Cove - Landmark Pinnacle, Canary Wharf — Hotel in London

If you find a newly opened Cove, it's good for the first couple of years. After that stay away.

We've been coming here since they opened and witnessed how the wear and tear from guests kept taking it's toll on the property, not enough done to keep it up.

First, the balcony windows stopped working. They are massive and heavy so must be properly aligned to provide useful operation. So if you don't take care of them, they stop moving. If you do manage to open one, it's not guaranteed that you'll manage to close it without calling maintenance.

Then kitchen utensils started to develop signs of wear, you may find less plates or cups or cooking pots than before, teflon frying pans have developed many scratches, electrics and appliances started acting up, dishwasher no longer working.

Then mattresses started to die, comfortable and supportive two years ago they have been worn out to a hammock shape so god forbid you sleep on your side - your back will be hurting by morning, assuming you get any sleep at all because of how uncomfortable and lumpy the mattress and pillows have become.

This all suggests that initial furnishing choices were indeed of IKEA quality. Which only works if you understand that they have to be replaced much sooner than higher quality items.

In bathrooms, it's now always a lottery whether or not you will have enough soap or body wash for the duration of your stay or if it unexpectedly runs out. You cannot tell until it does - the little bottles are not transparent and are permanently stored inside a metal box fixed to the wall. Presumably refilled by screwing off the top. Not sure how sanitary this is after a few years.

Bathroom drains no longer flow free so you're standing in water while showering. There's now also a distinctive odor smell from the bathroom plumbing and pipes. Not yet very strong but you can definitely feel it when you first enter the suite from the outside.

What once was a nice rainshower head has become clogged with hard water deposits. Elementary to take care of, yet deemed unnecessary...

Given the choice to avoid upkeep, I expect everything described above will continue to deteriorate over time.

When you first enter your room you discover that you're given two complimentary tea bags and two filter coffee bags. No matter if you check in for a night or for a week. Sure you can contact service or front desk and ask for more. I'm guessing, because it's not advertised.

It's all illustrative of the general approach - save on business expenses and have your customers do the quality assurance jobs. If they don't speak up then everything must be great.

The final nail in this coffin came from me waiting for my turn to give my keycard to check out. While I waited in front of the reception desk some other guest just jumped straight up from the side with luggage hold request, and was promptly serviced as staff freed up. Queues are apparently for suckers, and staff will not be enforcing the order of service. I literally had to assert the order myself by preventing the next joker from pulling the same maneuver.

TLDR, the quality has been going down while the price has of course been going up. What once was a good deal, is no longer. Moving on to...

For context: I stayed here for 11 nights

I would perhaps come here again but I hope they would take on the following items below to improve upon:

Replace the balcony windows with a better system. Current balcony windows are so cumbersome I would not stay in a room with a balcony again.

Install a microwave in the kitchen. Current set up has a stove and an oven. I would rather have a microwave to warm up food more conveniently.

Replace all the bedroom pillows and mattresses with new. The pillows offered no support and the mattresses are so stiff I end up tossing and turning because my arm would fall asleep.

Install better soundproofing for windy days. Canary Wharf can be very windy and the entire building will creak under the strong wind and make it near impossible to sleep at night. They provide ear plugs but honestly it would be nice if they could just also fix this problem so it doesn’t feel like a cheap place for the price your are paying per night.

Install a tv in the bedroom in addition to the living room. Current set up only had it in the living room.

Install better remote controls which allow easier access to change out the batteries. My remote in the hotel was very temperamental and sometimes just didn’t work at all.

Offer paper towels in the kitchen and more dishwasher tablets. My room did not come with kitchen paper towels nor did it come with dishwater tablets. I had to purchase these at my expense. For the cost of the room this is unacceptable.

Communicate with guests on when exactly to expect housecleaning (days and time window). I was never told when they would come. The only communication was on the tv menu screen that they only come once a week. Which is fine I love how sustainably oriented the hotel is. Just communicate your schedule and commit to it.

Offer hand lotion in the same way liquid soap, shampoo, conditioner and body wash is provided.

Offer hand soap in the kitchen (similar way the soap is in the bathroom)

If the hotel makes these changes, it would bring up the value for the money they charge. Right now it’s tough to recommend them...

My partner and I stayed in apartment #814 from 19 Jan to 30 Jan. Ours was a large studio apartment.

Canary Wharf is a business district around 20 mins tube ride from central London. We had some prior reservations about the area, but we found it very safe. There are people about even after office hours.

Getting there: Without any luggage, it's around 10 mins walk from Canary Wharf. The main entrance is on Westferry Road.

Reception: Check-in desk is rather small. Our passports weren't checked. Showed the booking on my phone, made payment. Then we were given our key cards and headed up. Reception is manned 24/7.

Apartment: Spacious, well-lit and clean. We found the queen bed small for us. AC/Heating was controlled by a panel beside the bathroom. Strangely we had to keep the bathroom light switched on, to keep the heating going. Large wardrobe with a foldable clothes rack.

Only one external window could be opened at a slight angle.

Kitchenette came with a small fridge, oven, and induction cooker. This allowed us to heat up some food for meals. Plenty of cups and utensils. There is also a dishwasher, and electric kettle. Hot water is available at the sink tap.

Bathroom had a heated towel rack (controlled by a switch in the washer cupboard). Shower controls were poorly designed. They were at the opposite end from the shower heads! Strong water pressure with plenty of hot water. The glass partition didn't enclose the shower stall completely, so water went everywhere when we showered. Ample countertop/cupboard space for our toiletries.

Very useful washer/dryer. The drying cycle takes at least 2 hours. Be careful not to overload the dryer.

Housekeeping only comes once a week to change the towels and bedlinen. We could request for other items via Whatsapp, and it would be sent up to our apartment. Prompt responses from the management. We took out the trash every night by placing it outside our door.

We slept very well during our stay. The neighbourhood is super quiet at night.

We will definitely stay...