We booked a double room to spend a week end in London and picked this Novotel for its location as we thought it would be closer (or have easier acces to transports) to the centre of London. It is actually not too far, but not exactly in Waterloo, more like a 10-15 minutes walk from it. It is not so close to the main tube lines either, so we were a bit disappointed on that part, although we checked on maps before booking. Still (unless you are carrying heavy luggage and don't like walking), the distance is acceptable.
We checked in late on a friday evening and staff on reception was rather cold and not very friendly. We carried our luggage upstairs and found out that the magnetic key wasn't working which can happen, but the manager made up an excuse blaming us to have held it close to a credit card (it is not true that a credit card can demagnetise it). She was acting rather arrogantly when we were just being polite customers.
The room was quite large, with a comfortable double bed, a couch, a tv, a safe, minibar etc, a separate bathroom, and toilet. It also has a large mirror and hangers. The pictures provided on their website are not very accurate for the bathroom, the bathtubs are not as advertised. They look more like a large shower and would be quite unconfortable to take a bath, but this is a detail. The room was clean and well presented. The only thing i would have to add is that for the price of the rooms they could refurbish, above all their carpets which look rather poor and used.
In the morning we had breakfast, and again found staff very cold and unfriendly, particularly the woman manager in a strict suit who received us. To tell you the truth we were more smily than her! The music and tables were fine and the variety of food at the buffet was wide. Unfortunately all the meat was of poor quality, with a strange taste and too oily. The rest was good.
We have been staying in other hotels of the Accor branch, and even in Ibis hotels which are of a lower standard, the customer services is much better and staff is friendlier. For instance, I know that some Ibis hotels can provide you with a small toiletry package which includes a comb, toothbrush, toothpaste, a tube of shaving cream and so on. This can be nice if you forgot one of the above. it was actually my case, I didn't have a comb so i remembered this about an Ibis hotel and went to the Novotel reception to ask. I was looked at by the receptionist as if i were an idiot. I even apologised for asking before I left. She could just have said 'no, sorry', without acting like I was asking for the moon!
I cannot tell about the sauna as we didn't stay long enough to try it.
The check out was actually our best experience with the hotel staff, the young man was smily, and very friendly.
Appart for the unfriendliness of staff we found that the hotel itself was fine, although a bit overpriced.
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Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
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Price is per double room per night and may vary depending on date booked...
Jun 6th, 2007
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