Dolphin Square Hotel, London

...I should stay at the Dolphin Square Hotel. What is so special about the Dolphin? Nothing really. From the outside, it looks like any old building built in the 1960s. The hotel spans an entire block in the Chichester Square area. It is very close to the Thames; really just one road away, that is if you can cross it without being ran over by a speeding vehicle.

I found the hotel while looking for a reasonable priced but comfortable place ...
...Of course, nothing too expensive. Dolphin is situated near the Pimlico underground station, which is one stop away from Victoria.

Now some background about why I enjoyed staying in this hotel. Having travelled a lot lately, I had fallen in love with service apartments. I have found such places conducive to relaxation after having bad days at work. A service apartment tended to be spacious, very unlike a cramp hotel room. Usually it ... more

Whenever I felt like being pampered and willed myself that I needed a good day's out in London, I had always convinced myself that I should stay at the Dolphin Square Hotel. What is so special about the Dolphin? Nothing really. From the outside, it looks like any old building built in the 1960s. The hotel spans an entire block in the Chichester Square area. It is very close to the Thames; really just one road away, that is if you can cross it without being ran over by a speeding vehicle.

I found the hotel while looking for a reasonable priced but comfortable place to stay in London for some visiting friends. First, I didn't want a small B&B because the rooms would be very tiny, plus I wanted somewhere close to Central London and near an underground station. Of course, nothing too expensive. Dolphin is situated near the Pimlico underground station, which is one stop away from Victoria.

Now some background about why I enjoyed staying in this hotel. Having travelled a lot lately, I had fallen in love with service apartments. I have found such places conducive to relaxation after having bad days at work. A service apartment tended to be spacious, very unlike a cramp hotel room. Usually it is equipped with a separate bedroom, living space, kitchen and bathroom. Some apartments are self-contained to the extent of having a combined washing machine/dryer, in others, the laundry room is somewhere within the building. But you get my drift.

And since my friends were visiting with an infant and 5 year old kid, I thought I had better find such an apartment in London. At the time of booking, I had requested a spare bed for the kid as well as a cot for the infant.

Upon arrival, the hotel started to set up the bed and the cot.

My friends and I arrived in front of the hotel by taxi. We entered the lobby directly and check-in was quite speedy. There were only two people behind the counter and there were several of us waiting to be attended to. We filled a form and my friends had to identify themselves with their passports.

It seems like they weren't expecting us til later in the afternoon and the room wasn't ready yet. They didn't attempt to turn us away or anything but requested that they be given permission to set up the room in our presence. I mean, why not? My friends were tired from their long flight and I was eager to just sit down and relax with a nice cup of tea.

The Room or Apartment I should say
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My friends and I exited the lifts that carried us and bags to the right floor. The lifts were quite small, standing room only for at most 6 skinny people. We needed to use two lifts, one for us and another for the bags. We wondered down the corridor and very quickly noticed that the doors were spaced quite far apart. My friends and I had adjacent rooms. Upon entering mine, I was just speechless.

It was large. The room was a full apartment, that included a mailbox slot next to the door. My room/apartment consists of separate bedroom, living room, bathroom and kitchen. There was a hall closet to hang coats, jackets and stuff. The living room contains a full sofa set, dining set, and a fake fire place. There was also a cabinet, which I presume was for wine because of all the glasses and ice bucket within it. There is a separate writing desk with a phone on it. There is also another phone in the bedroom.

The kitchen is fully equipped, pots, pans, toaster, cups, saucers, biscuits, tea, coffee, milk and sugar. I believed I saw the entire kitchen utensils required to cook and feed four people! Its a pity the fridge isn't filled with food but that would be asking too much, wouldn't it?

My friends' room was similar but a corner one, giving them two sets of windows in the living area compared to my one. The kitchen is smaller and is adjoined to the living room and no fireplace. Instead, there are two large columns of gas heater on each side of the walls.

The bedroom ... where do I start? The bedroom was large enough to fit in a full wall closet on one side of the wall, a king size bed. A portable single bed fits comfortable into the room with plenty of space left for baggages, walking and even for the infant to play hide and seek. There was also a trouser press in the bedroom. Very interesting device, that one. Didn't try it though.

The shower cum bathroom was also very roomy. The toiletries provided were very nice. When I was staying there, they were providing Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet shampoo, conditioner, body lotion and soaps. If you ever have the opportunity to visit Penhaligon's boutique located in Covent Garden in London, each of these bottle goes for about 10 pounds! The bathroom has a special shaving mirror that seems to magnify everything! (Great for the guys!)

Service
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The service had been immacable. I mean from the time we checked in til the time we left, we were very well treated with nothing to complain about. During the checkin process, we were informed of the various facilities available within the hotel as well as to let them should we need anything.

Earlier I mentioned that they had to set up the spare bed while we were in the room. Apparently they had previously allocated a room with a sofa bed but it was not available when we checked in so this sudden requirement to set up a spare bed was a decision taken at reception. But the housekeeping department were competent enough to set up the bed within minutes of our arrival. The baby cot of also brought into the room and duly set up. I must mention that the extra beds were at no extra costs because the kid was less than 6 years old and infants stay free.

The infant managed to acquire a high temperature during their travels and was crying all night. Early in the morning, his mother decided to ask for help. A call to the reception brought the morning hotel manager to the apartment. On seeing the infant, he asked if they would like a doctor. Apparently, he knows there is a retired doctor, living across the square, who will be willing to see the baby, but the fees would be around 300 pounds! What to do? Since they were on a round the world trip and had purchased travel insurance, 300 pounds was not an issue, but a matter of acquiring the hard currencies at such wee hours. Question for the hotel manager? Definitely. And the answer: there is an ATM machine in the lobby, next to the front desk.

Doctor arrived within minutes of the manager ringing him, arrived accompanied by the manager, saw the patient, given medication, duly paid and left. So, the hotel did not earn a commission from the visit, which I thought was nice. The manager stayed behind, asked if there was anything he could do, breakfast, etc. Very very nice of him.

Hotel guest have complimentary access to the facilities within the hotel which I presumed is only available to members. There is the 18 metres swimming pool, gym and spa. The cafe is situated around the pool, so one gets to eat breakfast and watch breakfast swimming the length of the pool!

Another facility I enjoyed using while staying is the conceige service. This is the person who can conjure up tickets, knows all the best places to dine and knows the different routes to any place in London. Seems kind of nice when they greet you in the morning, ask where I was thinking of going that morning (in a nice way, not demanding that I report where I go, but just asking ..) and then suggest the best routes in terms of scenery, traffic etc. Once, they gave me directions to Camden market by bus just so I could watch the scenery of London!

Tickets to the London Tower, London Eye and the Wax museum can be purchased from him, so no queueing for tickets!! Taxis can be ordered in advance and will be ready at the requested time while a call is made to the room to inform us that the taxi is ready whenever we are. I felt so pampered!

Attached to the hotel is a hair salon, green grocer etc.

I must also commend on the efficiencies of the housekeeping department of the hotel. Our rooms are always very clean, even after the infant had emptied an entire package of crisps onto the carpet one morning, I didn't see a spect of crisp later in the afternoon. Being tea drinkers, we ran out of teabags very quickly. A call to housekeeping brought a lady carrying a basketful of teabags of different flavours into our rooms very quickly. Not only did she stock up our supply of teabags (she give us more than 20!), coffee, sugar and milk were piled high on our kitchen table.

Cost
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The price varies quite a fair bit, depending on the season and occupancy rates. The first time I stayed there, I booked through laterooms.com. For subsequent stays, I booked direct because they offer similar deals for direct reservations. The price ranges from 59 pounds to 120 pounds, depending on whether they are charging on the room basis or person basis. I was constantly paying at the room rate of about 69 pounds per night which I take as a real bargain. Do checkout their webpage before booking for special offers.

Verdict
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I enjoyed staying there, whenever I had the chance. I recommended it to several of my friends and none of them had ever came away unsatisfied, unpampered. It would be more expensive during the peak holiday season but definitely worth checking them out during the low season in autumn or winter.

Contact Details
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Dolphin Square Hotel
reservations@dolphinsquarehotel.co.uk
www.dolphinsquarehotel.co.uk
Chichester Street, London SW1V 3LX
Telephone : +44 (0)20 7798 8890
Freephone : 0800 616 607 

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