Sanctuary House Hotel

The invasion of London by a travel trade convention meant that most of my usual choices were either booked up or had hiked their rates above what I was wiling to pay. As a result, I ended up at the Sanctuary House in Westminster, a part of London that does not have that many hotels, and certainly not in an affordable bracket. Initially, the hotel is not particularly prepossessing, being situated over a pub just round the corner from St James' Park tube station. However, the upstairs lobby is welcoming and the staff friendly. My room was clean and well-appointed, with the bonus of a four-poster bed and a corner position. Wireless internet was free and fast. The main downside was the difficulty in getting adequate heating, even after discussions with the front desk. I am not sure I would want to stay in really cold weather. However, sound insulation was very good with no traffic noise or internal disturbance. Continental breakfast was included in my room rate and served in the pub - which was better than it sounds. There was a good selection from the buffet and no smells of stale beer. One other disadvantage that should be mentioned is that this part of London is not brilliant for small restaurants, even of the better chain variety. There is a cluster around Victoria station but this is about 15 minutes walk.

We stayed at Sanctuary House in the middle of October, 2009. First off, the hotel is in an excellent location to explore the more familiar attractions on London. St. James Park tube station is one block away, allowing quick access to the whole system. Also double-deckers run along Victoria St (one block to the south) up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square and Charing Cross Road.

Westminster Abbey is just two blocks east, with Parliament and Big Ben just beyond that. Buckingham Palace is also within walking distance. We were quite impressed with the location.

The hotel itself has charm while at the same time being hit and miss in some categories. The building is several decades old, but kept very clean. The lift is smallish, as is found in older European buildings, but accesses every floor. Most rooms have a very good view of the street, except the ones along the east wall, which give great views flush up against an office building.

The ground floor is a Fullers pub (who also own the hotel above). Those, like me, who really appreciate a good British pub, will appreciate having one on the ground floor. You can even take pints up to your room! (North Americans take note: While there are waitresses in the pub, you are expected to place all your orders at the bar and pay for them up front. The waitresses are only there to bring the food to your table. If you try to hail one to take your order, you will get nothing more than a dirty look. This is normal procedure in British pubs). This is where the Continental breakfast is served from, with an option to order a hot breakfast from the kitchen at added cost. The food is adequate, but not spectacular - which is what I find in most restaurants in England. They just seem to have a taste for blander food than what we expect in Canada. (The second week of our trip - in Paris - just blew England away in terms of food quality and preparation). You will certainly find a good selection of restaurants up around Charing Cross Rd., with Chinatown and the theatres in that vicinity.

The rooms themselves are where there needs to be a bit of improvement. With the exception of the razor plug in the WC, there is only one power outlet in the room. In our room, it was by the desk. Everything else in the room is hard wired into the walls, so you can't even unplug a lamp to plug something in. This is unacceptable in this day in age with the many electrical devices that people travel with. The hotel's solution was to offer us an extension cord on a roller so that we could have something on our bedside table plugged in. Very weird in our opinion. Also, there was no alarm clock in the room. The TV's were entirely out of date. While most hotels now offer flat screens with dozens of channels, we got TV service out of the 1980's, with about 8 channels on an old style television. The TV remote was totally worn out, with half the buttons not working. Progress needs to be made by the hotel with these items. There is free WiFi in the rooms.

While we were happy with the area we chose to stay in, we will probably chose another hotel in the future. There are many, many to chose from in London.

Front desk staff - particulary Sean - should give lessons in hospitality; truly exceptional. Helpful above and beyond the call, cheery without being patronizing, the staff here actually improves your day with their happy attitude. Hotel is very close to Westminster Abbey and St James tube. Easy walking distance to Trafalgar Sq, Buckingham and Piccadilly. Lovely clean, well decorated rooms and hotel. This is not a "big lobby" hotel if you that's what you need. But there is a good (not great) restaurant / bar on the first floor.