Corus Hotel Hyde Park: Great Location for Seeing London on Foot

Corus Hotel Hyde Park is a great location for seeing several London highlights on foot. Located right across the street from one entrance to Hyde Park, this 2oo- year-old former Georgian-style mansion is within walking distance of Kensington Palace, Notting Hill, Buckingham Palace, the Hard Rock Cafe, the National Gallery and more. The Lancaster Gate tube station, Paddington station and the Heathrow Express are just minutes away.

Hyde Park is just across the street from the Corus Hotel Hyde Park

Hyde Park, the largest of the four royal gardens, is a gorgeous respite from London’s busyness. Corus Hotel Hyde Park fits into London’s international scene with a sense of grandness. The reception area which flows to the lobby and onto the main dining room where a hearty buffet breakfast is served is a hub of travelers from around the world.

Polished marble floors, decorative Greek-style columns and mirrors create a sense of elegance and importance.

At The Brassiere, the hotel’s restaurant, I noticed several Asian dishes with a Malaysian focus when my friend and I loaded up on our comped breakfast. (More on comped breakfast later.) The people dining were as diverse as the food selections. Business travelers to couples to families with small children were in the mix.

When we arrived for our two night stay later in the day, the receptionists were friendly and prompt. At first there was a bit of confusion over splitting the cost of the room. My friend and I had yet to pay, so we wanted the charge split between our two credit cards. The confusion continued a bit at check-out since there was charge that would be credited back to our account and I was advocating for some perk to make up for our need to change rooms two times.

Our first room, a fine room at the beginning turned into not so fine in the morning. The comfortable two twin bed room with plenty of plugs to charge our phones and my iPad, modern furnishings and a flat screen TV became uninhabitable once the toilet overflowed. I wasn’t particularly alarmed when we left for the day since I figured the hotel would take care of the issue.

Room 1. Room 3 looked just like this one.

We left our things in the room and headed out after letting the staff know of the problem. I had the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace and meeting up with a friend for the walk through Hyde Park on the brain so we figured we’d deal with the room later.

Later, after coming back from our day of walking everywhere, before heading out to dinner and the musical Come from Away (excellent!), we had two room switches. As it turns out first room needed some major work with the bathroom and the foyer carpet. The staff had offered to move our things for us, but because we weren’t totally packed, I said I’d move stuff.

Unfortunately, the new staff at the desk didn’t know that we needed to change rooms. There wasn’t a note on our reservation. After a call to maintenance, we were given a new room. After hauling some belongings to our new digs, I wasn’t so pleased. Our 2nd room was smaller and the layout was odd. Back to the reservation desk for another switch. I wanted a room similar to what we had paid for.

The third room was identical to the 1st. Perfect. And the plumbing worked. Throughout the switches, the staff was quite apologetic and helpful.

Upon checkout, I did ask to see what compensation we might receive for the extra room changes and inconvenience. The management happily comped us the buffet breakfast which would have cost us about $15 each.

Given the stellar London location, the fact that guest rooms are being updated, and that we were treated fairly for our troubles, I’d stay at the Corus Hotel Hyde Park again. Issues can arise at hotels. The lesson is, as always, be polite and ask for compensation. In this case, speaking up did get results.

Also, the concierge helped us figure out where to get the train to Rye and kept our luggage for us while we ate breakfast. I noticed several other people getting various types of help from the staff.

For people who want to find a place to hang out, read a book, people watch and visit, there is plenty of plush comfortable seating. Because this is a busy hotel, make sure to advocate for your needs.

Our twin room was roughly $170 per night. Other rooms range from double bed to king to a double bed with a twin bed. There are also suites. We booked at Hotels.com, but if you book directly from the Corus Hotel Hyde Park website, the buffet breakfast is complimentary.

Post and photos courtesy of Jamie Rhein