Thursday 16 February 2012

Hotel review - The Hoxton, London


In my days as an on-the-road reporter I used to stay in hotels quite a lot. Now my hotel stays are as rare as my trips to the gym. But this week I hotfooted it to east London to spend two days with my daughter. After scouring scores of websites we eventually plumped to check into The Hoxton in Great Eastern Street. As well as being just round the corner from Spitalfields, Columbia Road and all the places we wanted to visit, it looked good value and good fun.

And so it proved. The Hoxton, which opened in 2006, focuses on the things customers really care about. The room prices are cheaper the further in advance you book and every so often there’s an online £1 a room sale. Instead of leaving endless reams of literature in your room, they give you the basics about room service and the flat screen TV on postcards labelled the “really boring stuff.” 

Rates for the night include free WiFi (no annoying codes), tea bags, bottles of water, milk, copy of The Guardian and a Pret breakfast of orange juice, banana and granola delivered to your door in a paper carrier bag. Oh, and there’s a corkscrew so you can bring your own bottle of wine and actually open it. The twin room we stayed in was small (with an en suite shower room) but the beds were super comfortable, with fine cotton sheets and duck down duvets.

The best bit was sitting by an enormous open fire on the ground floor, lounging back on a massive leather Chesterfield with the morning papers and a skinny latte. The only drawback was that it was all so comfy that at 11.30am we had to pull ourselves together and actually go out and do something.

When we got back to the hotel that night we were so exhausted that we couldn’t summon up the energy to eat in the hotel restaurant, the Hoxton Grill – all exposed brickwork, huge wooden tables and chic lamps. So we ordered a bowl of chestnut hummus (delicious) and some flatbread, poured ourselves a glass of Pinot Grigio each and settled down in front of the BAFTAs. Bliss.

7 comments:

  1. I think the greatest discovery was the Chesterfields by the fire! I will definitely be going back there for a coffee and some chestnut houmous (maybe not together...) Even if you're not staying there it's a great place to work or meet someone x

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree - I want to be sitting by that fire right now. It is definitely on my list of east London recommended places!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sounds completely perfect! So rare to find a hotel that goes out of its way not to rip you off in some parts of London! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Emma. It really was perfect. They got all the important things right and didn't bother with annoying stuff. Will definitely go again one day!

      Delete
  4. I recently stayed there! OMG yea the fire place is amazing!I also really enjoyed the hoxton grill there a bit expensive but worth it!

    Great post...brings me back!

    I made a video of my room to give other potential guests an idea of the hotel http://www.yourhotelreview.com/reviews/hotel-the-hoxton-london/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I want to stay their for couple of night's. You really enjoy your trip and duck down duvets are really very comfortable for the whole night's sleep. I do have the same duvet in my bedroom and it gives me a perfect night sleep.
    Thanks for sharing your experience with us!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really enjoy reading your blog, it is actually among the highlights of my week. I particularly enjoy reading it within my lunch break.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...