Novotel London Excel — Hotel in London

Came to stay for 2 nights with my daughter for a concert at the 02, great location close to the 02, easy transport links with the cable cars next door and train stations close by, taxis fairly cheap to and from 02 from this destination aswell. Unfortunately the location is the only part I can really recommend as the room and service was not what I'd expect from a 4 star hotel, the room on arrival wasn't very clean, floors still had previous tenants hair and dust next to the bed, chewing gum stuck on the underside of the bedside cabinets, a piece of skirting board that hadn't been cut properly and really hurt your ankle if you walked too close past that corner, another piece of skirting board next to the bathroom door that wasnt even attached to the wall and kept falling down whenever we opened or closed the bathroom doors, an empty wine bottle and a lot of dust on the top shelf of the large wardrobe, all mismatching cups and glasses for tea and coffee and a lump of hair and some gunk stuck to the hairdryer when we got that out to use. I took photos of several of the issues. There was no guidance on how the heating/air con worked and when I went to the desk to ask they didn't know themselves and just gave us a fan to use for the night instead of showing us how the rooms system worked, asked for replacement loo roll from cleaners several times but was not given any, had to go to reception and ask there for someone to send some up in a bit. Was described as a double room but the bed was actually 2 single beds pushed together which is not what I paid for at all, if I'd wanted two single beds I would have got a twin room and moved the beds next to each other!!! We arrived at the hotel at 8pm at night and when we reached our floor there was a large room service tray outside someone's door in our corridor, by 11am the next day it was still there which I found highly unsightly and unhygienic to have dirty dishes sat in a corridor for well over 12 hours at a time in a 4 star hotel. I am autistic and struggle when travelling and had put this on my booking notes as I always do when staying anywhere to let staff know I may need extra assistance and struggle communicating and usually get some extra help or just generally have understanding staff who explain things slowly and clearly but none of your staff were able to help me properly or accomodate my needs, the only one who did understand was the woman who checked us in, she was lovely and very friendly and slow to explain things for me but the rest were very short and dismissive in explanations and I didn't feel comfortable to ask for more help as I feel I was just annoying them. Would not stay here again due to the lack of cleanliness in the rooms and for the price charged I feel it really needs to be worked on, great location though just a shame about the lack of care taken on the inside of...

Arrived on a Sunday for 2 nights. Booked a suite and it was massive ( corner room ) 2 rooms which could be separated by a door, which we did on an evening when sleeping.|Fantastic views over the river of the O2 and London City airport.|Great links from Custom House DRL ( a few mins walk away ) linking to the Jubilee line. |We used the IFS Cable car to get to the O2 for the Kylie concert. |No queue and the same type of system as the underground where you tap in and out with your bank card, although you could pay cash at the cash desk. Took about 5 mins in total to get across the river. Again a few mins walk away from the hotel! |Bathroom in the suite was a bit strange, separate shower cubicle and toilet with a 2 way mirrored door opening up in to the bedroom area with the sink outside of the doors. You could see in to the bedroom from the shower/ toilet but friends couldn’t see in. So quite awkward if you’re with friends to get showered as you stepped out of the shower straight in to the bedroom area! |Not sure if the other rooms available have the same concept for the bathroom. |Big size TVS in both rooms. |Our living room area, the sofa bed was made up as there were 3 of us in the room. |Only had 2 robes / slippers in the wardrobe though. You’d think they would have the right about of robes for the amount of guests staying in the room.|Comfy beds and sofa bed was comfy too.|Living area was huge, massive , TV, seating, table and chairs, fridge/coffee and tea facilities and coffee machine the only things I would say is a some kind of table next to the sofa bed and a light you can switch on and off when you go to bed. The rooms are blacked out with the curtains, which is good. But had to turn the tv on to give a bit light, then switch the main lights off which were near the room door around the corner. Then use the tv remote to switch the tv off. I actually dragged the small table over to put the tv remote on, my phone on to charge and have my water in there too. If needing the loo in the middle of the night had to use the torch on my phone to find the light switches away from the sofa bed which were around the corner next to the loo. |The living room bit could do with a long mirror possibly on the wall to the side of the TV. |3 girls in a room and only having a mirror in the bedroom part and not living part was a bit of a nightmare! All in all the room was great apart from the 2 things above!|Hotel breakfast was lovely, could do with black pudding at breakfast though.|Staff lovely, hotel throughout is clean and lovely too!|No discount on car parking, collect ticket from entrance of the car park under the hotel, go in to car park up to the 1st level where you can get the lift directly to reception. Pay at machine when leaving. |It was £25 per night which I suppose for London isnt too bad. |Would I...

My stay was in July 2024. It was my first stay at this hotel though I have attended functions here many times. My colleague (who like me travels extensively around the world) declares it as one of his favourite hotels. I was therefore very much looking forward to my stay. But...

I had chosen it based on location - specifically access to Elizabeth line for the next day. It is brilliantly located if you are visiting Excel too. I was coming in on a late flight. Due to delays I ended up not getting to the hotel until just after 3am. Reception is on the first floor so on arriving I had to buzz the desk, confirm my name and then was let in to take the lift from street level to 1st floor.

Naturally at that time of the night/morning it was silent in reception. I would have thought the young lady on reception would have been pleased with some human interaction on what I'm sure is a very dull shift. Seemingly not. She was cold. I was not recognised as an Accor All member, I was not offered my welcome drink and when I asked (unsurprisingly) for a late checkout I got a blanket "no" - not even an enquiry about what time I wanted - just a "no". I was directed to the lifts and that was it. To be honest I almost just walked out to catch the first train home.

Anyway I tapped one of my room cards on the sensor at the lift only for it to show green then red. I tried the second card - same result. The call button didn't work either. I went back to reception and an older guy came out from the office and was super friendly and helpful. He apologised that the lifts were known to be faulty and came with me to show me the workaround. Why on earth did his colleague say nothing when sending me to the lifts?

The room was fine - though lacking mains power outlets anywhere near the bed and in number generally. It was otherwise well appointed and nicely clean. I was in an accessible room for some reason though I hadn't requested one.

Next morning I dropped my key and card in the Express Checkout box. Subsequently I did not receive my invoice via email as I would normally from any other Accor hotel. I requested via the website and got one but again an example of poor service. I have waited a week or so for the expected stay feedback survey and it has not arrived so I assume the hotel is not interested in my experience - so readers of Google reviews can have it!

This is another in my poor/bad experiences with Novotel around Europe in the last 12 months or so. I'm not sure why I would continue to...