Thistle Hyde Park - Kensington Gardens

"We had a terrific day from check in to check out. The room is lovely, overlooking the park, the staff for accommodating, friendly, and entirely professional. Excellent location, near to underground stations. The neighborhood is not terrific for interesting places to eat, but that’s what the underground is for. Walking through the park was lovely. The bed was extremely comfortable, the whole hotel was spotlessly clean. I would definitely recommend this place and I will come back."

"My room was FREEZING!!! A 4 star hotel where the heating doesn’t work DURING WINTER? Seriously? There was a portable heater in my room that was clearly insufficient, I asked for a solution and someone came to room and said everything was fine! Later that night I went downstairs again because I literally couldn’t sleep (temperatures were bellow zero that weekend), and they sent me a second heater. Honestly, price wise this is absolutely not worth it! Also definitely not a 4 star hotel! Rooms are extremely tiny, carpets full of stains, windows are not properly sealed.. really a catastrophe. Location is great but that’s all!"

"Decent hotel for the location. Reception staff on check in lovely. Disappointing to find hair in the bath which signals it's not been checked. Automatic service charge applied to buying a bottle of coke in the bar (please don't assume that handing a bottle over warrants one). Breakfast selection good - however as usual at a buffet breakfast the majority were not served hot."

"Room service didn't answer once, we always had to phone reception. We booked 2 beds and got 1 double bed (shared between myself and my mom). House keeping only cleaned the room twice over a whole week, and the second time all they did was make the bed, nothing else. They provided 2 small bottles of water on the first day and when we called to say we got more milk but not water, they said they only provide water on the first day, which is surprising for a 4 star hotel. There's no space for a suitcase or to unpack your stuff. Walls are very thin so you can hear whatever the other rooms are watching on TV all night long. The location is nice because it's close to underground stations and there's a very pretty park setting, several grocery stores and restaurants/pubs down the road. A fairly nice view of the city. The staff at the Brasserie are nice but half the menu is "unavailable" and it's already limited, especially for vegans. There are definitely not alot of options for the included breakfast as a vegan, they don't even have dairy milk alternatives. Everything is tiny, from the rooms to the lifts to the stairs, which is very impractical for people with suitcases."

"For Americans traveling to London … here’s the good and the transparent about Thistle Hyde Park … the staff is truly wonderful. Terrific breakfast. Very clean hotel. Located across from Kensington Palace. Super safe area. The real problem is … the room space! It’s brutally small. Absurdly small actually. If you’ve ever traveled in Europe, that’s very normal to have small hotel rooms when compared to what you’re used to in America. European rooms are just small as a standard. Even for “upgraded rooms” you’re typically going to be shocked if you’re an American. However, I’ve been to Manhattan NYC and those rooms are small, but these at Thistle are even worse in that specific area. It felt small even by UK standards. There’s literally barely any room to turn around if standing near your bed. I was constantly having to be mindful of not running my feet into bed frames, or the tiny office chair they give you with a tiny table. If you are traveling with a spouse, forget it in terms of any space to put your bag. There’s literally NO place to lay your bag. I mean none! You have to put your bag on the bed to open it. Then stack it on the floor … only to be left to step over it to move in the room. There’s maybe 8 inches of space on each side of the sink to put your dop kit. All in all, the rooms are not cheap, and for what you pay, you should expect far more in terms of space. The staff and cleanliness is terrific, but honestly, I’d never stay here again just the sake of feeling like you were in a cocoon!"