The Waldorf Hilton, London

Worst travel experience EVER. Finally calmed down enough to write this. This morning I was happily in a nice warm/​hot shower. I hear a pounding on my hotel room door. I jump out of the shower and grab a towel. I rush to the door and open the peep hole slicing my thumb on the brass. With blood starting to drip I asked what they needed and I heard «security please open the door»! I said just a minute and turned down the speaker in the bathroom to make sure I heard correctly. I then said I’m sorry I’ve been in the shower and am only in a towel. He said again «security open the door». I said just a moment and turned the tv completely off, returned to the door and said I’m sorry I just got out of the shower and I’m in a towel. He said «mam this is security and you must open the door.» He did not show any ID nor did he give the reason. I cracked the door (in my towel) and said what do you need? He said I need to come in and I said no way I’m in a towel and just GOT out of the shower so what do you need? Just then another guest walked by so super NOT awesome and quite embarrassing. He then stated «your steam from the shower set off a pre-​fire alarm so you need to open the bathroom window and keep the bathroom door open.» I said I would and thanked him and shut the door. I then proceeded to clean up the blood from my cut and found a bandaid for it. After I dressed, packed, and dropped my bags at the concierge desk I asked the front desk to speak to a manager. The first manager that was called was too busy to speak with me so the kind front desk gentleman called Heather the on-​duty manager. I explained why I was upset. She apologized and offered me a free cappuccino and some still water. She stated she saw the alarm so I asked her did you all think to look if the room had a lone female before you sent a male security guard? The answer was no. I also wondered why the security guard couldn’t have told me to open the window without forcing me to open the door in a towel. Also if this has happened before shouldn’t they worn customers. She did offer to give me 25% off my stay but I informed her I stayed on points and specifically chose this higher end hotel so I would feel safe in a foreign country I hadn’t visited before which ended up not being the case. Several very concerning thoughts here: 1. Why was the first manager too busy to speak to an upset customer; 2. Why did the manager of security not offer an apology; 3. Why isn’t it required for hotel security to display official badges before requiring a customer to open the door; 4. I thought HILTON had a 100% satisfaction guaranteed not a 25% guarantee; 5. I tried calling HILTON honors (did I mention I have Diamond status) to complain but the wait was over 10 minutes and I’m in a foreign country so chose not to add insult to injury by paying super high cell rates to sit on hold. Well now I’m going to try to enjoy my last few hours in London away from this hotel. Not happy at all.

Well, considering this was a freebie-​on-​points stay, we got a very nice room, but there ARE some differences to what you’d see in an American hotel.
I think the American hoteliers actually STAY in the rooms they design — or at least pretend to — when they do the layout. Granted, of course, most American hotels are not as old as this one (and it’s a relative newcomer on the scene, built in 1908), but there’s some wacky details I do not understand.
Adjusting the temperature in the room requires the application of boobages to the television. The only way to reach the switch is to lean waaaaaaay over and attempt to discern the hieroglyphics on the thermostat… which appear to be in the original Egyptian.
Lean further, squinting. Television totters precariously if you’re over a C cup.
Adjust thermostat, hoping in vain for a change in temperature, which finally occurs hours later… as the damn thing senses your exit from the shower.
The tub… It’s perfect. Absolutely perfect.
If you’re an Olympic gymnast. My other half’s observation: wow, it’s high up. And big.
Kinda depends on how you define «big». It’s big like the airlines define big. You can be of greater than average height, but you better have some skinnyass hips.
First, you figure out the plumbing. Two sets of taps. Check.
Then the splash guard. Instead of a shower curtain, they use these acrylic flappy things. That has to be positioned outta the way as you vault your nekkid ass over the side of Gargantua the Bathtub that Ate Londontown like some porno circus performer.
BWAH. With great good fortune, you land on your feet. Which, if your boats are larger than a ladies 8W, will be standing on top of each other due to the width of the bottom of the tub. Gargantua slims down to a petite little waif at the bottom.
Hence my reticence for actually bathing as opposed to showering. Much like my disinclination to ascend the climbing structures at the local McDonalds, I hesitate as extraction could involve two firetrucks and the biggest fukkin’ plunger known to man.
At the slightest misstep, you stand on the bath plug, which, given Gargantua’s delicate little bottom, fills at an alarming pace as you shower as you find you’ve stopped up the tub.
Blind, bucknaked, soapy and slithering, you attempt to locate the plug release (and note to the hoteliers of the world: I LOATHE those stupid «rainshower» shower heads. It’s like being a fireman on the mountainside when the sooper scooper (water dropping helicopter) dumps it’s load).
Fondling around the end of the tub, cussing, as you try to figure out what, exactly, is preventing the plug from popping up. Finally, give up and determine the dismount from Gargantua will require your most accomplished gymnastic maneuver to date.
Sh!t.
Can’t hold on the acrylic flap, it’s slippery, as is the side of the tub. No handrail at all. The only thing available is what made me drool as I walked in, but now appears as a medieval torture device: the towel warmer.
With an ominous warning of «HOT! DO NOT TOUCH!» it occurs to me there is the potential for not only going AOT (arse over t…) smacko into that weird circular tube of a toilet, you could have a courtesy third degree burn on your mitt to boot.
Double sh! t.
I take my towel off the rack and am oddly disappointed it’s cold. What a gyp… until I realize I might not have a warm and snuggy towel (well, okay, part of it was soggy due to the height of the bathwater at that point), but I can at least exit the tub without breaking a limb.
The hotel itself is in the best location if you’re doing the theaters. All n all, I loved it.

Top notch service. Room was perfect. The executive lounge was very good, drinks and foods were kept freshly topped up.

Very poor customer service. Lots of style over actual substance. Unhelpful staff who are clearly only trained to smile, not run a functioning hotel. After arriving jet-​lagged after our 10-​hour flight to London, were made to wait 3 hours in the Executive Suite while they filled our room. Yes, we arrived earlier than check-​in time, but that’s NEVER happened, especially as we are Hilton Gold members. Not a huge deal if we hadn’t made such a long trip, but we had, and it started out very unpleasantly because of the front desk staff. (The majority of which were interns. They’re young and new so it’s not their fault, but where’s the upper management?). When we finally DID get our room, it was a one-​bed, not a double bed room like we booked. We were told WE must have made some sort of mistake – not them. So that took another half hour.
Afternoon tea and the Executive Suite are pretty lackluster. It’s a fine hotel looks-​wise, but not nearly as grand as advertised. Feels a little run-​down.

Highly recommend this place. Great location central and service was great. Clean rooms and great amenities. Check it out.

5 star because the staff and customer service made my 4 day stay more then memorable. Simon, Pearl, Robert, Jeff, Gabrelle, you all were just wonderful and I will be back to stay because of you.
This hotel is centrally located and walking distance from everything, attraction, aquarium, London eye, nightlife and tons of restaurants. The hotel has a wonderful London charm to it with a chic twist. Everything was extremely clean and the breakfast in the am with unlimited caffe lattes were awakening.
Thank you all again!

Came here for one night on a Thursday. My other half has diamond Hilton status which apparently secured us an upgrade, but in these old hotels it’s difficult to tell. The room was passable, nothing fancy and the décor was tired and a bit worn. In common with most of these hotels, the lighting is deliberately low. We went to the executive lounge for our complementary snacks, but the room was overwhelmed with guests devouring everything in sight in a way that only the word ‘free’ can incite. The staff milled around uselessly. We repaired to the bar downstairs, hoping for relief, but the service there was appallingly slow. It was a battle to get anyone’s attention, let alone a drink. It took us 25 minutes to secure a beverage. Admittedly they did take it off the bill.
Breakfast the next morning in the executive lounge was a much more civilised affair with far fewer (paying) guests, and was not bad at all for a buffet. Coffee was from a machine though.
All in all, an unexceptional experience from a mediocre hotel.

What a promising start I scored an upgrade to a Suite; shame I was traveling without my wife! I was also given free wifi — great for catching up on work. A lovely sized room with everything I could want for on a business trip. Then it was all the little details that went wrong for me. The bedside clock was 20 minutes slow so I ambled down to the bar for a late evening snack to find the kitchen had shut 10 minutes earlier! There were two sinks in the bathroom and both had problems with the plug, one would not open the other would not shut. Staff were lovely, welcoming and polite. I would stay here again but next time I will check my own watch!

Good hotel in the middle of the theatre district. I stayed here for a long time (~2 weeks+) Oct14. its a bit expensive and the service is just ok. Small but nice pool in the basement. Nice gym with a good size. The executive lounge staff are helpful; receptionists are not as much.

Very close to 4 stars. Thoughts:
Location is ok. I bounced around London a bit and this is close to a lot of stuff but the direct neighborhood is a bit meh. We got in around 10 and everything around the hotel was closed so we just grabbed some food at a grocery store.
Hotel is attractive from the outside. Inside is nice too, though it feels a little cramped. I’m not a baller Hilton Diamond or anything, just a Gold, so I didn’t really get an upgrade. I did get a queen bed instead of two twins at least. No lounge access as Gold at this hotel. I wanted to get in a quick workout after arriving late but the gym here is not ²⁴⁄₇ (some sort of attached LA Fitness… I don’t know, it could be nice, but I wasn’t able to check it out). The upstairs floors are nice. Often, hotels have dark pudgy colors in the hallways but they have a nice bright blue and white palette here which I appreciated. The room was tiny but nice.
Breakfast was great. The room that it is served in is beautiful. Gold status does get you one thing here — a full english breakfast in addition to the buffet. Service was great, food was generally quite good, and overall I was very appreciative of the good start to the day.
Given that unavoidable Unilocaler tendency to prereview places before you leave, I thought 4 stars was good for this. One thing that irked me oh so slightly — I called the hotel after believing I’d left my iPhone charger in the room. I got bounced around and put on hold for a while, then spoke with someone who assured me that they’d give me a call back either way to let me know if they found the charger in the room. I never got a call back. On the plus side, I found the charger. Still, I’ve found other chain hotel locations to be a lot friendlier and more responsive to lost item requests.

We stayed here for 5 days on a vacation from Boston, MA. First, they attempted to give us a room that smelled horribly of body odor. And when I say horribly, I mean the bell man grabbed his nose an agreed we could not stay in the room. We were given a new room 5 hours later, that was very satisfactory, and far more updated than the room we were originally given.
During our 5 days, the entire room’s electricity shorted out 4 times. Each time we called down to have someone fix the issue, and they never once answered the phone. So then we walked down to the front desk, and each time there were several people standing there, unoccupied. Lots of excuses for why they did not answer the phone and why the entire room would short out multiple times.
Then our toilet broke. We waited 7 hours, 2 phone calls, add 1 stern trip to the front desk to get that fixed. Actually by that time, my husband largely fixed it himself. Pathetic. I feel like I’m staying in the Irish countryside, not the theater district of London, let alone a Hilton. Very disappointing. Though the neighborhood is great.
I would not stay here again. P. s. you have to pay for internet. What???

Thought I try the Rose afternoon tea here (for the sake of research, my friend and I decided to try afternoon tea at different establishments), since The Waldorf is supposedly famed for their afternoon teas and tea dances.
Now taken over by the Hilton brand, the venue does need some refurburbishment, it feels really jaded and worn.
Unfortunately, the entrance to the Homage Restaurant where the afternoon tea was taking place was marred by a long wait for a missing booking to be found on the computer for the person in front, even though they had a print out. New technology!
When we were shown to our table, which was the last one next to a pillar and before the door to the atrium, there was an empty table placed right next to our table behind the pillar, seems to be left there for storage! I faced the window overlooking the atrium, but it was bare with empty tables, again seems to be used as a place for storage. My companion had a better view facing into the restaurant, of lovely chandeliers and a few palms.
After sitting down, we were asked what teas we would like without giving us the menu. Once we decided on our teas, we were served with our Rose champagne. And finger sandwiches appeared on a platter for two. Did not taste of anything special, actually the bread was quite bland (I am just too used to better bread from my local bakery).
This was followed by the three tier stand, with warm scones and clotted cream (which was quite runny) and strawberry jam, and a few small tea pastries, which was extremely rich.
Although, it was a 90 minutes sitting, we were never hurried and we did over extend our stay, without any problems. Overall, service was average, food was average, ambience tired.

Much improved after being refurbished since my last visit. Rooms are a tad small (especially the loo) but modern décor. Fresh paint and new carpets.
Front desk staff is very polite, friendly, and efficient. Bell staff is on the job the minute a taxi pulls up and the doorman is helpful and on top of things
The Concierge desk is very helpful – they assisted me in wrapping a package and getting it posted.
A very nice hotel that I highly recommend!

I would definitely stay here again for the good showers, cleans and modern rooms as well as the nice location. But watch out for rooms far from the lift and cramped like a shoebox!

This is the second time that I’ve stayed here and would highly recommend it. The hotel is a respite from the wonderful hustle of London. Old world elegance full of marble and charm. It reminds me of beautiful seaside homes in Newport. Even without the executive perks; fair breakfast and open bar, it is still worth the elevated price tag.
I don’t understand the low ratings. I would ignore them. The rooms are beautiful and the service excellent. I usually stay in W’s and Westins and this is a welcomed change.

Recently stayed here for a corporate event and my conclusion is: this is just a very tired hotel. Staff are friendly enough, but none of them seem to be native speakers — which made communication difficult at times. Room service arrived late and luke warm at best. None of our orders was complete. Housekeeping was also not up to standards: used glasses, teapot and teacups were not replaced, corkscrew was removed, tea was not restocked. The same applied to bathroom amenities. The room itself was fine, but not worth the rate charged for it. And at those prices, there really should be free wifi everywhere. It is time for the Waldorff to step up the plate and change a few things — before it is too late to save this icon! At these prices there are much better alternatives in London.

A friend and myself bought a Groupon for the high tea offered at the hotel. So, that is the only part that I can review. Have yet to see the actual tea room listed to review.
As for the experience, this tea was one of the best ones that I have had. We had a lovely time catching up over the champagne and the luxury teas. The service was great– as I expected it to be from a Hilton. If you are looking for a more moderate-​high end tea experience in London, I recommend the Waldorf!

I made it to my hotel after about twenty minutes of walking around in a huge circle, something I would do almost all the time during my stay in London. For my first night I was staying at The Waldorf Hilton. It is located right in the theatre area. When I arrived my room was not yet ready as I had expected since it was something early like 8 am.
Checking into my room it was well worth the wait. The room was huge. I had much more space than what I honestly needed. I walked into a living room with complimentary sparkling and flat water alongside some macaroons. Off to the left where I thought was a closet was actually a second bathroom that had just a toilet. In and to the right you walked passed a pretty big full bathroom that had a tub with a TV and a shower as well. The amenities of the hotel room were definitely first class.
The hotel staff was very friendly and in the shuffle of things I lost my ID once but they returned it to me promptly.

Disappointed in the hotel, rooms and service.
We stayed there 2 night in early June… and the hotel was full. We arrived at 11pm, and were given what i can only assume was a surplus room. The room it self was ok (Room 805), but there were some issues.
1. The elevator goes to the 7^th floor… and the 8^th floor is a walkup.
2. The room was not clean, and had significant dirt (in the air conditioning unit).
3. The bathroom was not kept up — pieces of tile were falling off the tub, and there was mold there also.
We asked to be moved, but they could not accommodate that evening.
We were moved the next day to another room (121) — the tub did not drain, and the front door lock was broken.
Those are the issues with the room. We also had some issues with service (people who moved our luggage were very rude).
Not only did they not make up for giving us such a bad room the first night… but we were moved into a subpar room the 2^nd night.
The 1^st night was over $ 400 for the night (which we used a reward certificate for), and the 2^nd night was 50,000 points (as we booked the room a while ago — now the same room is 80,000 points per night).
Disappointed in the Hilton London, especially considering the price the hotel charges.
The Hilton Park Lane was my second choice… and i wish it had been my 1^st… next time i will consider staying elsewhere.

Wir hatten hohe Erwartungen an das Hotel, wahrscheinlich zu hohe. Als wir ankamen hat man uns ein upgrade versprochen mit Zugang zur executive lounge, aber dann war das Zimmer doch nicht frei. Im dann zugewiesenen Zimmer stand ein Extrabett, was alles versperrt hat. Als wir vom Abendessen zurückkamen, war das immerhin weggeräumt. Das Frühstück am nächsten Tag war chaotisch, das Nachlegen am Buffet klappte gar nicht und Kaffee zu bekommen, war auch nicht einfach.
Fazit: Das Gebäude ist schön, die Zimmer auch, aber die Organisation ist chaotisch. Schade!

You can’t bet the location! Centrally located in London, it is walking distance to major attractions and just two blocks from the tube. Staff is friendly, attentive, and helpful. Rooms are appointed with lots of pillows, mini frig, kettle, coffee/​tea, biscuit, and PeterThomasRoth skin care, how can you beat that?
If you get the chance, sneak a peek at the ballroom, it will take your breath away! Simply beautiful. The natural lighting from above really adds the wow factor to the room.
They are currently renovating the hotel, so lots more goodies to come!

Sehr gutes Hotel, mit sehr aufmerksamen Service. Die Lage in Aldwych ist sehr zentral. Das Frühstückbueffet ist reichhaltig, das Personal freundlich. Das Doppelzimmer sehr klein. Bei der Ausstattung fehlte die eine oder andere Kleinigkeit um auch den fünften Stern zu bekommen, z. B. die Hausschuhe. Derzeit wird dieses Hotel wie dem vernehmen nach alle anderen auch für die Olympischen Spiele renoviert.

Sehr schönes altes Gebäude mitten im Theaterdistrict. Von der Liverpool Station als auch zur Oxford Street sind es ca. 12 Pfund mit dem Taxi. Im Umkreis geibt es viele erstklassige Restaurants sowie die meisten Musicaltheater. Sehr freundliches zuvorkommendes Personal. Große saubere Zimmer. Ein wirklich überwältigender Frühstücksraum mit einem sehr gutem reichhaltigen Frühstücksbuffet. Zum Nachmittagstee werden außer verschiedene Teesorten oder Champagner eine auswahl erlesener Patiseriespezialitäten und Sandwiches gereicht.

Der größte Moment in meinem Leben: Als ich das erste Mal dieses Hotel betreten habe. Da gehörte es noch zu einer anderen Hotelkette, aber dies hat meinen erneuten Aufenthalt nicht weiter gestört.
Es ist für mich immer noch eines der besten Hotels in der Welt. Der Conciergeservice ist super und kaum zu toppen. Das schönste an diesem Hotel ist jedoch der Tangotanztee. Ein Tanztee in London in diesem Hotel ist das größte und schönste was es gibt.
Der Frühstücksraum ist ein Saal der nur so von Luxus erstrahlt und hier ist ein wenig mehr einfach ein wenig viel mehr, aber immer mit dem genügenden Understatement.
I love London — I love the Waldorf

Tres bien
Un peu de luxe ça fait du bien dans cet hotel calme et reposant apres une journée de musée et de shopping. Tout le confort dans les chambres et un tres bon restaurant pour bruncher a l’anglaise.