Location:
Booking:
The Lobby:
As soon as I entered the hotel, I was greeted with friendly and courteous staff. The check-in was smooth, efficient and I was kindly reminded of the requirement to wear masks at all time whenever in the lobby, bar and restaurants. As the hotel is situated in the heart of the city, it is no surprise that the decor of this luxury hotel echoed this. The artwork such as framed pictures and sculptures reflected British politics, the several Prime Ministers as well as the journey of how the city of London paved itself to becoming iconic. The lobby itself is dominated by a faceless statue of a man climbing a ladder with the Big Ben on his shoulders, perhaps symbolising how the working class men carried London on their shoulders to create this amazing city. I have not come across a hotel celebrating the United Kingdom to this extent before, which was great to experience.
In relations to COVID-19, the hotel was visibly doing well to maintain social distancing by having posts up in case of a queue, ensuring all customers wore masks in the communal areas of the hotel and having hand sanitisers and wipes at disposal of the customers.
The Rooms:
As mentioned before, I was upgraded to the King Executive room. The room was luxurious, spacious and adorned by several artwork, light fixtures and furniture which complimented the overall luxurious feel of the room. The bed was enormous and extremely comfortable, and the television located opposite was of a decent size with plenty of good channels to watch. The bathroom was of a great size with necessary amenities (shower gels, lotions, soaps, mouthwash and hand sanitisers), and had both a decent sized bath and shower. Overall amenities of the room included an iron, kettle, safe and a stocked up coffee machine, but the fridge only included a couple of bottles of waters and that is from being a Hilton Gold member, so perhaps those who are not may only be entitled to an empty fridge! Although the room was great, the view was very much not (unless you count walls as a view!)
Food:
The hotel does boast a couple of restaurants, bars and lounges. This includes the Blue Boar Bar, Blue Boar Restaurant, Emmeline’s Lounge (named after the feminism activist Emmeline Pankhurst) and the Tea Lounge. The recurring themes of these restaurants are quintessentially British, so offering a modern take on British pub food to afternoon tea. As a Hilton Gold member, I was entitled to free breakfast every morning, and what a breakfast it was! Due to COVID there was no buffet breakfast, only a la carte. There was loads to choose from: teas, coffees, fresh fruit, pastries to hot breakfast such as a classic English breakfast and omelettes. The selection was great and menu was thoroughly explained by an attentive host. I also visited the Blue Boar restaurant and ordered myself a curry, which was of a decent size and reasonably priced.
Hilton Gold members and above are entitled to visits to the Executive Lounge which would stock up free food and drinks, however due to COVID this was not the case, and the lounge only provided soft drinks and waters. The hotel definitely did make up for this by offering me a visit to the ‘happy hour’ at Emmeline’s Lounge every day of my stay, where I could dine on as many canapes and drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) as I would like between 17:30-19:30, at no extra cost. The canapes were delicious and the drinks list was extensive.
Conclusion:
Overall, I had a great time. The service was brilliant as the hotel staff were attentive, and made sure I was catered to. Although the hotel was luxurious, the outside of it definitely did not feel like it due to the scaffolding and construction going on… however this is London so what can you expect?! Would definitely recommend a stay at the Conrad St. James for a stay-cation, as it did feel like I was away from home.
Have you ever stayed at Conrad St. James?
What are your thoughts on it?
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