Ambassadors Hotel in Bloomsbury, London

I don't seem to stay in London so much these days. It's partly because for meetings and such like, most people are now reluctant to travel to the capital for one reason or another. When I do have such a trip, I like to try different hotels from the usual Holiday Inns, Thistles and Novotels. Variety is the spice and all that. There are some good deals to be had out there, particularly at weekends. For a Monday meeting, train fare and hotel on the ...
...Monday morning and you get to try out a shiny new hotel. Winner!

Getting There

Ambassador's at Bloomsbury is located on Upper Woburn Place smack opposite London Euston railway station. It is literally just two or three minutes walk from the station. As such, with King's Cross and St Pancras not much further along, it is extremely well-placed for visitors coming down from the North. A taxi fare from Kings Cross station ... more

I don't seem to stay in London so much these days. It's partly because for meetings and such like, most people are now reluctant to travel to the capital for one reason or another. When I do have such a trip, I like to try different hotels from the usual Holiday Inns, Thistles and Novotels. Variety is the spice and all that. There are some good deals to be had out there, particularly at weekends. For a Monday meeting, train fare and hotel on the Sunday work out far cheaper than peak travel on the Monday morning and you get to try out a shiny new hotel. Winner!

Getting There

Ambassador's at Bloomsbury is located on Upper Woburn Place smack opposite London Euston railway station. It is literally just two or three minutes walk from the station. As such, with King's Cross and St Pancras not much further along, it is extremely well-placed for visitors coming down from the North. A taxi fare from Kings Cross station is likely to cost you about £7 - worth it, if you are carrying bags and such like. Alternatively, a number of major bus routes pass just outside and with Euston so close, connections from the London Underground are dead easy too. If you are driving, the hotel is easily located but I'd use RAC Route Planner or such like as, due to the one-way system and congestion charges, you'll need to plan your route carefully on an individual basis.

There are all sorts of famous places close by - Regent's Park, The British Library, and The British Museum to name just a handful. For any of the major London attractions you will only be a short bus or tube ride away.

Got There

The hotel faces directly onto the pavement, with only a few stone steps separating the rigours of the sidewalk from the calm interior. It's quite a relief to get inside - Upper Woburn Place is a busy road - and the small, inviting reception area is a welcome haven from the street outside. Having booked online via one of the discounted hotel sites, I'd guaranteed my booking with my credit card and submitted all my personal details already, so I was a bit miffed when I still had to fill out the registration form in full. The receptionist was so polite and friendly, however, it didn't really seem to matter, and within a few minutes, I was riding the elevator to my much-needed bedroom.

Sleeping There

September 2005. The Ambassador is currently going through a major programme of refurbishment and at this time only certain rooms have been refitted. I was fortunate enough to book one of the new superior rooms and will therefore only really be able to comment on these facilities.

The hotel is rather proud of the new rooms, so much so that when you check in, the duty manager will normally escort you to your room to explain what's what. It's an unecessary (but pleasant) step, because it's all very self-explanatory. The design is contemporary, cool and clean and an enormous improvement on much of the accommodation offered in Central London. Groovy orange marble slabs at the foot of the door mark the room numbers in gold lettering and your chip key card simply slides into the door to let you in. You have to use the same card on the wall to activate your electricity and as you do so, prepare to be blinded because every light in the room appears to be set up to come on automatically.

My room was cool. The carpet was clean, soft and comfortable. It was so new, it still had those small twists of fabric that you have to hoover off a newly-fitted carpet. An enormous, firm bed dominated the room with clean white quilt and pillows and a gorgeous orange throw folded neatly at the foot. A large, flat screen television was attached to the wall, perfectly situated for a lazy night of bed-ridden TV. In the window alcove, was a small, new desk, complete with reading lamp. The window was a new double-glazed unit that virtually cut out all the noise from the street below, although being on the top (sixth) floor helped with this as well. There were small bedside cabinets on either side of the bed, one of which contained a safe for any valuables, and a small wardrobe housed a trouser press and hair dryer. The room was also fully air-conditioned and the window was covered by blinds rather than curtains (yay!)

My room was quite small. There was no real space to move around in, and the bed pretty much dominated the room. This was fine for me, for one night and I was more than comfortable enough, particularly as I was on my own. Had there been two of us, or had I been staying longer, I think I would have found the room very claustrophobic.

Washing There

The bathroom was a very strange affair. For starters, like the bedroom, it was very small. The sink was just about large enough to use but it was cramped in the corner, leaving little room for manouevre when shaving. There was no bath and the whole room was set up like a wetroom so that essentially it was one big shower cubicle. The bathroom door was a very heavy duty, water sealed lump that, when pushed closed rather made you feel as though you were in a decompression chamber. Given that the door really needed to be closed to stop the water leaking out into the room, I couldn't really see the need for the shower curtain, but there was one there nonetheless. The shower was a good power shower, very simple to use and with various temperature settings - although on the night of my arrival I had to succumb to a cool shower because I couldn't get much hot water. Fortunately, the following morning, the hot water was back on in abundance.

Rather like the bedroom, the bathroom was clean and well-fitted, but rather small. Indeed, with the door closed, and the shower on I started to feel quite claustrophobic and it was a relief to get out in the fresh air. I got the feeling that the rooms on the sixth floor had been converted from some other use and whilst they were professionally done, they were a bit too small.

Eating There

The restaurant downstairs is small, and relatively informal, with a fairly unadventurous menu of different dishes. Rather than sit downstairs like Billy No Mates, I opted for room service, which delivered hot, fresh food promptly and went down a treat after my long train journey. The food was fairly unadventurous, but nicely prepared. Expect to pay the usual hotel prices though. A mushroom omelette with fries, sorbet, fresh fruit salad and one litre of sparkling mineral water came to around £22. Not cheap!

The breakfast was similarly priced (£12.95 for the full English) but far less palatable. Although it was brought to the table very quickly (and was very hot and fresh) the scrambled eggs were like a slick of butter, and the sausage was almost raw. I kind of poked mine around, reminded myself that this was neither free range, nor organic and promptly sent the whole lot back. The contintental breakfast was much better, with a good selection of juices, fruits, cereals and pastries and would be my recommendation - particularly as the £7 price tag will go down much better.

The Staff There

If I think about it, I had contact with six different members of staff during my visit and all of them were very friendly, very polite and very welcoming. The waitress who brought the food to my room was particularly warm and friendly and my lasting impression of the place was that the service far exceeded many oither London hotels that I have visited.

The Prices There

Standard room rates are much the same as any other London hotel - my room would normally cost £225 per night, which is excessive, regardless of the standard of the fixtures and fittings. The good news is, however, that discounted rates are widely available on sites such as lastminute.com or laterooms.com. I picked up my room for £89 per night, which is a good price for the area and for the standard of the room. Bear in mind that checkout each day is 11:00 unlike the normal 12:00 that you find in most hotels.

Going Back There?

I definitely would. Ambassador's is now on my London hot list. Despite the fact that the room was a tad small, the standard of facilities, location and high level of service would be enough for me to heartily recommend. My recommendation, however, is based upon the superior rooms only - I couldn't really speak for the others, but hopefully they will all be refurbished to this standard soon anyway.

Recommended for sure!

http://www.ambassadors.co.uk/ 

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