Rafayel on the Left Bank

We stayed at this hotel one night and were very pleased! The hotel overlooks the river and has a very modern feel when you walk in the lobby. The staff at the front desk were very friendly and helpful and willing to assist us with any requests that we had. I was pleasantly surprised with the size of our room and very nice bathroom. I think my favorite part of the room was the bathroom! The bed was comfortable and I was happy with the nice soft pillow. There were pillows on the bed and more in the closet to choose from. They also provided nice bath robes but clearly the robes are intended for tall people as it was huge on me. It was very quiet on our floor and we didn’t even see anyone else in the hallway. This place is a bit far from where the bars and restaurants are located, we walked for about 15min to get to the bars. I would definitely recommend this place!

Received an email from the Metropolitan Police Service telling me they recovered my IPad!!! No thanks to the hotel. One email after leaving the property regarding the theft, calling me a liar.

I went here last week and my feelings are kind of mixed about a few things.
The 5 star rating, for me, isnt right! 4 star maybe.
The décor through out the public spaces feels like it is trying far to hard to be high end art house but fails magnificently in the way things tend to when the try to be spec and just arent.
We werent given much info about the hotel upon arrival nor the surrounding interest points however they do have a really useful shuttle service to and from the near by tube station.
The room we stayed in was very nice! It had everything you would want from wifi to a shower with all over bodyjets.
My only grumble with the room would be the lack of pillows, 1 per person is not enough, but reception did bring us more when we asked. The discount given to hotel users in the restaurant is fantastic when you cant be bothered treking out into London after a long day. The location on the bank of the Thames and Chelsea heliport is fantastic, and the rooms are well enough insulated so that you dont hear them even though they come and go every two mins.
The green credentials of the hotel was also a nice little cheeky bonus, as too was the free use of the spa!

The service and décor of the restaurant at this hotel ain’t bad, quite trendy but the quality of the afternoon tea was a bit lack luster. Everything looked pretty and the glass of champagne was nice but it was very much style over substance. A few of my sandwiches were a bit dry on the edges and the cupcakes were a bit dry. Also I love a good dollop of clotted cream with my scone and the little pot would have been enough for just me but there were 3 of us. I guess as this hotel is little out of the way the weekends do get busy for afternoon tea and it’s bit of a conveyor belt.
There is a beautiful view of the river and if you have a chopper there’s a helipad right outside the hotel.

I went to the Rafayel in January of 2011 on my first visit to the UK. I cannot express how amazing this place was. From the moment you walk in to the moment you leave and all the little moments in-​between. I alwas felt at home. Dining at the Banyan on the Thames was also amazing. The portions were perfect and the food was als perfect. I had the chance to have drinks there too along with a couple of lunches and man, was it all tasty. I love London and I love this place. I hope to come back to it soon and get to experience more of that European-​ness that I always dreamed about. This is definitely a 5 star hotel.

The hotel seemed beautiful but the catering for our event was atrocious.