13 Sep Novotel London West – A Comfortable Stay in Hammersmith
After the bad experience with Lily Hotel I moved to another place to be closer to my workshop address, so I was lucky enough to test two hotels on the same trip.
First of all I will review this second hotel according to my usual criteria and maybe compare it to other places of the same type.
Novotel London West is something entirely different. Situated at 1 Shortlands, Hammersmith International Centre, the hotel offers something for every possible type of guest.
If you walk by the front entrance you will have to take the elevator up to the reception where many members of the staff await and are ready to help you check in.
Since I arrived a bit earlier at the hotel I managed to drop my luggage downstairs and get out to explore London for a while before my workshop.
Below sits my experience in this place:
Location
While not exactly central, the hotel is 2–3 minutes away from Hammersmith tube station which sits on the Piccadilly Line. Now this is a great advantage since from Hammersmith you can reach Piccadilly Circus very fast, without having to change the line.
Another great advantage is the fact that there is a line straight from the airport to Hammersmith (Piccadilly Line), so after landing on Heathrow you can reach the hotel quite fast.
If you consider reaching some important places on foot, Hyde Park is about 3.5 km away while Marble Arch is about 5.5 km away.
That being said, in my opinion there’s no need to walk from there since the tube is so close and easy to use.
Staff
A great plus here. From the girls at reception to the staff cleaning the rooms, the restaurant staff or the people handling the luggage room, everybody was smiling and helpful, creating a very nice atmosphere. Regardless of my questions or inquiries I always managed to get a fast answer, so this point gets a big plus from me.
Room
Big. Really big. I think this room was one of the biggest rooms I have ever stayed in. And exceptionally clean.
A nice, cozy double bed, minibar and TV were available for guests. If you leave the window open there can be some noise, but you have two rows of windows so after closing them there is no problem getting a good night’s sleep.
The bathroom is big and clean as well, so nothing to complain about here.
Two things I would note, but these are just personal observations so I won’t judge the hotel on them.
First, I found the TV in my room a bit small compared to the size of the room. I never used it, but it is just a thought.
Second, the bathroom has only half the tub protected by a glass panel. I am a bigger guy and I always had to be careful not to splash water outside.
Breakfast
A large variety of things to choose from, both normal food and sweets. To my shame I must confess I kind of enjoyed the pancakes, which is probably why I ate two or three.
Self service: you grab your plate, walk to the buffet and choose what you want, then return to the table you picked. The food is good and, as I mentioned earlier, I really enjoyed the pancakes.
I won’t touch the price subject since the hotel was paid for and I didn’t have to take money out of my pocket.
All in all we have to take into consideration that London is expensive. Not just this place, but almost all hotels are expensive. While not being central it has its advantages for business trips (many people work or travel to Hammersmith on business), and the metro is so close that you can easily reach the center.
I can’t say that if I ever return to London I will book here again because it is a bit over my budget, but all in all this is a nice place, an extremely clean place, so if the prices seem ok for you, give it a try.
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