Hoxton/Shoreditch has been a hive of hotel development in recent years. With most of the development finished and the new tube station entrance open, it can be a great option that is fairly central with stylish hotels and reasonable prices. We stayed at the Art’otel London Hoxton within a few weeks of it opening at the end of August. It currently has some amazing value prices for the suite I stayed in, so read on!
In this post:
Location
The hotel is a new build by the roundabout for Old Street. It is well located for the tube being only a few minutes walk to the new tube entrance. If you want a night out, there is so much on your doorstep from fine dining at Nobu to cheap steaks at Flat Iron. I recommend the Llama Inn with its casual Peruvian food and beautiful rooftop terrace.
Check-in
We stayed only a few weeks after the hotel opened and were greeted as we entered the building on the ground level. Reception is one floor up with an impressive pop art display over the escalators.
The person serving us was very friendly although a little hard to understand as he was not a native English speaker. He did slightly annoy me by indicating we had been upgraded when, in fact, it was just the upgrade I had paid for in advance. He explained where everything was and the opening hours for breakfast. Overall it was a good check in experience if a little slow but that is to be expected at a new hotel.
The room
A new American Express offer has popped up after I had originally booked a mid range room (Art Room City View which is a slightly bigger standard room) as prices were pretty cheap since it was newly opened. The offer meant that if I upgraded to a suite, it would not cost me any extra once the £100 credit had been applied so it was pretty much a no-brainer.
As you can imagine, I stay in a lot of hotels, and I’m lucky enough to have stayed in quite a few suites, but I was impressed with this one. The modern style of Art’otel would not always be “my thing,” but I can still appreciate good design. The other thing that elevates these rooms are all the included amenities which I will go into further detail about.
As you enter into a hallway, there are storage cupboards with a safe big enough for a laptop and a rather gorgeous cocktail-making area. I adored the fluted champagne/cocktail flutes as well as the cut glass cocktail jug. There were even fresh lemons and limes, which is extremely rare to see even in 5* hotels. It felt rude not to mix a cocktail or two, but sadly, we were off to a party, so we did not have time.
The hall then leads into a spacious living area with an impressive corner sofa with throw, armchair, dining table for three and a large desk area along with a TV.
There was also a proper vinyl record player and a selection of albums, which was a fun addition.
Next came the bedroom with an extra large bed which was extremely comfortable with good quality linens. All the little touches like the throws made it feel more homely than a hotel room normally would.
The coffee maker and kettle were in the bedroom, so if you wanted a morning cuppa in bed, you did not have far to stumble! There was even a milk frother to go with the Illy espresso maker, something again I have not seen before in a hotel room.
More glassware was also on the tray which was useful as the water supplied came in cartons. I also liked the fridge, which has an empty side for your personal items, as well as the mini bar.
The wardrobe contained super-soft plush grey robes and slippers as well as the usual iron and ironing board and even an umbrella.
I loved the high tech in the room as everything from the air conditioning to the curtains could be controlled by the bedside panel. There was also a digital radio and plenty of sockets by the bed. There was no outside noise and we had a restful nights sleep.
Bathroom
The bathroom had a slightly unusual arrangement, with a bath and open shower next to each other. I have never seen a drain like this one, which was a line running through the middle of the bath. The shower was powerful, and you did not end up with water everywhere, as I had feared.
There was a large vanity area with oodles of room for toiletries, although only one sink. There were fresh flowers there which I thought was a lovely touch. Plenty of amenities were supplied including a dental kit and toiletries by Kevin Muphy who specialises in hair care. By the bath, there was another full set of products, as well as a loofah and bath salts. The products did not really have much scent but were of good quality, particularly the hair products, as you would expect.
The final touch which really impressed me were the Dyson hairdryer with diffuser and Dyson air wrap. I’m not sure how they sanitise the tools between stays but they looked brand new to me.
For comparison, here is a standard room which looks bright and spacious:
Food and drink
The main attraction of the hotel’s dining scene, the rooftop bar and restaurant are not yet open but if it is anything like the one at their hotel in Battersea it will be well worth visiting.
The Brush restaurant and bar is open on the ground floor, but since we did not have breakfast included, we decided to have room service. There was a lot of choice with some very tasty-sounding dishes:
The room service fiasco and how they dealt with the complaint or didn’t…
This led to the only disappointment of the stay. The room service was delivered promptly and set up for us at the table.
My partner’s full English got the thumbs up, but sadly, mine was a disaster.
I had ordered shakshuka, a North African/Middle Eastern dish I have eaten in many, many hotels. It is amazing how many places fail to make such a simple dish well, but this was definitely one of the worst I have ever had.
It is meant to be eggs cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and onions with spices. This dish appeared to only have peppers and onions swimming in oil. As we had ordered late, we only had a short time to eat breakfast before check-out, so I debated whether to complain there and get something else, but I did not want to wait another 30 minutes and then make my partner wait for me to eat it. So I ate the eggs off the top and poured as much oil as I could off and ate a few of the peppers and onions.
Now, this is not my first rodeo, and I have complained about problems in many hotels over the years. I don’t judge the hotel on the issue, as mistakes happen, especially in new hotels, but this has to be the worst-handled complaint I have ever had.
The dish was £14.50. At check out, when asked about the stay, I explained that we had a wonderful stay, but one dish on room service was terrible, and I felt it should be removed. Now, normally, this would be done without question unless you asked for something super expensive or the entire room service bill.
As I delve into how they dealt with it, I’d like to reference a minor issue at another hotel and how it was dealt with for contrast. Another hotel we stayed in (5* admittedly) asked how our stay was as we were waiting to check out. We explained that we loved the hotel but had been annoyed by being called repeatedly and having a knock on the door about checking out since late check-out had been arranged on arrival. I did not expect anything other than a sorry, but instead, they insisted they remove around £60 of breakfast from the bill.
Getting back to this sorry saga, we were then told that they could not remove the charge until I spoke to the Room Service Manager. We had to sit and wait for around 10 minutes to speak to the guy that then made me feel I was being interrogated by the room service police. How much did I eat, why did I eat any of it, why did I not ask for something else etc etc. I had taken photos of the oil and the dish, but he was not interested in even seeing them or hearing what was wrong with the dish, which was very odd. I felt I was being called a liar.
Basically, he did not want to refund a £14.50 dish for someone staying in a suite. At this point, I’m afraid to say I began to get annoyed and did reveal what I did for a living and how completely unacceptable it was to handle a complaint in this manner. I then explained hotel complaints 101 to him, and eventually, he agreed to refund the dish. We then had to wait even longer while they took it off. All in all, it had taken around 30 minutes to sort out and left a worse taste in my mouth than the initial oil-fest itself! I’m not sure other people would have the patience to be as persistence as I was, but perhaps that’s their strategy. It’s such a shame, as I loved everything else about the hotel.
The Brush Lounge
There is also a bar called The Brush Lounge on the first floor that has a relaxed, modern and elegant vibe. My friend and I went for a pre-dinner cocktail and liked it so much we went back again later in the evening. The table service was very friendly, our cocktails were great and we enjoyed the delicious olives too. They also have live music but more of the light jazz variety than anything too loud.
Facilities
We did not have time to sample the facilities, but the hotel has a temporary gym, as the top-level swimming pool, spa, and gym are not yet fully open. There is also a screening room in the hotel and free bike hire if you want to explore London.
Pricing
Obviously, you can use your Radisson points to pay for a room. If you want to use cash, prices start at £224 for a standard room and an amazing £300 a night (March 2025) for the suite I stayed in! The best deals are available if you join Radisson Rewards and use the Plan & Save, Pre-Paid Rate.
Conclusion
I generally like Art’otels although they would not be my personal style choice. This hotel really impressed me with all the amenities and the good value we got on the suite. The staff were generally very good and I would definitely go back to the cocktail bar again. However, it is a great shame that the front desk is not empowered to simply remove a cheap item from a bill without a lot of kerfuffle and a grilling from a manager. If I could get the suite at a cheap price, then I would stay again, but I’ll not have room service again. That’s for sure!
3 comments
The hotel looks nice.
I do not think you dealt with the complaint well at all being an ‘expert’.
You obviously were expecting the dish to be refunded. In such a case, you should have raised the issue immediately with room service. To just casually mention it at check out when asked about your stay, then declare that ‘you feel it should be removed’ and get upset when they do not do it straight away is a little unfair. To be honest I would be thinking exactly the same as the room service manager – why did you not pick up the phone and complain at the time?
To admit yourself that you ‘became annoyed and let him know what you did for a living’ further clouds the situation. Firstly, taking it out on someone just following a protocol (whether you think it is a good one or not) and using the fact that you publicly review hotels is bad judgement in my opinion.
We literally had around 30 minutes to eat and left the room immediately afterwards. If I’d had longer I would have phoned but we needed to leave. I rarely complain but I have never been interrogated and needed to have a manager question me. Normally provided what you say is reasonable they simply remove the item.
I did not take it out on him. I simply told him that I was a travel writer and this was not how you should treat a guest that complained. At no point did I threaten him with a bad review or say that I reviewed hotels or that I was reviewing this hotel. You seem to have assumed the worst of me without any evidence. I was not rude but he just kept repeating the same thing and we were wasting precious time that we did not have. I have never encountered anyone like this in my many years of travel. My partner also agreed his attitude was appalling.
It was a perfectly reasonable request to remove a low priced item from the bill. I find your attitude odd that when something is not up to standard I am in the wrong as I waited 30 minutes to raise it.
I agree with Michelle that the hotel wasn’t professional on the way it dealt with a very basic complaint.
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