The Wellington by Blue Orchid Hotels — Attraction in London

A mix of the good, the bad and the ugly. First off the air conditioning is marvellous here - cool in most of the rooms and, even better, cool in the public areas such as the lobby, the bar and the restaurant/breakfast room. This makes such a difference and is a far cry from even five-star establishments which consider that, once outside their bedroom, guests are happy to suffer sweltering temperature.

Check-in was very pleasant although more could have been done to explain things given that there is absolutely NO information in the rooms about hotel facilities. For example, apparently there is a gym. Apparently irons are available. Apparently there is a laundry service ... yet none of this is disseminated to guests. There was also, it seems, Room Service, but not attempt to sell this. Two telephones per room, but no guide as to any numbers to call to reach key people. Never saw housekeeping once during an entire three-night stay; no courtesy call of would you like fresh towels? or do you need more toiletries or extra teabags?

There was some confusion as to whether breakfasts needed to be booked or not. At check-in the answer was 'no' and yet, the next morning it was an emphatic 'yes' that a time slot had to be selected, in advance. Day One breakfast was fine, Day Two everything fell to pieces for some reason: only orange juice, no selection, tiny paper napkins so small as to be useless (although fine white tablecloths adorn all the tables), no croissant and the toast was not only soggy but also smelt strongly of vinegar. Hard to communicate to the F&B team since none appeared to have English as a first language. The coffee offered at breakfast is an insipid filter attempt at cafe; an expresso will set you back an extra £3.05.

Further confusion at lunchtime when firstly the restaurant was apparently closed and options were outside in the garden (where it was 31 degrees) or in the lobby at low, coffee tables totally unsuitable for eating a meal. Then, apparently, the restaurant WAS open until halfway down the stairs when F&B staff coming up proclaimed that it was NOT. Back at the bar, a discussion between them (not involving me, and in very broken English) to decide that someone should be sent down to check. What a good idea! In the end is WAS open and I enjoyed a good-value lunch. The food is much better value than the drinks, in fact.

Staff try to be helpful but the language barrier is an obstacle, something other guests present mentioned - not least several Americans who were clearly used to a different level of service from the hospitality sector.

The rooms were clean as were common passageways which can be narrow in places, and some rooms are up steps without lift access; it is a historic building, so they are oddly shaped and en-suite facilities have been added. The baths are large but have an odd glass structure around them, so the claustrophobic should probably stay away. It's necessary to step INTO the bath to retrieve the towels - another oddity.

No sign of any doormen or concierge at all, despite the latter being mentioned on the hotel's website. One is pretty much left to fend for oneself.

Book direct via the website and there's a promise of a 'voucher' to use against food and drink; but it never materialised and an apology once back home didn't really cut the mustard I'm afraid. Just another example of the rather shambolic and chaotic set-up in what could be a really first-class hotel given staff training; a LOT of staff training....

We stayed here in December and had a less-than-comfortable experience. Regarding the positives, this hotel is located in the heart of London, with easy access to buses and the underground. There are several major sights within a short 20-25 minute walking distance. The hotel itself is easy to find, and the staff is polite.

However, for a supposedly 4-star hotel, this place falls short in many ways. And, we will not be returning to this place.

Our key card malfunctioned, leaving us without light in our room, except in the bathroom. We contacted the reception and communicated the issue with them. In a few minutes, a member of the staff came to our room to check the issue, and he said this was perhaps a problem with the wiring. He said he would speak with his manager and get back to us with a solution. About 5-7 minutes later, we received a call saying that they were unable to send the maintenance team to our room because it was late at night (It was 11.30 pm. So, this is completely understandable) and that they could not offer us a new room because they were fully booked. They said they would send the maintenance team the next day, without stating any specifics. No apologies, no nothing.
Therefore, I called them back and asked when the maintenance team was expected (because we also had other plans for the day) and when we could expect to have a solution. They said they would send in a team by 9 am. 
We spent the next two hours in the dark, before eventually turning in. The next day, when no one showed up until 9.30 am, we contacted the reception again to inquire if they had plans to fix this issue. They said they didn't send the team as they "didn't want to disturb us"-- this even though we had already agreed on a time. It took an additional 40+ minutes for someone to come and check the issue, which still remained unresolved. The kind maintenance person, however, temporarily fixed the lights and promised to return in an hour. However, they abruptly cut the room’s power supply without warning, leaving us without light even in the bathroom—where I was in the middle of a shower. The least that could have been done was to just contact us, ask us if this is convenient, and then, cut the supply. Moreover, immediately after cutting the power supply, the electrician came to our room, therefore, I was forced to stay in the dark, in the bathroom, till the electrician dealt with the issue. 
While this was finally fixed, there was just no support from the staff. In many other hotels, this would have led to not just an apology but also a peace offering. I am not saying something complementary needs to be offered, but this is absolutely unprofessional. 
Along with this, we had several other minor issues. Coffee sachets and tea bags were available when we checked in. However, on subsequent days of our week-long stay, it was not often when coffee sachets were replaced. For the first two days, in fact, we never received new coffee sachets. The tea bags provided were also terrible. While the black tea was weak tasting, the lemon and ginger tea bag was just awful. Considering the relationship between tea and the UK, this was just sad. Even though we would request for our rooms to be cleaned/tidied up before we left for the day, on two-three occasions, the toilet paper wasn't replaced. These small gestures reflect a lack of thoughtfulness and consideration...

This is my subjective opinion, and I am sure others have had quite better experiences, but for me this has not been a good experience, At time of writing I am on my last day here.

This accommodation was booked by BackRoads Tour as part of a Tour with them. We extended our stay to enjoy London a few more days. Great disappointment upon seeing our room. A tiny dark, smelly room , shabby -not chic furniture, well past it's used by date for an alleged 4 star hotel.

This place in my opinion is greatly misrepresented on their website. Our room looked nothing like any of the rooms shown. The lobby and bar area look quite nice with decent furniture, quite different to our room with grotty old chair and chipped furniture.

After having an awful night in the room, we sought assistance from reception to give us a room that was comfortable as no way did our room meet 4 stars even at lowest room category, in my opinion.

We were assured we would be given a room better than what we paid for after we returned for the day.

Excited for a comfy room, was Surprised when we returned that evening to a room that was worse! Smaller dingier, smaller bathroom and wardrobe, no towel rails, and again none of the USB outlets worked, as was the case in first room.

We did ask why they weren't working, told, people 'put things in them, and we're not fixing them '.

So its now late we're exhausted, I was not about to unpack again nor stay in the new 'better' but worse room.

A long wait, finally got to speak to The manager, I already explained i wanted a room standard shown on website, - but none available apparently.

My feeling is there are a few nice rooms online shown, but there is no standard consistency even in the same category in reality.

We were then shown 2 rooms in our category, one actually had newish furniture and a bit more spacious. So we took that. I asked, Could we please have a luggage rack,first room had one, and we had the usual 2 bags and nowhere to unpack or store them... reply was 'sorry, not all rooms have them, we dont have enough to go around'. Okay small thing, but my guest room at home has a luggage rack they are not expensive... this is supposed to be 4 star hotel, not in my books, and I travel a lot!

So if you are desperate and need to book here the rooms we did not like were 116 on noisy street side, the 2nd room on quiter park side was 119, both on 1st floor. The room that was more habitable was 032 on ground. I would never stay here again, I do not recommend this hotel, too much hard work to get a decent room.

I do not take pleasure writing a revue such as this, but my hubby and I are extremely disappointed, this stay was part of a trip of our lifetime, and this hotel has been hard work and not a nice place to stay after having very hectic...