Quick Facts
Hotel: St. Ermin’s Hotel (A Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel)
Location: London, England
Arrived: Saturday, May 7
Departed: Wednesday, May 11
Room Number: 520
Paid: 160,000 Marriott points for the stay, 40,000 per night
We decided on this hotel for a couple of reasons. First off, we wanted to stay in downtown London and be able to walk to the main tourist destinations. Secondly, we wanted a place where we could burn most of my fiance’s points (she had some left over from her old job and still had Gold status with Marriott). Finally with her status we received a free breakfast for each day of the stay, so the property had to give us a free breakfast.
On a more personal level, for work I have to stay at a lot of the lower end hotel chains, e.g., Courtyard’s, Hampton Inn’s, Hyatt Places, etc., and we wanted to stay somewhere that would break that mold and the Autograph Collection is perfect for that.
The check in staff was super friendly, they helped us right away and we settled right into our room on the fifth floor. A word of caution, the elevator in this place is small, I mean really small. Even for European standards.
The Room
The room itself is what you expect from a European room, small and very basic. The mini bar was locked and had a credit card swipe on it if you wanted to get something out. If you used the credit card swipe it would charge you, regardless if you took anything. Because of this, I didn’t bother looking into it. Above the fridge were a selection of teas with an electric kettle and tea cups. There was also coffee but I didn’t try it.
The bed was a queen, but it was the largest queen bed I have ever been in. We have a queen bed at home, and both of us noticed that this queen was larger than ours. So either we have a small queen bed, or this was a large queen bed.
There is also a large TV hanging on the wall that you can adjust outward to see better from the bed (for some reason I don’t have that photo anymore, I am sorry!).
On the work desk were European outlets and also two American outlets, which made it extremely easy for us to plug things in. This was a simple but thoughtful touch.
The bathroom was insanely small. It was hard for one person to just stand in there and brush their teeth. The shower was even smaller with a super narrow tub. When I stood in it with my feet next to each other, they touched the sides of the tub.
The AC system worked really well in our room, maybe too well. It seems it only had two settings: off and full blast AC. We played around with it over the next few days but couldn’t figure it out.
Also, I don’t know how well they dust the rooms or if there were a lot of dust in the vents, but I was sneezing the entire time I was in the room. When I walked about the city I was fine, so it was just in the room. Something to take note of for those with allergies.
Bottom Line
The room itself is a very basic room. You’re not going to get a nice, luxury room and hopefully yours doesn’t have the dust problems mine did. When it comes to location and the amount of points to redeem the hotel, this is a location that you can not beat.
5