Aloft London Excel

séjour du 20 aout. les chambres sont spacieuses et belles, dommage qu’il n’y est pas de baignoire. ainsi qu’une chaine ciné ou série en français. là il n’y avait que de l’info. ce n’est pas mon hôtel préféré parmi ceux visités en europe. les plus métro sur le parvis (ca donne un peu l’impression d’être à la défense à paris). c’est propre. il y a une salle de sport avec du cardio, un sauna, un hammam et une petite piscine chauffée. côté service de cette partie rien à redire. en revanche le personnel né donne pas envie de prendre le petit déjeuner chez eux. idem à l’accueil, c’est mécanique et glacial. c’est la sécurité qui vous accueille parce que vous avez envie de faire une photo de l’hotel. vraiment bizarre. né fait aucun effort pour parler un peu le français ou juste un bonjour ou un au revoir. je n’y retournerais pas, il ya mieux pour des prix similaires.

Fantastic hotel, right beside the Excel Centre — possibly the largest room I’ve had in London. The hotel bar has a happy hour from 4 — 7, which makes it very affordable. The guys behind the bar know what they are doing and serve great cocktails.
The DLR is attached to the hotel, and makes it incredibly easy to get to Canary Wharf, Shoreditch and the rest of the city. I will most definitely be back here.

My first stay at an Aloft, which I take it is a budget brand amongst the Starwood hotels that they have imbued with a hip, trendy vibe. Okay, that works for me. This particular hotel is right next to a convention center, or practically part of the convention center (the fixtures in the hotel and in the CC bathrooms bear a striking resemblance), so it is convenient if you are here for a conference or trade show or whatnot. Since it is so close to the convention center I found it odd that it didn’t have a business center — seems like that would have been a good trade-​off for the full-​service restaurant (which I would have appreciated more if the kitchen offered room service) — but I suppose that could be a brand choice rather than an individual hotel issue. Then again, since all the restaurants seem to be 3 football fields away on the other side of the convention center, maybe the restaurant serves a good purpose. In any case, the basic amenities — a comfortable bed, free wifi, shower w/​almost immediate hot water, etc — were quite suitable.
The location is quite a ways east of central London, in an area that cabs and car services don’t seem to know very well. Our car service driver from Heathrow did a lot of driving around in circles to figure out how to get to the hotel, eventually dropping us off at the back door. If you’re coming from Heathrow or wanting to go into central London public transport is your best bet, with the Prince Regent stop on the Docklands Light Railway a short walk away.

Worked at the convention center next door and stayed here for the duration. Can’t speak for cost, but the hotel was clean and new. Was offered free breakfast (not anything to write home about) for the week and the proximity to the center is great.
The staff was friendly and helpful. I worked long days; the rooms were comfortable-​for me, being unable to hear the hallway traffic or my neighbors moving about was perfect. It was nice and quiet every night.

I will try to keep it brief, if you have a conference to attend at the «ExCel» then it is highly convenient as the center is just a hop skip away from the door. But let’s get real, for $ 300 a night this place could step up its amenities. Mainly room service, as in add it!!!
I have never been in a hotel this big, this nice, and this expensive and not had room service. Their «fueling station» near reception offers just about the worst sandwiches on earth and you have to go the bar to order a pizza. Don’t take the bait though, the pizza is not much better than the pre-​made sandwiches. They do have a restaurant which I did not visit other than for breakfast, which was not that bad. But sometimes a dude just wants to order room service so he can watch BBC 4 in a hotel bed and not be bothered to go outside and mingle with Muggles.
Pro Tip: Get a view of the water, its not too bad and you can watch planes land.

new, clean, and price are good, but internet was too slow

This is a good standard middle-​of-​the road business hotel near the ExCel Conference Center. Located on the EAST side of the ExCel (and conveniently attached to both the ExCel and the Prince Regent DLR Train station), this is a great location for business travelers who are exhibiting or attending an exhibit at the ExCel. Often the breakfast buffet is included with the price of the room and features freshed infused waters (which are very good!) and eggs-​cooked-​to-​order (in addition to the buffet scrambled eggs and boiled eggs). The FEDE restaurant is open during lunch (on exhibition days). The WXYZ Bar has nice bartenders who are ready to concoct a fun cocktail (including their standard «Year of the Dragon» of fresh strawberries and vodka and a great «Espresso Martini» with Vanilla vodka).

The level of customer service provided by the front desk was laughably unacceptable. Not once did they *ever* answer the phone. Not once in a four night stay. Anytime I needed to speak to someone I had to go all the way downstairs and speak to the confused desk personnel who seemed overwhelmed by having two customers waiting.
When I did have a request to make, for example. «Please change the battery in my room safe.» They were stunningly incompetent managing to pass that request on to the maintenance man. I had to go downstairs to the front desk no less than twice and repeat the request twice, and then stand there and stare at the desk clerk until he called maintenance. Then he turned his back to me and whispered to the maintenance person that «The guest is waiting.» As if all this wasn’t ridiculous enough, when a business associate tried to call me at the hotel, he was unable to *ever* get the front desk to answer the phone.
The hotel restaurant closes after breakfast and doesn’t open until five PM, then closes again at ten. From ten until breakfast there’s no food available in the hotel except from a kiosk that charges $ 5 for a pack of gum and $ 7.50 for a smaller than normal Coke. The bar closes early as well.
The only conclusion I can reach is that this hotel only survives as a business because some set of deluded corporations continue to book their poor, hapless employees into this place, dooming them to endure a kind of Kafka-​esque nightmare of surly service and impending sense of dread when speaking to the staff. If I could rate it at negative stars… I would.
The rooms are clean at least. No appliances caught fire.
The wifi is shockingly slow and I had to call tech support to get it to work with a MacBook Air. Really? Using a mac in 2014 requires a router reset?
All in all, a better customer service experience would be to leave a dented 2000-​era Sony robot in the lobby that shouts «Go away» and then charges your credit card ten Pounds for the experience.

London is one of the most expensive cities in Europe. Unless you’ve got upwards of $ 400-​$ 500/​night to spend, you’re going to be staying in less than ideal conditions. Knowing that we’re only in our rooms when our eyes are closed, we decided to stay in Zone 3 (based on the transport system). We stayed most of our time there over the holiday at the Aloft (which is a Starwood property).
It is based at Prince Regent stop off the DLR (Dockland’s Light Railway), it’s about a twenty minute tube/​DLR ride into Central London. As we were there for nearly a week, we bought a seven day tube pass which ran us about $ 35 or so. One thing we found out was that it didn’t include zone three, so had someone popped onto the DLR and checked we would have had to pay an additional $ 3.00 each way. We figured, we’d just claim ignorance. It never was an issue.
The hotel itself is typical Starwood modern. The rooms are huge. We had two rooms adjoined by a door. One of the rooms had a very large bathtub which you would never find in a room in London for what we payed (about $ 200/​night). Your cost is always going to vary based on whether there is a convention going on. The Aloft is really a a Convention Center hotel as it is right next to the convention center. So it’s worth checking.
I would recommend not going for the breakfast unless it’s included in the price of the room as it is nearly $ 25 per person. They also have a 24 hour «grab and go» area right in front of the reception desk which includes all kinds of food and beverages. They also have free Wifi.
The service is friendly, however it was a little frustrating trying to get food when the reception desk was busy.
The Aloft will always be my first choice of places to stay when visiting London on my own dime. It has a high-​end feel at affordable prices and will teach you how to use the London transport system. Plus… you get Starwood points! WARNING… if you want Starwood points… don’t use a third party site to make your reservations. I DID NOT get points because I made resies through Expedia. If the Starwood site gives you a higher per night cost than a third party site, call Starwood and they will most likely match the price.

Exceptional Starwood hotel located well to the east of the «main» part of London, but very convenient if you’re either at a convention in the ExCel or need to get to your office in Canary Wharf.
This place has changed my perception of aLoft hotels, and it’s very much for the better. On check-​in, they welcomed me warmly and said that they had a special treat for me as a Platinum guest. A very sweet suite upgrade followed, and I couldn’t believe my luck upon opening my door and seeing the huge living room overlooking the ExCel, with its own bathroom for guests and a 4-​person dining table next to two large couches in front of a coffee table. The bedroom was similarly large with a very comfortable king-​sized bed, and while the bathroom was standard aLoft with the in-​shower soap, shampoo, and conditioner dispensers.
While the aLoft brands don’t generally offer many amenities to guests, this one had some very neat touches. A regular shuttle to Canary Wharf (you need to call the hotel to schedule a pickup in the PM, though) made commuting to work very easy. The bar/​restaurant in the hotel lobby was very lively, and the self-​service food purchase snack bar was 24-​hour and the Front Desk staff would happily toast your sandwiches before sending you on your way. While I wasn’t a big fan of the upstairs restaurant for breakfast, they did include that as a SPG Platinum benefit, so I can’t really complain about «free».
Front Desk staff were very courteous and welcoming, but I think they could use a bit more help. Peak times saw the desk being mobbed, and the desk being circular meant that few people actually had the courtesy to queue. Still, they handled it with aplomb, and kept everybody moving. I am looking forward to being back, and at the prices they publish, it will be an absolute steal to stay there again.
P. S. Many GPS systems will have no clue how to get here, so you’re better off inputting the ExCel center lest you be led through the back roads and through the same roundabout 5 times. Yeap… did that… hope you don’t make the same mistake.

Had a really enjoyable stay at this hotel. The location is great if you’re attending a convention at the ExCel. The staff were friendly and helpful. My room was decently sized, modern and had a nice view of the Thames. The fitness facility was well equipped with treadmills, ellipticals, and free weights. I also liked that they provided 2 complementary bottles of water, free WiFi, and a little 24-​hour café for food and beverage purchases.

This is a nice-​looking hotel, with a sort of hip and trendy vibe. It was chosen for us by the folks producing a convention at the ExCel Center. The location cannot possibly be beat for convention access (tho it should be noted that it is some distance from anything else). You simply go to the second floor and walk a hundred yards to the convention center doors. It has free Wi-​Fi, which is great. It’s not readily available in all areas of London so having it at the hotel was definitely a great convenience. The breakfast was pretty good. Each breakfast ticket was good for three items from the little shop there: a sandwich, cereal, coffee (they have a cappuccino machine), croissant, fruit, etc. The shop is open most of the day for sales as well.
I did find them to be a bit ridiculous when it came to the cost, however. First, they only provided a breakfast ticket for one person in our room. You would think at that price when learning there were two of us they would simply provide two tickets. Also, we were looking to stay an extra day, and they quoted us 150 pounds. Online, the rate was 129. Additionally there was a buy one night get the next night at 40% off, but they weren’t willing to offer that additional discount for next day’s business (which would be win-​win, because they’d have business at a rate that was fair– a rate at which they already do business– and we wouldn’t have to move our things). Other area hotels are a quarter or half the price. When we asked later if we could book the room for another night they quoted us an even higher price of 160 pounds. That’s about $ 240. This is not a luxury hotel or particularly fancy and I don’t feel it is worth the money they charge.
If you’re looking to book here, note the rates are much better at other websites than at the Aloft website. They’re also far better than you can get at the desk.
Nonetheless our stay was fine, they do have wifi, they’re right at the tube, and they were located conveniently for our needs. I just found them overpriced.

Pretty awesome. Location won’t suit everyone but if you can make afford the commute then definitely give this place a try. Amazing perfectly organized rooms, really comfy bed. Brilliant large gym and excellent selve serve 24hr café. Couldn’t fault the place and cannot wait to stay in Aloft again!

It was price alone that led my wife and I to choose this hotel. It is a long way out of Central London (about 20 – 30 mins on the DLR and Tube) but once you’re used to that, the trek is very much worth it.
This new, modern, well equipped hotel is more in line with with a W than other brands in the Starwood chain. The staff are all extremely friendly and a special mention to the young lady with glasses in the small snack/​breakfast area who was particularly cheerful and even expressed sadness that we were leaving on our check out day. What a pleasant touch.
Our room was very comfortable and the bed huge. The bathroom is well stocked with high quality toiletries and there were plenty of channels to watch on the TV.
It was a little irksome that they do not honour the upgrade process for platinum guests nor is there a preferred guest queue at reception however we at least did not have to wait very long to check-​in.
There is plenty of seating in the communal areas and I loved all the little cubby holes in the bar area where you could sit and unwind after a busy day. On Friday the bar had a DJ playing some great electro house and if we didn’t have a wedding to go to the next day we would have been boogeying in the lobby!
Finally being brand new and not confined by space like many centrally located hotels, there’s also a great gym, pool, steam room and sauna. On my first visit the sauna and steamroom were both turned down very low but I spoke to reception and they were soon cranked up to great hot temperatures
I thoroughly recommend this hotel and urge anyone considering it for a trip to London not be put off by the location.