Novotel London West Hotel & Convention Centre

This hotel is not five minutes' walk from Hammersmith bus and tube station, making onward travel to both central London and Heathrow airport easy.

Sign posting to the hotel isn't great, but there's a map on their website which is easy enough to follow. From what I can see, most people tend to come in through the side door, which means a walk down Hammersmith Road and a right turn up some steps just before the gym. This is the quickest route, but the court yard in front of the hotel is in dire need of repair. It may not belong to Novotel, but it's not very welcoming, and in the darkness of night, the loose cobbles/paving could be dangerous.

The hotel has had some work done to it internally, and the reception , bar and restaurants all look and feel fresh. The food is of a high standard as well. Breakfast is really good - plenty of choice. However, good as it may be, it's not the cheapest breakfast.

The rooms can be hit or miss. The have refurbished a significant number, and these are generally good - comfy bed, reasonable furnishings, flat screen tele and so on. Other rooms still aren't so good, although these are due for work some time soon apparently.

It is a large hotel, and whilst the glazing did a good job at keeping most noise out (aside from the police and ambulance sirens), the corridors were quite noisy at times - usually at odd hours in the mornings. It is a conference centre as well, so there are often very large groups finishing together late at night, returning to their rooms en masse.

Down side is there is no gym. You can get a discount or coupon or something for the neighbouring gym. It's a good gym, but who really wants to traipse outside (especially in autumn/winter), over the aforementioned problematic paving and down the stairs into a public gym? For a hotel of this size, it should have its own facilities.

Stayed here for a Friday and Saturday night - picked it due to its proximity to the Hammersmith Apollo and a reasonable deal from the hotel website at L99 for the room per night incl breakfast. It's a large hotel and it always seemed busy around the lobby - with this sort of hotel it's always going to feel slightly impersonal but whether that's an issue is up to individual taste (we actually tend to prefer it!).

The room - really nice! Well equipped - soft drink mini-bar, safe, flat screen TV (which had a speaker in the bathroom too!), iron, 2 hairdryers(!), kettle etc. Excellent condition throughout. Note that the en-suite only had a shower - so if you want a bath I guess you'll have to ask specifically.

The food - the only meal we took in the hotel was breakfast. It was better than average - the cooked options were very nice and there was plenty of choice of juice; waffles, bagels, toast; cold meats; yoghurt. Fruit options could be improved - just three smallish bowls of fruit salad - fresh and crisp but trying to pick out a blueberry with the serving tongs from amongst the melon proved tricky! Would have been better to have separate bowls with each fruit in larger quantities. Only a minor point - it would be difficult to be disappointed with a breakfast as good as this. A slightly less forgiveable point was that it appeared entirely random as to whether tea and coffee were offered. Turning the cups up didn't work - we had to stop a waitress on both mornings - it seemed hit and miss for everybody. The staff were very pleasant though and once asked, the tea came straight away. Just haven't quite got the system right!

Lifts - this may sound a bit picky but I'm sure the program controlling the lifts wasn't particularly effective. We were on the top floor (the 9th) so lifts were a must - but every time we used it we had to wait ages for one carrying people upwards to various floors to arrive, when there were 3 others apparently just sitting at lower floors doing nothing. Quite frustrating when you're keen to get out and about!

Other points - reception staff were efficient; the very large open plan reception/lounge/bar/restaurant area felt quite 'swish'; there's a shop selling souvenirs, snacks etc in the lobby.

Location - if you're going to the Apollo for something with a late finish you won't do better than this - literally a leisurely five minute walk at the most. There are shops, cafes, pubs etc a similar distance - plus the Hammersmith tube station. As we only had a light bag, after checking out we walked to Paddington. It's a fair distance but it didn't actually take too long and the route takes you through Hyde Park - very pleasant.

Overall we were very happy with our choice of hotel and would certainly stay there again. Very nearly a 5/5 but the lifts tipped the balance down to a high 4.