Hendon Hall

From reading previous reviews we were in 2 minds about booking this hotel, however we were very pleased that we chose to do so! We arrived earlier than the specified check-in time but received a warm welcome and were able to check in early. The overall presentation of the hotel is excellent, somewhat dated in certain areas but to be expected in such a historic building. The room was a good size, well presented and very clean. The service we received from the staff was excellent and the breakfast was well worth the money. The only draw back with this hotel is its distance from the tube station and from the centre of London. The website states that it is a 10-15 minute walk to the nearest tube but it is far more than that through an area that isn't particularly nice. We chose to drive to the station and leave our car in one of the many side streets (no fee or permits required on a weekend or bank holiday). Its then 11 stops to Leicester Square so a bit of a trek into the centre of the city. That being said, we believe that the quality of the hotel was worth it and would definitely stay at this hotel again and have no hesitation in recommending it.

This is now the 4th time I have stayed in a Handpicked hotel, and it will definitely be the last. I have stayed in the Woodhall Hotel in Leeds, part of the Handpicked range, which is without a doubt one of the best hotels, if not the best hotel I have ever stayed in. It's such a shame the quality of service in Woodhall has not been extended to the rest of the chain. I'm afraid Handpicked seems to have expanded too quickly, and totally lost focus on quality of service. They seem to be just churning out new hotels, which looks glossy on the outside meaning they can charge sky high prices, but completely lack basic levels of service. I recently stayed in Rookery Hall, in Nantwich, which was extremely disappointing, and I'm afraid to say Hendon Hall was much the same. The issue is always service, and getting basics right. It's ok having a fancy wine list at £8 a glass, but if you can't even manage basic things like check in, don't open a hotel chain. Check in was shockingly poor. It was busy, and I don't mind that, but we stood in a queue on the right handside, only to be called over to another desk on the left by a member of staff. What proceeded was a shambles. We handed over a credit card and signed the check in card, only for the member of staff to wander off somewhere with our card, and start ordering a taxi for another guest! After keying in the details, he then advised he wasn't able to complete our check in, as he didn't have correct access. So we ended up queuing again. Our room which was nearly £120 a night, was no better than the average Travelodge, and not the usual high spec interior I expect from Handpicked. We ordered drinks to the room, and surprise surprise, they didn't arrive, so we ended up going down to the bar ourselves. In fairness the breakfast buffet was very good quality, and far better than the shambles at Rookery Hall which saw me wait over an hour for a breakfast order, only for raw boiled eggs to arrive. All in all, the hotel just looks like a rush job re-furbishment, and is no way a 4 star. Another gripe was not being able to park onsite, as local residents are clearly using it to park in. Hanpicked, please, please, take a serious look at yourselves, and get the basics right, before more people like me, stop using you in droves.

I reserved an executive room, we arrived fairly late, approx. 11pm.

The room was very dusty, the mattress and valance were smaller than the base of the bed, the quilt was larger than the quilt cover, which had no fastenings at the bottom, therefore the quilt hung out the bottom of the cover. The bathroom was very small and did not appear to be very clean, so much so we didn’t bath or shower in the morning. The TV is fixed to the wall, on a fixed arm, only able to watch it standing up!

We were woken at 8am by the gardeners cutting the hedges just outside our room.

Breakfast took over 40 minutes to arrive and they were not busy. Ended up only being 3 people in the restaurant by the time our breakfast arrived, 40 minutes wait for under-cooked pancakes and 2 rashers of bacon and 2 broken fried eggs, really didn’t seem worth it.