Number Sixteen

Where is the charm of a boutique hotel ? you call Friday afternoon to give all your credit card details and inform the hotel that your girl friend will check in before you...first thing they ask when your girl friend is arriving the very same Friday nite is to get her credit card details before giving the keys....

the standard room, nice but so small, dont expect to run around the bed and in the bathroom, dont expect a bath, and dont even expect a proper basin, rahter a tiny bowl you might expect in the toilet room.

Overall, a good location, but not up to the standard of a "boutique hotel" for that price. I would not recommend it for a romantic weekend

Number Sixteen is in a fantastic location for Knightsbridge, South Kensington and the museums on Cromwell Road. A great plus point is the proximity to South Kensington tube station - so very easy to get around London.

Great check-in. Very nice receptionist called Helen who couldn't do more to make me feel welcome. As soon as you enter the hotel you feel like you're walking into a very special house. It just doesn't have the "hotel" feel of anonymity which made me feel, as a single female traveller, safe and welcomed.

The room was beautifully decorated with bright pinky-red wallpaper which even my husband liked when he arrived on the second night.

Important point to note when booking: if you want to have a bath and not just a shower, you have to book a grade higher than the superior double which was what I booked as my bathroom was absolutely titchy to the point where I had to open the bathroom door to dry myself after having a shower just so I could stretch my arms! I haven't honestly been in such a tiny bathroom. That was the downside of my room. And as I was on my own there on the first night I wanted to take advantage of a lovely long soak in the bath which I couldn't do :-( My room was 307 which was on the very top floor only accessible with steps (the lift only goes to the second floor) so I wouldn't recommend it unless you had hand luggage like me.

I didn't order room service breakfast which cost L16/17 because it simply wasn't worth it when you have Hummingbird Bakery right around the corner and Carluccio's nearby for a lot less. Plus, I was dying to have a croissant at Patisserie Valerie on Knightsbridge so I walked there instead.

Check-out was very smooth. We left at 6.45am and paid up and left very swiftly.

P.S. When you check in, they swipe your card and add 40% to the total room charge for "additional incidentals" as a deposit. Very strange, I thought. I was a bit worried when I had a sign a credit card slip for L650 for a two night stay. They have assured me that it hasn't gone through, but I am awaiting my credit card bill with some trepidation....

I am truly' in love' witn Number 16! Since leaving Chelsea 7 years ago for the Mediterranean blue skies of the Cote d'Azur, this will always remain my chosen 'spoiling' hotel overnight stop-off point in London. On my most recent stay, immediately after Christmas 2007, I felt that I was a very special guest in someone's private home, The welcome and efficiency of the staff are second to none - courteous, slick, and very professional. The rooms are divine, with very 'cool' marble bathrooms, fluffy white bath robes, and my favourite Miller Harris toiletries (the terre de bois body lotion is unforgettable), If you are at Number 16 for just one night, ask for Room 12, have a leisurely warm bath/shower, head off into Chelsea for a cosy dinner (PJ'S would be my own personal recommendation), and then return to the comfort of your hotel 'oasis' for a pre-sleep drink from the honesty bar ........... and, in the morning, you can wake up to the most wonderful room-service breakfast, (Pink grapefruit juice to die for!). For me South Kensington is like a small corner of France, and I cannot wait for my next visit to Number 16. A la prochaine!