Novotel London Wembley 4 stars

Great location for the arena and stadium .

I am absolutely shocked at my recent stay at the Novotel hotel in Wembley. Many things went wrong… miscommunications over the car park, incorrect bookings for my children so I was questioned regarding them at booking, EVERY BREAKFAST, their beds were never made (because on paper, my children weren’t there) and all because of a “computer glitch” (their words, not mine). I called up shortly after making the booking to doublecheck the car park because we had to travel some distance and I was told I did not have to pre-book. On arrival near midnight there was a taped sign over the car park intercom stating that the car park was full although this sign had clearly been there for some considerable time due to the weathering of the paper and the Sellotape. I then called the hotel to ask if the car park really was full only to be told they would check and they hung up which I found slightly confusing and slightly rude so I called back. I was then told that they would check the car park and then they hung up again so I presumed this was normal procedure. When someone came out from the hotel I was asked if I had pre-booked to which I had told the hotel worker that I had already inquired about this at the time of booking and was told I didn’t need to. Anyway, he went and checked the car park and said there was a space (there were plenty in fact) but was insistent that we pay immediately for the car park. There is a touchscreen car park booking in system in the car park but this seemed faulty as every time I put in my details it just said “sorry there has been an error”. So me and my family unloaded our luggage made our way to reception and it was the same gentleman that helped me with the car park. I gave him my surname to book me in and he looked at me a little bit strange and said two adults, two children? To which I said yes. I then mentioned that I couldn’t book in for the car park and I had tried the screen in the car park and I also had tried doing it on my phone but neither way worked and it kept coming up with an error. Another hotel employee almost a little bit huffy got his phone out and just said “no it is working” and waved his phone in my face. I said “no you need to go further than that and actually start to book it in” and then he soon realised that I was actually correct and that the system really wasn’t working. The original hotel employee then booked my car into the system manually, which was fine. Booking in seem to take a very long time. Finally we got our room key. Our room was on the 10th floor and so myself and my family finally thought we were going to get to settle down only to realise that they hadn’t set up our children’s beds nor was there any bedding for them either. So I went back down to reception and I went up to the hotel employee and mentioned this to him which he replied “that is because madam you only booked a room for two adults”. I think due to being tired I didn’t really take this in because I literally just took my phone out ,which was still on my original booking email and said “no it’s for two adults and two children” and had to show him my phone to prove that I was in fact correct. He thought about it for a moment and realised he was the one in the wrong and he said I will go and get some bedding right away madam. I go back up to the bedroom and I am there pulling out two beds for my children sleep on and then the hotel employee arrived with some bedding… so at 12:30 in the morning I am making up two beds for my children that should have already been done. The only compensation that we received for all this stress was that the hotel employee believed our room was a bit hot and so he got us a couple of extra bottles of water. I wish I could say that was the end of it and that this computer system has been fixed however it had not. Every breakfast we attended that stay I had to embarrassingly get my phone out to prove to the hotel staff that I had booked in as two adults and two children, and getting looks from other guests as if we were cheapskates. On the second breakfast I actually went to the reception to ask why my booking hasn’t been corrected to which at this point I was told “oh yes it’s a computer glitch we know all about it but there’s nothing we can do. All we can do is add your children on in a comment box but no one looks there”. I would also like to add that the housekeeping also never made up my children’s beds because as far as they were concerned, they were not being booked in as staying guests, even though they were. I have messaged several times to the hotel and to the main head office regarding my issues about my complaint only to be made out to feel like I am the problem, and that “ not all the hotels have English as a first language” thrown at me (not sure why they brought that up, everyone I dealt with spoke good English), but my biggest concern is the fact that because my children were not on the guest manifest if there was a safety reason to evacuate maybe a fire or another threat, it would not even be logged that my children were guests. I feel this hotel is extremely substandard. Safety is not anything that they consider important nor do they feel that customers should enjoy their stay at all. My stay was now over a week ago and I have been promised a proper reply… I am still yet to hear anything substantial or anything more than a generic email. AVOID.

Although very expensive at Wembley events, the staff are friendly & helpful. Rooms are spacious, very clean and mostly quiet. Although not an extensive menu, the food is of a great quality and tasty.

We had a very poor stay: - Despite having a disabled member in our party (and calling ahead) we could not get a parking space (disabled) on site so had to park off-site which created a significant problem. - I booked a suite thinking it was the "best" room you had in the property only to find it on a low floor, looking inwards on to major scaffolding works! - Given it was looking inwards - there were some good vehicles which woke us up in the middle of the night meaning we had a poor nights rest. - It was particuarly cold in London that evening and the heating in our room did not work and even when we turned it off it was very noisy? - To cap the above off, when we all went to have a shower the next morning, the water was cold/like warm at best and the shower was so weak it was difficult to actually wash yourself. This is unacceptable in a property of this calibre. Given we booked a suite at a 4-5 start property, I expected a way better experience. I gave the above feedback on check out and asked for a partial refund on my rate (£458!!!) but was told it was not possible and it would be followed up by a General Manager, I have heard nothing to date. Kind regards, Paul W.

A good choice for staying to watch sport or concerts. We were there a 3 nights but they didn’t make the room up the last night. Luckily we are tidy. No phone in the room to call down for the supplies we needed and the reception was too busy.