The Tower Hotel, London

...trip to London to see the First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army Exhibition? We had decided on the trip as a special treat for my 88 year old arthritic father. The first consideration was then that the hotel had to be wheelchair assessable. Secondly we wanted a good central location with opportunity for quick and easy public transportation to the British Museum. And last but not least we wanted a hotel that was a little bit special, a tad luxurious ...
...order?

Surfing the net, I came across The Tower Hotel. My quest was complete.

~~Location, Location, Location~~

The Tower Hotel is situated right on the edge of the River Thames nestled in amongst the recently renovated St Katherine Dock area. The docks are host to an assortment of privately moored yachts and pleasure boats. The surrounding quays house a number of historic monuments, sculptures and artwork ... more

~~My Quest~~

Where to stay for our overnight trip to London to see the First Emperor: China's Terracotta Army Exhibition? We had decided on the trip as a special treat for my 88 year old arthritic father. The first consideration was then that the hotel had to be wheelchair assessable. Secondly we wanted a good central location with opportunity for quick and easy public transportation to the British Museum. And last but not least we wanted a hotel that was a little bit special, a tad luxurious with wonderful views but one that was not too prohibitive price wise! A tall order?

Surfing the net, I came across The Tower Hotel. My quest was complete.

~~Location, Location, Location~~

The Tower Hotel is situated right on the edge of the River Thames nestled in amongst the recently renovated St Katherine Dock area. The docks are host to an assortment of privately moored yachts and pleasure boats. The surrounding quays house a number of historic monuments, sculptures and artwork including a giant sundial, an historic anchor from a 19th century Dutch ship and a Dolphin water fountain all found directly in front of the hotel. Plenty to see without straying far!

The Tower Hotel is on the eastern edge of the City of London. The magnificent Tower Bridge dominates the view from the entrance to the Hotel to almost all of the bedroom windows.

If you are familiar with London, you will know that Tower Bridge area is just far enough outside the main tourist area to provide for a quieter ambience away from the hustle and bustle of London but a mere 10 minute taxi drive away from the Museum.

~~How to get there? ~~

By road, simply head for Tower Bridge. Drive towards Tower Bridge. Go through the first set of traffic lights and do a U-turn at 2nd set of lights. After the traffic light controlled junction, turn left immediately into St Katherine's Way and the hotel is at the end. There are 120 car parking spaces available under the hotel at an additional charge.

By rail, Fenchurch Street is 0.5 miles away serviced by many a taxi which will take you directly to the hotel.

Using the underground line, there is a stop close by - Tower Hill Station. Exit the station using the entrance on the left, go down steps and enter the subway. Turn left out of the subway, walking past the Tower of London. Take the subway under the next road and then follow signs for The Tower.

~~Booking~~

Online booking is available from the Hotel's webpage http://www.guoman.com/guoman/hotels/hotelFinder/viewHotel.do?hotelID=240000 1. Drop down boxes enable a check for room availability for any given date and number of nights required. Options are then provided for types of room available giving the cost of each. Given that there are rooms suitable, you can then proceed to book and pay for the room.

Booking is of course available by telephoning the Hotel directly.

Many travel agencies will also book rooms on your behalf.

~~The Hotel Façade~~

The Hotel is somewhat of a cross between Brutalism and Art Deco Architectural design. It is constructed using the poured concrete technique of the Brutalists but has a pleasing geometric style used by Art Deco designers which takes the starkness away from the concrete and glass.

A small set of steps lead to the double set of glass entrance doors with a ramp to the left hand side.

The Hotel name and Guoman chain logo is emblazoned big and high on the building.

A small patio area is present just to the front of the hotel with seating and tables for drinks, light snacks. In the warm months anyway - it was freezing whilst we were there!!

~~The Lobby~~

As you enter the hotel an airy, spacious and busy lobby area opens out in front of you. To the right of the doors is a manned concierge desk with a variety of brochures and information details. The concierge will book taxis, tickets as well as providing useful information.

To the left is The Brassiere with a small bar / coffee area. Seating in comfortable leather chairs is available for about 30 people.

Four lifts line the wall to the right servicing the bedrooms, restaurants and leisure facility.

To the far end of the lobby is a small shop selling sweets, drinks, postcards and a small selection of London souvenirs.

To the far right is the 24 hour manned reception desk. Checking-in is available from 2 p.m. in the afternoon. All the paperwork was completed in readiness when we arrived and after a mere couple of minutes we were issued with a swipe-card key and directed to our rooms.

~~Room~~
The Tower Hotel has 801 rooms available spread over five floors. There is a wide range of types of rooms to suit most tastes including standard single rooms, deluxe rooms, suites and special access rooms. You can opt for single, twin, double or king sized beds!

Our room was on the 3rd floor. We had booked a double bedded room however it was more of a king-sized room. Two 4' beds had been pushed together to produce a giant bed with a set of three pillows lined up. The bed proved to be incredibly comfortable!

Our bedroom windows (three in total giving the room a light airy feel) overlooked St Katherine's dock area with a view of the Tower Bridge (if you craned your neck!). Just in front of the window were a small table and two comfortable chairs.

There was also a chest of drawers, wardrobe, ironing board, iron, trouser press, hairdryer and a mini bar which was completely empty!! There were the usual tea/coffee making facilities including herbal tea and two packs of biscuits. The remote control television came with the usual free channels and a package of other available channels that incurred a charge. All bedrooms apparently have high speed internet access - we didn't use this not having brought our laptop!

On the walls were a number of framed views of London. Overall a very pleasant room.

The ensuite bathroom housed a lovely big bath with overhead shower, sink and toilet. Plenty of soft fluffy white towels were supplied along with a set of nicely packaged bath / shower gel, shampoo, conditioner and soap from Otium.

~~Food~~
The Tower Hotel has two restaurants, a lounge area, a coffee bar and bar which all serve a wide variety of drinks, light refreshments and meals.

The only meal that we had whilst there was breakfast. A buffet continental breakfast was included in the price of the room. This was upgradeable to a buffet cooked breakfast for a small cost on the morning.

With 801 bedrooms, I was a little worried that the Gallery where breakfast was served would be full. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was plenty of room! Staff were efficient clearing tables away quickly without king anyone feel uncomfortable.
The usual selection of food and drink was to be had - cereals, fresh fruit, yoghurt, bread rolls, toast, croissants, orange juice, tea and coffee. All in all very satisfying.

We did have a peek into the restaurant which looked very stylish! Sadly I can't comment on the food or the service.

~~Other facilities~~

The Tower Hotel has a Gym. However due to busy schedule we didn't have time or the energy left to try this out!

The Tower has a total of 19 meeting rooms catering for anything between 5 - 500 participants.

There is also a currency exchange available at the reception desk.

~~Check-out~~

Check out is at 12 noon. All very simple. Just a case of simply handing back the key card - a quick check for any other charges and that was that!

~~Price~~

Prices can range from as little as £59.99 for a single room to as high as £379 for a suite! Our room cost us £99 each. Not the cheapest of hotels but very reasonable given the location.

~~Summary~~

I was more than pleased with our short stay at the Tower Hotel. The location and views were wonderful. The staff were all very friendly and helpful. But by far the best quality the hotel had to offer was that it was so comfortable and relaxing from the comfortable bed to the leather chairs in the brassiere.

Considering the size of the hotel and the large number of guests (there were four coach loads arrive on the same morning as us) we were made to feel important and the staff attentive to our wants and needs.

I would not hesitate to use the Tower Hotel again nest time I visit London and would whole-heartedly recommend it to anyone visiting the capital. 

...less