Hotel Indigo London Clerkenwell by IHG — Hotel in London

Zero stars - I had to put one to post this review but would be zero otherwise! The experience here was horrendous. Please avoid this place like a plague.  We came to stay here for a wedding in London and the hotel iron ruined my dress for the wedding.  While they couldn't rectify the situation, the front desk manager explicitly told us they would honor a refund of our one night stay points when we departed.  Not only the points were not put into our accounts, I had to call IHG to follow up and then they only refunded a small portion of the points and not the full one night stay as verbally promised.  The front desk manager had mislead us and lied to us about the situation where our one night stay would be refunded and the hotel manager would not honor what was miscommunicated to us.  In addition the hotel TV connection kept disconnecting where we had to keep rebooting all night + the towel had a really BIG dirty stain on it ( this is a new hotel too...).  We were hoping it would be a pleasant stay since it is newly opened but the hotel is poorly run.  We are a IHG member for a long time and we will be considering disco tinue our membership with them in the near future due to this incident.

Edit in response to front desk manager reply: it was not that I didn't accept the dry cleaning service- your hotel could not expedite the service to dry clean my dress during my stay (to add- we are not certain ry cleaning would of removed the stain on the dress). I explained how an iron in a BIG corporation like IHG leaving these rustic stain spots all over someone's apparel they bought for an event they are attending is not acceptable and for hospitality this ruins their experience and if needed the hotel should of expedited the dry cleaning within the hour to solve this issue and not tell the guest their dry cleaning service is picked up during normal business hours of 7 or 9 am and returned 7-9pm. Because of the normal dry cleaning time taking whole day - your hotel was unable to get the dress dry cleaned during my stay prior to me having to check out. The verbal promise prior to leaving the hotel when I checked out was 51,000 point for my one night stay which you said it was approved and instead of refunding the point it would just be added as this was a easier process. Not only did NO POINTS go into our account as promised after waiting 3-4 days after we checked out the hotel. I had to personally call IHG to follow up and you only gave 15k which was not what you told me when I checked out. This is a honest review and people should know about the dishonesty of this situation and the quality of the hotel rooms. I will consider taking down the reviews if you actually put the 51k points into our account as promised. Otherwise, please let me know if there are more platforms I can post to inform more...

This is a brand new Hotel Indigo in the Clerkenwell area of London, just north of Barbican station. It's a bright, modern, and reasonably upscale hotel with great transport links. As it's only been open a few days (at the time of writing this review), there were naturally some teething problems, but these were forgiveable and rectified so overall I'm very impressed with this hotel.

Check in was slightly more annoying than I would have liked. I specifically booked a queen room - which I confirmed with the receptionist on arrival, only to find out when I got to the room that it was a twin. Reception also stated the room had been upgraded... it hadn't (the IHG app still showed a standard room) which was dissapointing given I'm Diamond status and they had availability. I went back to reception and after getting a supervisor they were able to swap me back to the Queen Standard room I'd booked.

Given the hotel had been open 3 days before I arrived the room was naturally brand new with modern furnishings, I was probably the first person to stay in it. Even though it was a standard room it was very comfortable and had all the amenities I'd expect, including a TV with Chromecast (which was a bit flakey at times though). The only thing I found slightly odd with the room was the bathroom layout, the open plan combination of it with the sliding walls meant the light switch was the wrong side of the bathroom and a bit of a pain to find in the dark, also there was a motion sensing light in the bathroom which is never a good idea.

Breakfast was a decent buffet, staff are still getting up to speed so service got a bit all over the place on the first few days but that will improve with time. I ordered off the a la carte menu and that arrived fairly quickly. I didn't try any of the other dining options.

For transport, its a 5 min walk away from the Elizabeth line Farringdon Station (Barbican exit) for direct trains to Heathrow, and a couple of minute walk from Barbican station. There's several bus stops nearby with what seemed like pretty frequent buses.

If you're after a well located mid range IHG then this indigo is worth...

An excellent boutique, new hotel, well designed and good sized rooms and excellent staff members, plus well located for transport to underground, Elizabeth line and Farrington British rail services station… no more than 10 minutes walk away…and easy to walk with luggage.

Highly recommended, definitely would return again when in London next time.

Rooms: King premium rooms are of a good size with good natural light and semi integrated bathroom within the room itself, but easily closed off from the room if you are sharing or want privacy. (photos and hotel layout diagram attached.)

Food & beverages: There is a cocktail bar within the hotel with friendly Service plus a British pub attached to the hotel with a typical pub environment and you can charge to the room as well. They have food specials and typical British pub food.

Hotel staff: All staff were friendly, genuine and responsive. Of particular note was Jason. He was a superstar! Every interaction, From a super warm welcome, deep explanation of everything and then acknowledgement, greetings and asking if we needed anything every time he saw us entering or leaving and then and efficient farewell process. These interactions with the team members always reflect on the hotel and it was the icing on the cake for a great stay.

Wifi: Good speed, perfectly okay for work or leisure needs.

IHG Rewards benefits and recognition: As a Platinum member, my partner was upgraded in advance of arrival, very warmly welcomed, thanked for recognition, and offered the normal platinum benefits. This indicates staff are well trained and it makes a difference that the member does not need to prompt for benefits to be...