Our Review Of The Waldorf Hilton London: The Worst Hilton In London?

Is the Waldorf Hilton London the worst Hilton in London? It’s quite a question to start a review with I admit but you’ll soon see why we think it might be. We needed a central London hotel for New Year’s Eve Eve (30th December) and choose the Waldorf Hilton due to its location (in the heart of theatreland) and is within walking distance of everywhere we wanted to visit. We paid 80,000 Hilton points over the vastly inflated cash rate of £499 for a one-night stay. Here’s our review where you can make your own mind up if the Waldorf Hilton London is the worst Hilton in London…

Getting to the Waldorf Hilton London

The Waldorf Hilton London is located in the heart of theatreland and within walking distance of both Covent Garden and Temple tube stations (7 minutes to each one.) You are within walking distance of the London Eye, Buckingham Palace & Covent Garden to name a few locations.

Our Waldorf Hilton London Review

The Waldorf is a Grade 2 historical building that was built in 1908 and features a restored Edwardian interior. From the outside, it looks the part and we were excited for our first stay here.

As you enter the hotel the first thing you’ll notice is the reception area up the stairs. To the left is where the hotel serves afternoon tea and to the right seating and access to the bar and restaurant. Once up the stairs, the reception area is quite small but thankfully we were only one of two guests checking in at the same time so didn’t have to wait long.

Directly opposite the reception desks was the concierge desk, and after this was two lifts followed by stairs (if you are feeling fit and healthy!)

The Room

We booked a Queen Guestroom (despite the hotel not being full we didn’t receive any form of an upgrade as Diamond members.)

As you walk into the room immediately on your left you will find a wardrobe. Here you will also find robes, kettle/tea-making facilities, a safe, a mini fridge, and ironing facilities. Straight after this on the left is a TV on a small-ish tv stand facing the bed. After this is the entrance to the bathroom followed by an armchair in the corner of the room.

At the back of the room is a window overlooking the back of some buildings (no view sadly.) In front of this is a small coffee table (which had our complimentary waters on.) In the right-hand corner is a small desk and desk chair. This had several plug sockets, a mirror/lamp, and the room’s phone, this (unfortunately) also ‘doubled up’ as the bedside table for the person sleeping on the left-hand side of the bed.

Next to this and centre of the room opposite the TV is the bed and to the right of this a small bedside table with a clock/alarm and lamp.

The room in itself initially seemed OK, whilst small it looked recently renovated but as soon as you looked a bit closer you could see that the refurb hadn’t been to a high standard. There were scratches and marks over almost everything. You could see that everything had been cheaply done and reminded me more of a (rather expensive!) Premier Inn…

The bed was also probably one of the worst ones I’ve experienced in any hotel. As soon as you sat on it, it moved around like it was on an ice rink! To top it off it was ‘lumpy’ and I had one of my worst nights’ sleep in any hotel… We were going to leave complaining but then the next morning there was no hot water. I foolishly decided to lather up thinking the water would warm up but it never did so I had to have a cold shower. We attempted to ring reception but after 15 minutes they didn’t answer so later on the way to breakfast we complained.

Bathroom

The bathroom was pretty small but it was clean and modern (albeit cheaply done.) On the left side is the shower/bath (the pressure wasn’t great & we had temperature issues as above) Towards the centre is a single sink with a large mirror behind it and a small moveable mirror to the side. Templespa toiletries were provided. To the right was a small toilet with a window behind it.

The Executive Lounge

Located on the first floor is the Executive Lounge. It is very old and small considering the size of the hotel and amount of Diamond members likely to stay here. We didn’t manage to get any pictures due to how busy the lounge was and respecting other guests’ privacy.

On our visit, we found the selection to be incredibly poor with very limited space. (if you are coming for happy hour in the evening make sure you arrive early!) I feel it would be much nicer not to have an executive lounge than offer the lounge in its current stage.

Breakfast

As Diamond members, we had the option to take breakfast in the Executive lounge or the main restaurant on the ground floor. Seeing the state of the lounge it was the obvious choice to take breakfast in the main restaurant.

Breakfast is where we learned of our next issue… After giving our room number to the member of staff we learned that apparently, no one was in our room. (We later found out that the hotel had put us as a no-show despite checking in at the front desk at about 3.30 pm and having a key card!)

Breakfast, to be frank, wasn’t great. There was a limited buffet with rock-hard pastries that seemed days out of date. In addition to this, there was a limited range of cereals, cooked items, cold meats and yoghurts. An a la carte menu was offered but the service was very haphazard! The server didn’t seem to understand what gluten-free meant and after placing an order for an omelette receiving two at separate times…

Complaint

We raised all the issues in this review with the Hotel at the time of our stay but unfortunately were constantly fobbed off (not answering the phones, no communication (including adding two new cash reservations to our account with no explanation), no manager available at the front desk & vague promises of making it right.) We lost all faith in the hotel but thankfully we got the Hilton Diamond Desk involved and reached a suitable resolution.

Conclusion – Is The Waldorf Hilton The Worst Hilton In London?

I think it’s pretty evident that we can’t recommend the hotel and won’t be back. For us by a very long way, it is the worst Hilton In London and the best thing about it was checking out. The only thing the hotel has going for it is its location if you are seeing a show in the West End. For the cost, you have SO many better options both in the Hilton portfolio and elsewhere. The hotel is in dire need of a refurb to a good standard (i.e. not cheap cheap cheap) and new management. Until then this historic hotel appears to be experiencing death by a thousand cuts. Rooms are available from around £260 or 80,000 points. Click through here for booking and more information – https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/lonwahi-the-waldorf-hilton-london/