Crowne Plaza London – Kensington

I adore South Kensington /​Gloucester Road area. I studied abroad in London and my flat was in the SW7 area so I always stay here when in London. My dad and I stayed here while on his European Christmas Vacation tour. We booked a deluxe room. It came with two double beds. It’s a IHG Rewards Club hotel if you’re a member. Free Water Woo Hoo! The rooms were excellent size for European standards. Good size bar if you don’t want to leave the hotel… or want a pre going out place, cause when in London, you should definitely be going out! Will definitely stay here again!

Why five stars? Great location across the street from the Gloucester Road tube station so we could be in the heart of London in 20 minutes, but at night we had a wide selection of good restaurants we could walk to in Kensington. Hotel staff was friendly and helpful — when we arrived at 12 noon after our red eye flight they were happy to check us into our room early so we could drop off our bags and rest. The breakfast buffet was very good with a wide variety of foods that kept my hungry teenagers full until lunchtime. The club lounge was a nice place to relax and we especially appreciated the cappuccino machine and cold water bottles. Our king bed was comfortable but I would’ve appreciated softer pillows. The loft suite is a huge room by London standards and a good option for families with kids. Wifi was free and always reliable.

This hotel was awesome! It’s easy to find, just across the street from the Gloucester Road tube stop. Every employee we encountered during our 3 night stay were friendly and super nice.
The room was a good size for European standards. We got one of the bigger rooms, and what I found to be interesting was that the bathroom had two showers! One standard tiny European shower stall, and a bigger one with a tub. The bed was huge and super comfy, and the hotel offers free wi-​fi, which is huge since it was a struggle finding hotels that didn’t charge for it.
The hotel was also close to fun food, and not a far walk from really anything in the city. The location was great, it did seem like it was in a more upscale area, but we found a few pubs around the corner that hubby fell in love and we frequented during our stay. We’d stay here again!

A nice solid hotel with a nice atmosphere near the Gloucester Tube station. The large room was comfy and spacious, excellent food and bar. a five minute walk from Kensington Gardens

I have spent a week in London and stayed here. This is a wonderful hotel. The staff is very helpful and gracious. The location is excellent, in a safe and upscale yet centrally located area. The underground is very close, restaurants nearby, and walking distance to Harrods or the Victoria and Albert Museum.

If you are a tourist or have business near Gloucester Tube station, the Crowne Plaza London Kensington is an excellent choice. My office was a 3 minute walk and this hotel is in the middle of everything you need to make your stay comfortable.
1) Free Wifi. It seems that hotels still charge for this service. Not the Crowne Plaza London Kensington. The wifi is fast and reliable.
2) Large rooms. Don’t you hate going to London and get into a small room with a double bed? The rooms are large and spacious. Also, the beds are comfortable.
3) Staff. They helped me with work related stuff and it was great they went above and beyond. I really appreciated the extra help in making sure I had my presentation items ready for my meeting. It was as if I had extra staff of my own.
4) Gym. The gym is perfect for those who like to workout on trips. Major plus is that you can job next door to Hyde Park. I would use the hotel gym for lifting and Hyde Park for cardio.
5) Excellent food and bars inside. Rather than leave the hotel, I just invited clients and friends to join me here since the hotel was excellent all around. I even hosted a mini cocktail hour in the dual level suite. A major perk.
If you are looking for an affordable and comfortable stay in London, I suggest staying at the Crowne Plaza London Kensington.

If your trip to London is to explore the city, and not to relax in the hotel, then this is your place.
It has a great location — across the Gloucester Station so its easy to get around. Then Harrod’s, Harvey Nichols, the Kensington Gardens and Natural History Museum are all within walking distance (5−10mins). Then if you need to do a quick trip to the grocery, Waitrose, Sainsbury and the 24-​hour Tesco are all within a 2 km radius. There are also several pubs like Gloucester Arms and good restaurants like Tendido Cero for Spanish tapas that are also within walking distance.
The rooms are ok, a bit dated but clean. The bathrooms are spacious for London hotels. They have a very basic gym but enough to get a good work-​out — but strongly suggest to just run in Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park. They provide running maps for the two parks.
Check in is quite late at 3pm but you can just leave your luggage in the concierge and go shopping or lunch. They are also flexible for a late check out.
Lastly, offers free wifi with great bandwidth!

A proper hotel for the Monday per night. Located in a great area of Kensington across from the Waitrose market and a Starbucks, KFC and Burger King. So if you have kids, their needs are easily met. The Kensington Tube Station is also right across the street, so very easy to get to anywhere in London.
The rooms are dated but bathrooms were remodeled recently. The WiFi is great and very fast and strong in the room, a huge improvement from when I stayed 4 years ago.
Bottom line, a good choice for a London visit.

Booked this hotel based on the reviews from another travel website. Was glad I did because it was located in the nicer, more expensive area of London. There are a row of restaurants and a grocery store within walking distance. It was also very close to the Gloucester Tube Station, which was a line that took you to many of the tourist stops.
Free wifi was a plus.
The only negative things we found was the shower had a glass door, only half the length of the shower, (not sure if this is a London thing), which was a pain because you had to be careful showering or else water went everywhere. There was also a bug in my husband’s breakfast (breakfast is a buffet) so we only ate there once and after that never went back to the hotel restaurant.
If I ever go to London, I will stay here again because of the prime location.

Three stars.
Cons: The shower only had half of a door so the floor got soaked. Also, the chairs in the rooms were stained and dirty, some furniture and the curtains were dusty as well. The room could also use new carpeting. Breakfast sucked and was expensive.
Pros– GREAT location, very comfortable beds, knowledgeable concierge, everything else was clean, nice bar and lobby.
Yes– I would stay here again!

Excellent hotel.
Restaurant area is nice.
Breakfast was ok (scrambled eggs were very moist and tasted plain), but everything else was just fine.
Dinner here becomes the Umami restaurant which was disappointing in quality. The meats were dry and slightly under-​seasoned.
The rooms were outstanding, of course. Free wifi available throughout the hotel (in your room also). Use your check-​in info to log on to the net.

The room was clean but a bit small. The downfall came when we returned home to look at our bill and found there was issues with our bill that were not there before. This place sucks

The nicest hotel experience we’ve had in Europe. We booked a club room with a king bed — by paying in advance, the rate was not too bad. Our room was good sized and the bed enormous — it seemed bigger than our king bed back home. We had a view of a garden. Our bath had both a soaking tub and a glass-​door shower. The only negative was no wireless internet in the rooms. However, because we had a club room, we had access to a lounge with coffee, tea and soft drinks freely available 24/​7, wireless internet, a big-​screen tv and comfortable furniture. We usually had the lounge to ourselves. The staff were wonderful and being across the street from the tube was a big plus. Would love to stay here again.

The location is awesome. It’s right accross the street from the Gloucuster tube station which makes sightseeing a breeze. There are two grocery stores within close walking distance and several restaurants, bars and coffee shops nearby. Aside from an occasional siren at night it was relatively quiet also, which was a pleasent surprise for such an urban environment. There’s a tesco just down the street if you need bottled water or the like. The neighborhood felt totally safe and we saw tons of families everywhere all the time.
The rooms were quite small and the beds were really really comfortable. The room had a nice tv and a very small chair with a side table. To our surprise, the bathroom was laid out just horribly! The shower door only covers half the shower, and you WILL get water all over the floor and sink when you shower. Additionally, the cosmetic mirror was angled such that you had to lean into the corner of the sink to use it which was really uncomfortable. It just didn’t make any sense!
There is a mini-​bar with a very small space to put personal beverages, but it’s too small to fit a bottle of water, so there might was well not be a fridge. Head to the Tesco down the street for water and snacks. WAY cheaper.
The hotel advertises free wi-​fi, which is technically true but you have to be IN THE LOBBY to access it. That signal will not reach your room. Ethernet internet access is available in your room for a totally exorbitant fee, and because of this the lobby fills up at night with people on their ipads and laptop computers. There are two computers available to use that are connected to the internet but there was always a line of at least 2 people to access them.
We didn’t use any of the hotel ammenities but the concierge was very helpful when we had to buy train tickets. The breakfast was 17 pounds per person so we didn’t try that either. Overall I think the price was a bit high for what you’re getting and I would probably try another crowne plaza next time. This is a solid choice though.

Overall, I would recommend this place. I would especially recommend it for the location.
It is 50 yards from the Gloucester Station (which is on the piccadilly line). It is in Kensington, which is the west part of London. 10 minutes walking distance to Kensington Park and Hyde Park. The area is charming with lots of nice restaurants.
The hotel itself was very comfortable. It had a nice restaurant that had the buffet breakfast (which was included in our price) and the food was excellent. I had a nice English Breakfast there. I wouldn’t do breakfast for too many days because it could get boring.
Wifi is free in the lobby. Rooms are decent size and our room overlooked a beautiful English Garden.
The concierge was helpful in providing information and booking reservations.
The only thing that I would comment about negatively is that the carpet was a little past its peak. There were three visible stains on the carpet that should have been eliminated immediately but weren’t.
Interesting point: the showers only have half doors, so if you aren’t careful, you soak the bathroom with water from the shower.
So why a three star? I have been in four star hotels in the U.S. and typically hotels in U.K. are one star less than the U.S. version. So I am using the American standard. If this was the U.K. or Europe, I would say 4 stars.

Apart from the initial check in, where the concierge constantly misspelled my surname, despite having my credit card in his hand, and then accused me of having come to the wrong hotel, the rest of my stay was very pleasant.
The cleanliness was second to none and I will never get as cynical as to not get exited by hotel freebies, fresh white robes and slippers and a morning paper make me smile.
The room was a little on the small side, but that’s mainly because the bed was huge and the bathroom had TWO showers. The location is right outside the Gloucester Road Tube Station, on the edge of Zone 1, and a perfect location for many of the London museums, the Natural History, The Science and The V&A are all about a 10 minute walk along the same road as the hotel.
I managed to get this hotel at a steal of the price through one of lastminute.com’s top secret hotel bookings, the advertised rate on their website was £245 a night which I would certainly not pay and am unsure how this is justified. The hotel has a restaurant and bar but I did not sample either so cannot comment on them.