Blakemore Hyde Park Hotel — Hotel in London

If you want vile treatment then make your way to Blakemore.

I am a London black driver of many years. Toilet facilities are a big issue for us. But London hotels offer us the courtesy of using their toilet facilities, which we thank them for. Except for Blakemore.

Unfortunately last night I had the worst ever experience at the Blakemore that I have not seen in any other hotel in London. All for simple wanting to use the toilet.

I entered the hotel and noticed there was no one at the reception to acknowledge my presence. But this is sometimes the case as the hotel staff members might be just away from the desk attending something else. I could not wait as I really needed to go! As it is just a regular thing for a cabbie to use toilet facilities at a hotel I proceeded down the stairs towards the toilets. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, a staff member was there and confronted me with an unpleasant manner told me to stop and asked me what I was doing there. I told him that I just wanted to use the toilet. (Quick note that I was wearing my badge and it was visible, so it would have been possible for him to see it and know that I was a black cab driver.) He then rudely started yelling at me. Telling me I was trespassing! That the doors were locked and that I had forced open the doors and that I had forced my self in! Which was not the case at all. He then said he would call the police! And literally yelling at me and told me to "get out" in a very rude manner. Completely shocked at what I was hearing, I followed him upstairs to the exit without objection. As we walked back up the stairs towards the exit he continued his rude manner, continuously yelling at me that I was trespassing and telling me to get out, also with use of hand gestures. Assuming he might be a new member of staff and perhaps he did not know how to deal with the situation, I tried explaining to him that the hotel allows cab drivers to use their toilets. But he did not even want to listen to me and would continue with his rude manner and yelling at me tell me that there was no such thing and I should "get out and never ever comeback to this hotel". When we got upstairs I told him to check his CCTV and see if I had forced the door open or not. He refused and continued with his rude manner. When I asked him how long he was working there, his response was "I belong here, you get out!".

I hope the hotel CCTV records sound so they can hear their policies being implemented.

I dare the hotel to extract the CCTV footage from around 12.30am 16 Feb 2023 and post it on social media just to show that I am not exaggerating.

Never ever have I seen such vile treatment from any other hotel in London in my many years of working in London as a cab...

Staying in this hotel was the low point of our trip to the UK.

When my wife and I reached the hotel with a 1 y.o and 3 y.o. we were informed that the children would have to stay in another room. (??!!). They were very comfortable cancelling our fully pre-paid, 5 day reservation - WITHOUT REFUND. After questioning them on how a 1 and 3 year old would stay by themselves, they reluctantly suggested we take a cot (by paying more) and forced us to accept a claustrophobic, ground floor room designed for mobility challenged guests on wheelchairs. The room's window was facing a blank wall. What joy. Just what parents of 2 little kids need.

The bathroom shower and commode were facing each other, which meant whenever anyone took a bath, the entire bathroom was drenched with water. Only plus side was the room itself was relatively spacious - perhaps because it was for mobility challenged guests.

Their morning 'breakfast' was a sad state of affairs. As we arrived late the previous night, we ended up reaching the hotel café for breakfast near their closing time of 10 am. There was a short plump old woman with a sour demeanor who appeared to be in charge. When I gave her our room number, she confidently said you have no breakfast booked with your reservation. When I told her we did. She said, i can't do anything. You have to find out yourself from reception.

I had to take two hungry toddlers and go to the reception to solve the issue. 10 minutes later, we were told your breakfast is there with your reservation. When we reached the cafe, they had cleared most of the serving dishes away. The kids ended up having plain bread for breakfast. I asked another waitress if they had porridge. She said of course. The fat grumpy old lady overhead and said out aloud "I have already told them there is no porridge!". When I went and checked. It was there.

Over the next 4 days, we found the breakfast, exceedingly mediocre in taste and variety. The coffee was terrible as well. Most of the morning staff had an attitude that didn't do any justice to the line of work they were in. They were rude and appear to hate their job. I say most and not all, because we did meet a few others from housekeeping, and the bar that were really nice and helpful.

But overall, I found the entire experience at Blakemore to be wanting. If you're looking for a pleasant stay, you might like to overlook this one for any other hotel, even smaller ones with a better breakfast and...

I was nervous about the hotel details for our trip because, knowing typical rooms//beds are small and our family is large (two teenage boys and all of us over 6 feet tall), I booked separate rooms. The Blakemore was quite affordable and even after reading so many favorable reviews, I still felt there must be a catch. I’m happy and relieved to tell you we had a fabulous stay! The only hiccup was that the boys (ages 18 & 13) had to stay in a room on the 5th floor while our room was on the 1st floor. I’d asked when I reserved the rooms to be placed on the same floor, but because I’d also booked two rooms with two single beds, we had to split up. It turned out fine and even gave the boys a sense of responsibility and independence.

The rooms are small - I recommend packing as light as possible because there was little space for suitcases or even clothing storage for two adults; I used the desk drawers as a dresser space. But the beds were VERY comfortable, the bath towels were huge and soft (something I take note of in a hotel because it means just a bit of extra care for guests), and it was quiet.

We found the staff to be accommodating and pleasant. They helped, for instance, when my son sprained his ankle and asked about him every day. I even sensed they kept an eye on our kids, knowing we were nervous about being far apart.

We did not include the breakfast but did eat breakfast in the hotel a couple of times; it was what I’d expect from a hotel breakfast but you can get the full “English fry up” experience.

In my opinion the location was great. You have Bayswater, Queensway, and Paddington tube stations within a 10-minute walk, and you’re about a 5-minute walk from Hyde Park and Kensington Palace grounds and gardens. There are shops and restaurants near the tube stations and along Bayswater Road, yet the street the hotel is on is residential — which means quiet and charming at night. I enjoyed some time on the terrace in the morning and evenings.

Really, this was a great hotel experience and I recommend it for anyone looking for comfort and value in London. We paid for two rooms what we would have paid for one if we’d been closer to the London center - but with the tube stops and cab accessibility, we had no problem getting to everything we wanted to see and do during our week in London.

Thank you, Blakemore staff, for helping us to feel so comfortable while on vacation in a gigantic new city. I hope we’ll...