The Howard hotel is owned by Raffles, an international chain of hotels offering accommodation throughout the world in: Asia pacific: Europe: North America: and South America.
Swissotel-the Howard is located in central London alongside the river Thames, and has a five star rating.
From our room we had a good view of Big Ben and the houses of parliament, the London eye, and of course the river Thames itself.
At the door of the hotel you are greeted by a gentleman in a suit and a bowler hat, which being a normal sort of family, was a little intimidating. However, once inside things improved (and the doorman really was as common as us).
The reception area of the hotel was spotlessly clean and shiny. There are two lifts which again are spotless, with mirrors. A quick walk from the reception leads you into the dining area, where you can feast upon a continental breakfast for £18 or full English for £25. As breakfast was included with our booking we opted for the full cooked breakfast on day one: a mistake. The breakfast consisted of three rasher of bacon, one sausage, and two fried eggs, and it certainly was not worth it weighted price. The eggs were not cooked enough for my liking, and the sausage was on the chilled side! But the bacon was delicious even though it was smoked! The continental breakfast was as you’d expect and of a good standard.
Our room was tastefully painted in a creamy paint, with pictures adorning the walls in adequate proportions. There is a mini bar, and a coffee making machine, though beware if like me you are a tea lover. The tea in the room is drinkable though not enjoying to the normal standard I expect. The machine to make the hot drinks is a little confusing too, give me a good old kettle any day!
The hotel has 189 guest rooms and literally has an underground station a minute or two walk form the hotel. Each room is fully air conditioned, and is en-suite. The bathroom/toilet is decorated in a marble effect tiles, complimented with mirror tiles. Again all rooms are spotless, and equipped to a high standard. Each room has a television with extra viewing channels available including erotica.
The night we went to the theatre the requested taxi arrived at the agreed time, courtesy of the concierge. It appeared the staff were helpful and friendly, even to us poor common folk.
Disabled access to the hotel:
If you have limited mobility this hotel is suitable though far from adapted. A removable wheelchair ramp is place over the four or five entrance stairs to allow access. I booked a disabled room, but it was no different to a normal room (we booked two rooms so I know). There were no hand rails, no raised toilets, in fact nothing that could conform to a standard disabled room. The room WAS big enough to move a wheelchair around in, but the bathroom would have been more of a challenge. Wheelchairs could fit in the lifts along with at least four more other people.
~~Overall~~
Overall if you are a travelled hotel stayer this hotel will not be a disappointment, but to people like me it was fairly uncomfortable. I’m pleased we only went bed and breakfast as I’m not sure which knife I would if used for the starter for any other meal. The cooked breakfast was far from the best, and a lot worse than I would of expected from such a high class establishment. In addition £25 for the minimal cooked breakfast was an insult. Mini bar prices were also expensive: 1 mini bottle of wine (Marks and Spencer price around £2.95 plus one bottle of water usual price around 75p – total £3.70). In the hotel it came to a whopping £23.60- a difference of almost £20! No being a five star hotel I realise the prices wouldn’t be the same as say a lower starred accommodation, but with that in mind I still think it was expensive.
I couldn’t fault the hotel; for cleanliness at all, it really was spotless – something I personally would pay a little extra for. Staff did there best and the doorman turned out to be a very nice and helpful man indeed.
~~~Other information~~~
Room prices are from £295 per night to £840 per room per night. Check in time is from 2pm and check out is noon. Superbreak is currently offering rooms at the bargain price of £89 per person per night.
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