Number Sixteen

The hotel is very clean and has modern, stylish decor, but the superior rooms are so small, they look they were literally cut in half. Some of the rooms have bathrooms so tiny, you can barely fit one person in them and taking a shower with the door closed is an exercise in extreme claustrophobia.

Room rates are, I guess, in keeping with London prices and the current value of the pound, but $40 U.S. for internet service? $60 for continental breakfast for two? An honesty bar that charges something like $25 per drink? That is just INSANE.

Staff is friendly and helpful, but also sort of clueless. Can't make recommendations or give information without looking it up. Very few of them are English and/or seem to know the city very well.

My husband and I had an amazing weekend in London while staying at Number 16. The hotel was quaint and elegant. The english decor made us feel right at home in England. The rooms were beauifully decorated and had a romantic feel...amazing marble bathrooms! The staff could not have been more friendly and helpful. The breakfast was delicious and had a great variety. The location of Number 16 could not be better. It is located about a block from South Kensington tube stop, so you can easily get anywhere in the city. But who needs to leave S. Ken, with all of the great restaurants and museums!! I would stay again in a heartbeat and I recommend it to all of our friends and family.

This hotel has all the features of a Firmdale establishment (they have six hotels, in South Kensington/Knightsbridge, and in the Soho area.) We love staying in them, particularly for the chic decor and the comfort of the rooms and public areas. All of their bathrooms are modern and large, by London standards. The staff are young and friendly, and the rooms are always spotlessly maintained, with turn-down service.

When we visited, the hotel was in the middle of refurbishing some of the bedrooms and had plans to change the color palette in one of the sitting rooms. (None of this affected the other guests -- they probably didn't even notice.) But it's a mark of this company's commitment to always looking updated and fresh that they change the decor so often.

The positives of 16 Sumner include the location in South Kensington. Truthfully, this part of town can be a bit grotty, despite being one of the most expensive areas in London. But Sumner Place is a lovely street -- a real oasis. At the same time, you're close to good restaurants and the tube, as well as all the shopping in Knightsbridge. We stayed in one of the larger rooms overlooking the street, and it was like living in your own chic townhouse.

I do have a couple of complaints. The hotel has a wonderful garden in the back which, theoretically, is available for breakfast and to hang out in. But this is London -- even in the summer, the garden is often unusable because it's too wet or cold. There's a small conservatory for breakfast, and unfortunately, when the garden is unavailable, the conservatory gets crowded very quickly during breakfast. We carried our croissants, fruit, juices, etc., into one of the sitting rooms, as did another couple. We were able to improvise an eating table, but the other couple just put their plates, etc., on the floor. Not exactly the four-star experience you'd hope for! Next time, we'll probably just have breakfast in our room.

There's also a slight sense of being nickle-and-dimed by this hotel. There is an honesty bar, where you get to pay 8 pounds for making your own drinks. The hotel had no DVD library, but instead had an arrangement with a local rental store -- for 4 pounds per DVD. The Internet wasn't free, either.

All this aside, though, we would happily stay in this hotel again. In our opinion, the positives far outweigh the negatives.