Choosing a hotel in London can be quite hard, only in Paddington wo will have to choose from hundreds of hotels. We testet a relatively new hotel, and totally new for us - Novotel London Paddington
The hotel is located on "the other side" of Paddingon station, in an area which been totally renovated the last couple of years. In the surrounding buildings you will find the offices of VISA Europe and Microsoft. Centrally located in terms of public transport. A good mix of restaurants nearby and a small Sainsbury´s for groceries just two minutes away.
Novotel London Paddington was built in 2008, so it not new. The hotel offers 206 rooms over 11 floors. The reception area is not as big and bold as many other hotels.
REKLAME: Skal du ut og fly? Finn de beste og billigste alternativene hos Momondo og Skyscanner, eller direkte hos Lufthansa, Qatar Airways eller KLM.
The room
We booked a family room with a double bed and a double sleeping sofa. Our room was on the second floor and some distance to the elevator and other factors that may be disturbing and noisy at a hotel.
The family room was pretty small, and with the sofa bed open, it was difficult to find room for our suitcases. We needed some luggage for one week in England for two adults and to kids. The size is OK though.
A con is the bathroom and toilet is in two seperate rooms and not next to eachother. No sink at the little toilet so you will have to touch two different doors before washing your hands! The bathrooms feels a bit small as well, but you will have both a bath tub on one side and a shower on the other.
The size of the double bed is good, but with only one douvet (double). Sorry, but we hate double douvets. The matress is pretty hard, and too hard for our backs. The pillows was too soft, it seems like some of the fill was dropped.
For us the sleeping quality is the most important thing reviewing hotels. Sleeping quality is about the quality of the bed, douvets, pillows, light/dark room, temperature and of course the level of noise. As for the light and noise, we have nothing to complain about at Novotel London Paddington. Perfectly possible to get the room completely dark, and even with trains just outside the window, there is no disturbing sound inside the room. Very, very good!
On the other side, the temperature is way too high and the air condition is not working as it should. When we went to bed, the room was a few degrees to hot, and the temperature was not ok until the middle of the night.
The refrigerator was out of order. Very annoying during a hot stay in sunny London in July!
Novotel London Paddington offers a fitness centre and swimming pool. The pool has a limit of 11 people at a time. The size was ok, and quite relaxing to take a bath after wandering the streets of London for hours. In the pool area you will find both a steam bath and a sauna.
Quality breakfast
It is always exciting to test the breakfast at hotels, and during our England vacation, we had some bad and some lovely morning meals. London Novotel Paddington is really up there! Whatever you want, both hot and cold dishes, drinks, fruits and bread. One of the best breakfast buffets we had in England!
The service level is what we would say an absolute minimum. Some of the staff are doing a tremendous job, more than expected. Meanwhile, others are acting both rude and not very serviceminded.
This hotel is expensive, not compared to other London hotels, but in general. Expect at least $130 per night if you are lucky, usually around $200.
Conclusion
Nice and centrally located, ok priced hotel in London. Excellent breakfast, quiet area, quiet rooms, swimming pool and all in all very nice. A bit too hard beds and too hot during the summer. A lot of the guests were families, because it is a nice family hotel.
REKLAME: Finn de beste prisene på Novotel London Paddington
Other hotels in London:
Park Plaza London Waterloo (swimming pool)
The Shaftesbury Premier Paddington
