The Rembrandt, London

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She chose The Rembrandt Hotel which is situated in Knightsbridge, in fact, it is opposite the Natural History Museum/Victoria & Albert Museum. We did ’hum and ha’ a bit as to whether we should drive up or get the train. At first, the train seemed the better option as London is an absolute nightmare to drive around plus there is that dreaded congestion charge. But then I had a brilliant idea. The company I work for has a flat in the Sloane ...
...3 minutes walking distance from the Rembrandt. So, I asked if it would be possible to park my car in one of the company’s two parking spaces (private car park underneath the flat complex) and, as I work for the chairman, I immediately gained permission which saved us quite a considerable amount of car parking fees plus the private car park is just outside the congestion zone too! Therefore, this hotel is quite easily accessed from the M4 and is also ... more

Hubby and I had a wonderful Christmas present from our daughter and her partner – a weekend in London and a show! WOW! Were we impressed! She had secretly liaised with my boss so that I could have a long weekend in London. So, on Friday 14 January, off we trotted to London!

She chose The Rembrandt Hotel which is situated in Knightsbridge, in fact, it is opposite the Natural History Museum/Victoria & Albert Museum. We did ’hum and ha’ a bit as to whether we should drive up or get the train. At first, the train seemed the better option as London is an absolute nightmare to drive around plus there is that dreaded congestion charge. But then I had a brilliant idea. The company I work for has a flat in the Sloane Avenue area (unfortunately only available to Board members) and it is situated only 3 minutes walking distance from the Rembrandt. So, I asked if it would be possible to park my car in one of the company’s two parking spaces (private car park underneath the flat complex) and, as I work for the chairman, I immediately gained permission which saved us quite a considerable amount of car parking fees plus the private car park is just outside the congestion zone too! Therefore, this hotel is quite easily accessed from the M4 and is also only a 2 minute walk to/from South Kensington tube station. Victoria is the nearest rail station – approximately 1.6 miles walking distance!

The Rembrandt is owned by Sarova hotels which is an independently owned and operated group of only 4 hotels in the South of England and London. Apparently, The Rembrandt used to be apartments for Harrods.

Car was parked and we arrived at the Rembrandt just before 10.00. I had already checked it out on the internet and it had looked very nice but I was very pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it was. It is very much a traditional old-fashioned style country hotel and is situated in the London Borough of Knightsbridge which is classed as the heart of London and, as mentioned previously, very close to the famous museums and just a stone’s throw from Hyde Park. That other famous store, Harrods, is literally two minutes’ walk from this hotel as well as many other small designer shops (whose assistants pounce on you the minute you enter their shops). Earls Court and Olympia are also within easy reach. Another good feature is that the hotel is also just outside the congestion zone and you can park in a nearby NCP car park. Sorry folks, I can’t give you access to my employer’s flat for free car parking facilities!

So this hotel looked very grand externally and was equally pleasing internally. On entering the hotel through very large glass panelled double doors, we were greeted with a very warm and friendly atmosphere. The reception area is decorated in plush red and cream tones and genuinely looks luxurious. There is a reception desk, a concierge section and a window section for sitting and having a coffee or reading a paper – whatever you want to do to relax.

We wandered over to the reception desk, and I was just about to apologise for being so early (check in is normally at 2pm) when the receptionist told me it wasn’t a problem and we could have our room. I had to give her my credit card details (my daughter had already given me the cash to pay for the hotel) and we were asked if we wanted two keys for the room but we only needed one.

There are two lifts in the reception area and we proceeded to our room. The lift was immaculately clean and the hallway to our room was spotless. The room allocated to us was standard but the Rembrandt has 195 en-suite bedrooms which include superior and executive class rooms.

Our non-smoking room was very clean and furnished to a high standard. There was plenty of storage room – large double wardrobe (safe deposit box inside this wardrobe for your valuables), dressing table/drawers and a chest. The en-suite bathroom was large enough and had a power shower over the bath. The bathroom surfaces were marble and the toiletries provided were by Gilchrest & Soames and were wonderful. Consequently, a few slipped into my bag to take home (well, my daughter had paid for them after all!). We had soaps, luxury foam bath, luxury shampoo and individual shower caps. The towels were brilliantly white and soft and they also provided face flannels Wonderful!

We deposited our luggage and then went out of the hotel to explore London.

My daughter had booked us into the 5.30pm performance of Saturday Night Fever (she didn’t book us into the evening show as she didn’t want us traipsing around London late at night! How the tables have turned – we are her parents for goodness sake!) But she meant well. By the time this was finished (and we thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend all of you to go and see it) we were hungry and decided that we had had a long day and would make our way back to the hotel and eat in their restaurant.

We duly arrived at the hotel but then thought we may not be allowed into the Masters Restaurant, which looked very posh, as we were wearing jeans. However, we asked the restaurant manager if it was OK and he said it was not a problem at all. We were taken to our table and really fussed over.

We decided to have the carvery which was priced at £16.95 for 2 courses or £19.95 for 3 courses. Of course, you could choose the á la carte menu but the carvery look delicious.

There were various starters to choose from (mainly cold starters) but the seafood salad was to die for. The main course consisted of two roast meats and various other hot dishes including salmon, fish and a wide choice of gorgeous vegetables and sauces. The dessert section consisted of cold desserts mainly fantastic cakes, cheesecakes, apple pie, cream etc.

And the best bit about this carvery was that you could go back as many times as you wished to eat more food. Oh, how I wished I hadn’t done this. I did make several trips to the dessert counter!

Oh, and we also got two free glasses of house wine which were very nice.

We were now very tired and very stuffed and retired to our room. We lay on our bed watching satellite TV and both thought that it was rather strange that the hotel didn’t provide tea and coffee in the rooms. So what did we go and do – we ordered room service for tea and coffee. Strange, we thought, the room has an ironing board, iron, trouser press but no tea and coffee ….. umm, they obviously want you to order through room service at extra cost.

After about 15 minutes room service arrived and the very large tray was beautifully decorated with snow white freshly starched linen. I was very impressed.

We woke up on Saturday morning gagging for a cup of tea (for me) and coffee (for hubby) and, again, whinged that there wasn’t any tea and coffee making facility. I got a shower and washed my hair only to find there wasn’t a hairdryer. Wished I had brought my own, I thought.

Off we go to breakfast in the restaurant – about 09.30.

The restaurant was full and we had to give our room number to the restaurant manager and eventually, when a table was available, our room number was called out. We waited in the area known as The Masters Lounge Bar & Conservatory which was really lovely and had plenty of sofas, chairs and newspapers. There was a small bar and coffee and biscuits could be purchased.

We went into the restaurant for our breakfast and it was beautiful. Full English and full Continental breakfasts, you could have whatever you wanted there was just so much choice. The waitress came to our table and asked if we wanted tea and coffee and she kept replenishing our cups. Another fantastic meal.

Off we went again into London for the day.

It was only when we were resting on our bed late that afternoon that my husband said “we are stupid, what does that say over there on the dressing table?”

Ummmm … … a label on the cupboard stating “tea and coffee” and a label on the drawer above the cupboard stating “hair dryer”. Oh, weren’t we just stupid!

Tea and coffee tray came out straightaway and was totally enjoyed.

Dinner at the restaurant was again thoroughly enjoyed and was peaceful and relaxing.

One of the reasons why my daughter had booked this particular hotel was that it has a swimming pool, Jacuzzi and health club. She knows I like to swim but, to be honest, after going around London I just didn’t have the energy for swimming or any other activities that would require energy from me.

The Roman-style Aquilla Health & Fitness facility is available but at a cost - £7.50 per adult and £2.50 per children. It is truly beautiful and has gorgeous statues and lots of polished marble surfaces but has lots of modern equipment. I did check out the cost of beauty treatments but decided I wouldn’t bother as they were quite expensive. I think it was about £50 for a massage but some of the facial beauty treatments were round about the £100+ price guide.

This hotel does provide laundry facilities, conference rooms, has a business centre, bar and lounge and also provides air conditioning together with a 24 hr reception and room service. A business desk with Broadband internet access is available together with wireless internet access in all public areas. It also has babysitting or childcare services, currency exchange and secretarial services.

The standard room charge was £215 per night but my daughter secured a special rate of £98 per night including full English breakfast (as mentioned previously though you could eat both English and Continental breakfast) via her search on the internet.

Other sites to check out this hotel are:

www.expedia.co.uk
www.london-discount-hotel.com
http://www.sarova.co.uk
www.tripadvisor.com : you can have a really good virtual tour of the hotel so check it out.

The Sarova website does guarantees that if you find a better rate on another site then they will match it and give you a further 10% off! But this does mention published rates but it’s worth checking it out.

I thoroughly enjoyed my stay at The Rembrandt and found the hotel to be really beautiful and clean but more than this was the fact that the staff were just so marvellous and treat as like Royalty! They helped to make our stay in this wonderful hotel so much better.

My thanks to all the wonderful staff in this hotel.

The Rembrandt Hotel
11 Thurloe Place
London
SW7 2RS

Tel: +44 (0) 20 7589 8100
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7225 3476
Email: Rembrandt@sarova.co.uk
 

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