H10 London Waterloo — Hotel in London

We couldn’t have chosen a better place to stay for our first time in London.
Since we booked well in advance, we managed to get a great rate for our five-night stay in July.
The H10 London Waterloo is perfectly located – just about a 7-min walk from Waterloo Station and close to major tourist attractions like Big Ben, the London Eye, and, if you don’t mind walking, Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Park.
The Waterloo area offers a variety of restaurants and grocery shops, so there’s no need to worry about going hungry – even late at night – as many places stay open until midnight. From the moment we stepped inside, the staff treated us with the utmost kindness and checked us in about an hour before the official check-in time, despite the hotel being fully booked.
Special compliments go to both the reception staff and the security guards, who were always quick to offer help and recommendations while ensuring everyone’s safety. Our triple room on the second floor (room 212) was very spacious and clean.
We really liked the newly refurbished design, both in the room and the hallway.
The beds were extremely comfortable– including the sofa bed, although it may not be suitable for anyone taller than 1.82m.
The TV was large, and we appreciated the complimentary amenities like three water bottles per day and continuous restocking of small items like shaving kits, hot cocoa, and tea.
Housekeeping did a fantastic job maintaining the room daily, and it was always a pleasure to return to a clean, fresh space after a long day out.
The complimentary shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and even moisturizer all smelled great and didn’t irritate the skin, suggesting they’re of good quality. That said, there were a few minor issues with the room..
The bathroom air tended to get quite stuffy, regardless of the shower temperature– possibly due to an issue with the ventilation system or AC.
There were also too few towel holders, and the minibar wasn’t cool nor spacious enough to store personal items like yogurts or bigger drink bottles.
Smaller face-towels would be a helpful addition in the future.
Also, while the shower was spacious and powerful, it struggled to stay at a consistent temperature– one small adjustment turns the water boiling hot. We figured it out quickly, but it might not be ideal for children. The air quality in the reception area, elevators, and hallways was also quite stuffy, so adding air conditioning or at least some fans would be a good improvement. One of the highlights of our stay was the breakfast buffet, which has excellent reviews online–and rightly so!
The buffet was fantastic, offering a wide variety of options for every dietary preference: fresh vegetables, bread rolls, egg dishes, cereals, smoothies, yogurt, hot cocoa– you name it.
Whether you’re vegan, vegetarian, or a meat or fish lover, you’ll find plenty of choices.
Everything was well-stocked, and the staff was quick to take away dirty dishes.
Our only small critique would be the very watery orange juice and the pre-mixed scrambled “eggs,” which didn’t quite meet our expectations of a 4-star hotel breakfast.

As members of the (free) H10 Club, we received a voucher for three complimentary cocktails at the „SkyBar“ upstairs.
The view over London was picturesque, and the cocktails were delicious.
However, the staff at the SkyBar didn’t seem too welcoming and appeared somewhat 'annoyed' with guests who came in just to redeem their vouchers. Because of that, we decided not to stay long, as we didn’t want to "take up space" on the relatively small terrace.

Check-out was quick and efficient, and to our surprise, the staff even comped the two minibar drinks– extremely kind!!

All in all, staying @ the H10 London Waterloo was an outstanding experience.
The few minor flaws were far outweighed by the exceptional service, comfort, and location, so giving it anything less than five stars would be unfair. It made our trip truly memorable, and we’ll definitely be staying here again the next time we...

First, the positives: the hotel is in a good location (a short walk from two underground stations and several pubs and retail businesses for your later-night snack needs) and the breakfast buffet was extensive. The hotel restaurant's dinner menu was limited, but satisfactory. Everything else, on the other hand...? Slightly disappointing.

It started when we first arrived in our room. I tried turning on the TV and nothing happened. No matter, I thought, it's not like we're in London to watch TV.

We noticed it was a bit warm in the room, so I tried adjusting the thermostat but it wasn't responsive. No matter, I thought, we weren't visiting during a hot time of year and we weren't planning to spend all day in the room.

We checked out the mini-fridge and realized it wasn't working despite being plugged in, and decided that it didn't matter because we weren't going to spend £3 on a room-temperature Coke. (When we brought it up with the front desk, we were told that the hotel's mini-bars weren't refrigerated as a matter of course -- which seems like a waste of a good refrigerator, but whatever.)

Then we realized there were no washcloths in the room, and by this time our willingness to go without was wearing thin. We inquired about it and we were told that washcloths had to be requested -- which seemed odd to us, but we assumed it was either a cultural thing or the hotel trying to be environmentally friendly. (Still... washcloths??) Honestly, it wasn't so much the lack of washcloths as it was the fact we had to ask every day of our stay for washcloths to be delivered -- one would assume a note could be made to alert housekeeping to our needs.

But the final straw for us was an incident involving someone from housekeeping striding right into our room to check the minibar just as my wife was getting out of the tub. The bathroom in our suite was right at the front door, and she felt mortified that someone would walk right in while she was undressed. When we brought our concerns to the manager, we were told the hallway camera footage showed the housekeeper had knocked (which my wife did not hear despite no running water or other sounds to distract, so it must have been a faint tap indeed) and there was nothing further that could be done. Then she said the situation could have been avoided if my wife had hung the "Sleeping - Do Not Disturb" sign on our door, which only angered us further by insinuating the incident was her fault.

In the end, there was no real apology, just a voucher for two drinks from the hotel bar... but only the cheaper ones that the bar manager was permitted to give out to voucher holders, not any of the higher-end drinks. It was at this point that we decided no one in any position of authority at the hotel really cared about us as guests, and certainly had little desire to attend to the little details that might have helped make our once-in-a-lifetime trip feel even more unforgettable. Fortunately for us, there were plenty of other places we visited in...

This hotel was fine for our needs, but there were some problems. There was a long line when check-in time arrived. The carpets in the lobby were stained, and some of the furniture was very worn. The hotel was in a fairly convenient location--not right in the middle of things, but quieter because of it, and a short walk to bus stops or the tube.

Our room was a bit small, but big enough for two of us, and the bed was about the size of an American king. It was quite comfortable (I am really picky about beds!) The bathroom had a good shower with a detachable head, but no fan, and our door didn't close all the way. So bring some Poopourri if you're staying here! 😂 I turned on my white noise app at night because although there wasn't much noise from neighbors, there were a lot of emergency vehicle alarms coming from outside (we were on the fifth floor), and the heavy room doors slam shut, esp. in the mornings when people leave their rooms or maids come in and out to clean. I feel like this could be fixed if they used those door devices that make them shut slowly.

We kept having issues with the a/c. The first evening we were given a fan. They fixed the a/c the next day, but it later stopped working again. They kept telling us to put our key card in the little holder by the door which apparently was supposed to make it work, but didn't. They also said they would change the temperature from where they were, but that didn't seem to work either, so we ended up making about 3 calls each time. We were finally given another room on our last day, and it was an upgrade to the tenth floor with a nice view of the city. We appreciated that, but it wasn't very convenient.

We also had an issue with the TV. It kept turning on in the middle of the night, and the man who looked at the a/c "had no idea" why it would do that. It would turn onto a white screen which didn't make noise but was very bright and would wake me up. We tried troubleshooting ourselves, but couldn't figure it out, so we just ended up unplugging the HDMI/Chromecast cord and that worked.

The included breakfast each day was pretty good, better than most American hotels I've been to as far as the number of food options. It saved us a lot of time and money, and I really appreciated the flexible hours from 7:30-11am.

The front office staff was hit and miss. Many of them spoke English as a second language, but it seemed like a lot of the people we called regarding the air conditioner were a bit short or interrupted us mid-sentence. The pictures I've included are from the upgraded room and the rooftop bar/restaurant.

I debated between giving them 3 or 4 stars. I would probably rate it 3.5 stars if I could. Overall, it's been a pretty decent hotel...