Hilton London Docklands Riverside

Stayed here for two nights (dinner first night and B&B) for my husband's birthday. I booked two deluxe rooms one smoking and one non smoking. On our arrival we were told there were no smoking rooms available which I said I was not happy about but to make up for this they upgraded us to a Deluxe Plus room with a balcony which was a lovely room overlooking the Thames. This was a nice touch but I felt it was only as a result of my moaning. The reception staff were not overly helpful or friendly and had I not booked on the recommendation of a friend I may have walked right out of the door, however, we're glad we stayed. The room was lovely, great view, very comfortable and clean. It had a seperate wardrobe area, king bed, large work desk, flat screen TV, settee and coffee table, balcony and reasonable sized bathroom with lovely toiletries (room 1325). Apart from the receptionist staff every other member of staff we met were lovely and couldn't have done enough for you. They were excellent. It's a shame the first person you meet at reception is so miserable. The reception itself is in need of a facelift and is very drab. The rest of the hotel is not like this so it's worth ignoring this when checking in as it can easilly put you off staying.

The hotel bar is very comfy and the restaurant food very tasty. I would recommend doing the dinner on first night then B&B package. Breakfast, as all Hiltons, was great.

We used the free shuttle bus to the underground which was a very short ride, however, the Thames Clipper boat, although slightly more expensive, was EXCELLENT. Amazing views, very quick - what way to travel into central London!

If you want somewhere to eat near the hotel and can't make it into central London you can use the Hilton boat to cross to Canary Wharf and there a few restaurants and bars very near such as Italian, Chinese, British.

There is a spa at the hotel but we didn't use it. The strange thing about the hotel is that it doesn't have a Hotel Guide in the rooms that tells you about all the amenities - you have to ring reception and ask for anything you want and there is no mini bar in the room either. Apart from that you can't fault the rooms and we had a great night's sleep.

All in all this is a great hotel and I will be using it again.

Tip to the hotel - change your reception staff and give your bar, restaurant staff and 'Angel' the porter a pat on the back because they're excellent.

I spent a week at the Hilton Docklands, as I was working just the other side of the river (the hotel has its own pier). So it was quite convenient (though expensive: GBP 3 per 3 minutes crossing, every 10 minutes until about 11pm) to go and work every day. And I was lucky with the weather, it was quite nice as well. Now beyond that boat link, the hotel is lost in the middle of nowhere: Nothing around, tube station (Jubilee line) that can only be reached with the free hotel shuttle (or by taxi), City airport about 30 minutes from the hotel by taxi as the road to get to this Hilton is not exactly direct...

I visited three rooms before accepting one:

one in the revamped building: nice and rather large but with no view as the windows are on a small court facing another room so it is impossible not to close the curtains

a first one in the old building: rather small and hectic to reach as the building is very strangely built (the corridor is a slalom between the rooms)

the nice one I finally stayed in (apparently one category above the previous ones), in the old building, but large with a beautiful view on the river

My advice: avoid if possible the old building and make sure you get a room with a view to the exterior of the building.

The staff was very nice and efficient, allowed me to choose my room and where always ready to help. Nice.

The food was ... London food, i.e. average. Breakfast choice was nice. Dinner were either a buffet restaurant or in the bar with a loudly TV showing sport at all time.

In short, if you have to work on the west part of Canary Wharf, it can be a good choice provided you are quite specific in the room reservation, as mentioned above, and you dine outside of the hotel as much as you can.