Novotel London Canary Wharf 4 stars

I had a one night stay at Novotel London Canary Wharf last week, and it was off to such a lovely start. The location is great, and the receptionist on duty on Thursday evening was lively, service-minded and attentive (I wish I had gotten her name). As a Platinum member of Accor, I had been upgraded to an executive room on a high floor with a great view, and she happily answered all my questions. She also tried to sell in their breakfast (in a non-pushy manner), and she made it sound great, so I was tempted - but my plan was to finally get some sleep after a long week, so I declined and said I had a small hope to sleep long and have a late check-out the day after. She said she believed that would be possible to arrange but that I would have to confirm with her colleagues on duty in the morning. The room was not large but planned in a smart way and had everything I could wish for for a short stay. A very nice welcome message was also waiting in the room, and I felt this was one of the better Novotel hotels I have stayed at. A friend came over for us to check out their bar on the 38th floor, and the very positive experience continued there. Excellent atmosphere, great mixing of cocktails and attentive service. And of course - the view! I already decided I had to come back the day after to check it out during daylight. I slept very well, and woke up to an awesome view of London. On my way to kick off the day with a visit to the hotel gym, I dropped by the reception to try to confirm the late check-out. However, the receptionist on duty did not exactly show the same enthusiasm as the one working the night before. She did not get off the chair she was sitting on, hardly looked at me when I approached - and had no interest in knowing my room number or anything else - she just declared that the hotel was fully booked that day so noone could have a late check-out. I worked ten years in hospitality and am of course aware that noone can expect or demand a late check-out. I do however also know that even when the hotel is full, one can allow a very few late check-outs (sometimes against a fee to reduce demand - and I would have been happy to pay a bit). Here, there just seemed to be no interest in anything that caused extra work. This might be unfair but my impression was that her only wish was for the shift to end so that she could kick off the weekend. I did not want to be an annoying guest bringing up my status with Accor but briefly mentioned the promising signals from the evening before - however, that caused an even firmer no. One could almost get the impression they were severely over-booked. And there was no «Sorry, we are full» - just a «We are fully booked, so that’s not possible». So I went to do a quick gym session. The gym is rather small, but well equipped - and allowed for a solid work-out. The only downside was an obvious need for cleaning of the floor/mat in the weight corner. Out of curiosity, I went online from the gym to see if it was still possible to book a room for the evening, and indeed, four different room categories were available for booking on Friday, including mine. Again, there could be good reasons for not allowing a late check-out on my floor, for example - but then she should at least have checked in the system. I would have loved to also take advantage of the pool and sauna (both looked lovely), but time did obviously not allow for that. So I packed, checked out, left my luggage and went for lunch outside - before returning to check out the bar in the early afternoon. It was as great during daytime as during the night, and I have recommended the bar/facilities to all my friends in London - but also had to be honest about the lack of consistency in the hotel reception. So all in all - location and facilities tick all the boxes - service levels vary from absolutely great to absolutely non-attentive. I had an ambition and a plan to climb back to Diamond status with Accor this year, and am still on track for that. But episodes like these make me wonder if the IHG group is a better option for my upcoming adventures in Europe.

Rachel and Eriks at front desk gave 5* service for the full time we were there (5+ days) and was always friendly, and went above and beyond with their time to answer questions and secure bookings. I had originally intended to stay 2 nights, and ended up staying 5+ because of the amazing customer service.

I loved the location, a short walk to the London Bridge. The view from the room was great. The bed was comfortable. The TV system was the first I've ever dealt with in a hotel that was fast and responsive. The only cons was the shower, the handles were missing some pieces and the water on it's highest setting didn't get that hot. But besides that the room was great, the staff was helpful and the rooftop bar was amazing and the staff there was also great. I'm already planning my next stay out there.

My self and my fiancée were upgraded to a suite, it was a real treat. Reception staff were lovely.

I booked the hotel for my birthday and the room was nice however the bathroom was slightly dirty, the tv kept lagging so I wasn’t able to go on YouTube without it freezing every 2-3 minutes which was very frustrating. On the plus side the swimming pool and sauna was lovely very relaxing. But their needs to be some improvement with cleanliness and better quality connection with tv/YouTube, I was excited to go to the hotel but it really didn’t live up to the expectations.