALL RESTAURANT CANNOT COPE WITH 1,000 ROOMS
by TripAdvisor Member pharr
This is brand new so you expect it to be clean which it is. However the designer has got this one so wrong. Atrium view is basically looking at a wall and not atrium as I have previously experienced. We were in superior room and this meant still looking at the wall. You have no idea what the weather is like and it feels very prisoner like - strange. The room itself was fine. However I expect a male has designed it as on the writing table where the sockets are there is no mirror. Yep plenty of mirrors in bathroom but as we all know I do not want to apply make up and do hair when hubby is releasing his dinner. Therefore had to sit on floor near door to do make up!!!!! Next problem they are going to have, considering we stayed in hotel when they only let out 300 rooms then they are in deep poo poo when it comes to breakfast, we went to restaurant which was full then had to trek to another part of hotel. The restaurant and bar area are not adequate for the amount of rooms. Food is expensive for what it is, you will get a shock in the lounge at what they call a pint of prawns, turns out a pint in Park Plaza is a quarter of a pint of barely defrosted prawns with a couple of sauces £8 for the pleasure. The meatballs were again £8 and were about 1.5 cms in width. If you think you can get relatively comfortably satisfied with their bar food then I suggest you go somewhere else - we kept ordering and ordering more dishes cause we were so hungry. The hotel is very bare in its reception, no signs - nothing. People wander around aimlessly and when I was in the female loos the signage was soo poor and badly lit that men were constantly coming in. A glass of wine is about £4.95 which is the going rate, bottle of cheap wine £18. Even though we had the do not disturb sign on door the room attendants were constantly knocking on door - this is something I get very irritated about so called posher hotels. Surely in an age of computers and communication reception could keep housekeeping informed of who has checked out etc. It is very irritating constantly having to tell them to go away. The tv did not work, great having a fancy plasma on the wall but when you want to see the weather etc I would have any old Grundig sat in the corner than an aesthetically pleasing piece of useless equipment. This is something which happens a lot now in hotels with these hi teq wall hanging disasters. Plus side is great location, if you get the special deal like we did then its fine, but if you are out to pay top whack then I am not so sure. This hotel appears more completely for the corporate, for the big seminars and conferences and generally more directed at business - its not that welcoming, it feels like an empty shell and there are areas of design which are just unbelievably bad.
fantastic location, really funky and modern, clean inside
by TripAdvisor Member Lady46
stayed on a travelzoo special £89 b&b thought we were going to get a cheapy room but really spacious, plasma tv with useful tourist guide info and loads of tv channels, really clean gorgeous bathroom and deep bath and shower. really clean as new hotel.
would def recommend and return myself, breakfast was also delicious, staff helpful, also has lovely bar and coffee bar
Photos
Captain Kidd Pub - London
Interior (3)
Dorothy dummy in Harrods window
Night view from Tate Modern
Forum Posts
Smoking in London
by califtraveler
Good Morning. I'm planning a trip to London in early October. Haven't been to your lovely city in 20 years so most eager to return. Problem: I'm a smoker (no lectures please, I've heard them all). Question: What is the current policy regarding smoking in London, particularly in hotel rooms? Do most hotels offer smoking/no smoking rooms or is there a ban on smoking in hotel rooms altogether? Thanks for any help you can offer.
Re: Smoking in London
by unaS
Haven't been to London for many years now so can't give you a direct answer.
All I can say, as a smoker, is that I have found lately that flats are more accommodating than hotels in many places.
Re: Smoking in London
by leics
The law about smoking indoors in the UK is very strictly applied everywhere. 'Indoors' means airports, railway stations, buses, taxis, all shops/restaurants/pubs/cafes, theatres....anywhere with a roof, really (and, in the case of railway stations, places without a roof too).
The vast majority of hotels/hostels/b&bs etc have now adopted a fully non-smoking policy (although you may find some which allow smoking in some rooms). Trying to comply with the regulations and still provide smking rooms is just too mcuh hassle (and the fire insurance premiums are much higher if smking is allowed on the premises).
I'm afraid you will just have to join the other smoking 'pariahs' standing around outside in the damp and chill. :-(
Re: Smoking in London
by leics
You will also find that many/most self-catering properties (apartments, flats, cottages) are also non-smoking. Insurance reasons, and the fact that the majority of clients nowadays will complain at the smell of smoke.
Re: Smoking in London
by traceyspacey
The Holiday Inn Express chain offer smoking and non smoking rooms. www.hiexpress.co.uk. Hope that helps. Enjoy your stay.
Re: Smoking in London
by hawkhead
Travelodge also offers smoking and non-smoking, although the non-smoking rooms far out-number the smoking ones.
Re: Smoking in London
by geoveo
and most of the chain hotels will levy a £100 fine if you smoke in a non-smoking room.
Re: Smoking in London
by dave.richards
Be careful even when smoking outdoors in areas which you believe are legal. Look out for 'no smoking' signs. An example is a bus stop; Depending on its size and structure, some bus stops are no smoking zones, others are not. The penalties are quite severe.
Re: Smoking in London
by leics
Same applies to some private land e.g. hospital and school grounds (although you hopefully won't be on those), and land owned by British Rail (stations, platforms etc).
You probably won't be fined but you may be seriously told off. Look out for the signs.
Re: Smoking in London
by dave.richards
If you want to smoke that badly, go rob a bank. You are allowed to smoke in jails, but only if an inmate. Warders cannot smoke there as its a place of work.
On a serious note, make sure you don't throw your 'fag ends' onto the pavement, grass, road etc. It's a heavy on-the-spot fine if caught. Use a pocket ashtray and take your stubs home.
Sign in with Facebook
