Very pleasant stay at Malmaison

Stayed at Malmaison during the week of Sept. 12th. It is a lovely hotel that, while it caters to the business-trip visitors, is also centrally located to various tourist attractions in London. We stayed in 318, a nice size room with a king-size bed. Our room overlooked a beautiful courtyard.

The only thing negative I will say about our stay is the bed - ours was very hard (and I usually prefer a hard mattress) and the pillows were way too soft - this aggravated my existing back problems. But if you don't have this kind of problem, it may not be an issue. The bathroom was very modern and tastefully decorated.

The service was outstanding - from the people at the front desk to room service, everyone was incredibly helpful and prompt. They eagerly helped us with dinner reservations, cabs and recommendations for restaurants.

I highly recommend this hotel - we had a very nice stay.

Much Better this time!

Just back from my second stay at the Malmaison and thought I'd write another review to balance my previous one which was not too complimentary. In my previous review ("Lovely building, Stylish Lobby, Shame about the rooms"), I stated that I would only ever go back to the Malmaison if I could get a larger room, and that it be at the front of the building. So, true to my word, this time round I shelled out an extra £40 and booked myself into a superior double (for £205 normal rate - but I suspect there is a weekend rate as well, which would be cheaper), and requested a room at the front.

This certainly made a difference to my stay. The room was spacious, with a small sitting area, and a view from the window of the lovely Charterhouse Square. Big bathroom also, with both a bath and a separate shower. I was impressed by the huge size of the toiletries in the bathroom (and you are encouraged to take the toiletries home with you), and by the sheer strength of the power shower.

I really appreciated the free fast internet access - easy to use, just a matter of plugging a cable into my laptop.

I used the JVC CD/MD player to play my CDs.

I used the gym on the ground floor - quite small and compact but had all basic Technogym equipment: a treadmill, a cross-trainer, a stepping machine and a bicycle, as well as a bench + full set of free weights, and one of those rolling contraptions people use to do their abdominal exercises. Towels and drinking water were provided, as well as a CD player (bring your own CDs) - it was very light and airy, and adequate. Brochure in the rooms says gym opens at 9am but in fact when I queried this with receptionist, he told me in fact people can use it from 7am (handy if you want to fit in a quick session before going on to a meeting)

My only complaint: breakfast is served until 10.30am only - which to me, especially at the weekend, is just a tad too early. However this was not the end of the world, as I just walked 5 mins to the nearest Starbucks, on Cowcross Street.

Parking is extremely easy, as long as you arrive after 5pm or at the weekend. There are plenty of spaces on Charterhouse Square, on a Pay and Display system. I left my car there from Thursday night to Sunday 5pm and it cost only £20. I can't remember the rates exactly but it goes roughly like this: 12-24 hours = £15; overnight from 6pm to 10am= £2. All day Saturday or Sunday= £2. Parking had nothing to do with the hotel but is run by a private company. I was so impressed by the rates that even when I left the hotel after 2 nights to move on to the Soho Hotel, I left my car parked in front of the Malmaison! (it would have cost me £38 per day to park in Soho!!).

As per my previous visit, service was friendly, professional and helpful. The night receptionist, upon my arrival (I got there at 3am, completely exhausted after a long drive from Brussels), even went out into the night with me and helped me to use the ticket machine to get the parking ticket to display in the window of my car (it was a bit complicated and not very well lit so I would not have worked it out easily on my own, especially in view of my tiredness). I really appreciated that - and he did volunteer his help without my even asking for it.

So all in all a much more successful visit. I am very glad I went back to the Malmaison - and I will definitely go back again.

Great Hotel, in a quiet location

I have stayed at many Malmaison Hotels in the UK on business and leisure. When I am in London, I normally will stay at the Mal, especially on Business. It is close to the tube station, rooms are quite small, so i normally book a deluxe room or a Junior Suite.

The rooms have climate control air conditioning, CD players, Sky TV, high speed free internet access and cheerful staff, the hotel shines -it is spotless and the rooms are stylish.

Nice Hotel, Service a let down

Stayed at Malmaison on a Saturday night in March. Lovely room overlooking the sqaure. On booking, we had requested a large room as we heard they could be small. The room was large with a lovely bathroom.Our one complaint would be the service. There were several people trying to check in with only one receptionist, hence we waited for at least fifteen minutes, only to be told our room would not be ready for another hour (we arrived mid-afternoon). We went in the bar in the evening and waited a good ten minutes to be served, in the end we gave up and drank from the highly priced mini-bar instead. The bill for the breakfat was put on the table before the breakfast actually arrived!

Having stayed at Malmaison previously, I had come to expect a little more from the service. However, we still enjoyed our stay.

A lovely stay

We stayed here on the first night of our honeymoon and had excellent service. The rooms are very clean and stylishly decorated. The bed was comfy and the room was quite spacious. Very quiet peaceful location.

We had brunch so were able to check out at 3pm for no extra charge. The restaurant is in the basement and serves delicious breakfast food - not too expensive either, I recommend the eggs benedict!

It is quite handy to the tube station - easy walking distance.

I haven't stayed at any other Malmaison so cannot compare.

Stylish hotel in a central and quiet location

I have stayed at the Malmaison London on business on several occasions in 2003 and 2004 and it has become my favourite London hotel (unfortunately, it also tends to be very heavily booked up!)

The Malmaison is a very stylish hotel located on the edge of a quiet square between Smithfield Market (which has restaurants, pubs and clubs) and the Barbican. Its location makes it reasonably handy for the City of London and it is 5 minutes walk from Barbican tube station.

Top things about the Malmaison are:

- its generally relaxed atmosphere

- helpful, friendly and professional staff

- stylish rooms with good bathrooms plus TV, CD player etc

- good brasserie/bar on site (way better than most hotel restaurants and it also does room service)

My main complaint is that some of the standard rooms are quite small and tend to face towards other buildings rather than onto the square itself. So, I normally try to book a superior room if one is available (though these are obviously more expensive).

One other point worth noting is that the hotel is not in a particularly central location if you just want to see the main tourist sights of London and so it might feel a bit off the beaten track for some people. Overall, however, I think it's a great place to stay.

Superb

hotel is ideally situated so that all central london attractions are within easy walking distance.

our bedroom was superb and there was a great atmosphere in the bar and brasserie.

all staff were courteous and could not do enough to ensure that your stay at the hotel was relaxing and pleasurable.

wonderful value for money - highly recommended.

Malmaison hotel in London

A bit like a W only smaller. No business center, but they let us know, after we got there, that if you bring your own laptop you can plug it in to the web for free in your room. Like the other user said, great if you have business in downtown London, but if your a city tourist this location is not for you. Service was a bit lacking.

Lovely Building, Stylish Lobby, Shame about the Room

This is a lovely small hotel in a lovely quiet square near the Barbican - not central enough if you are a traditional tourist, but great if you have business to do in the City of London. Service was pleasant, decor very much to my taste. However my (double) room was small (and I am told they have even smaller ones!), with nowhere much to go except the bed. It overlooked a brick wall at the back of the hotel and therefore was very dark and gloomy. The bathroom was designed in such a way that each time I had a shower the floor got completely flooded and I had to use several towels to mop it up. I appreciated the wide screen tv but the contents of the minibar were unimaginative. Basically the hotel reminded me of a much lesser copy of the W Hotels chain (which are my favourite hotels whenever I am in the US).

I would not stay there again unless I could have a larger room, and it overlooked the front of the hotel on Charterhouse Square.

Not bad - but not a patch on other Malmaison's!

Hi - my wife and I spent a weekend at the Malmaison in London. As veterans of the chain we expected the same high standard as say the Leeds or Manchester Mal but we came away disappointed.

The lobby lacks the chic of the other Mal hotels and the restaurant does not seem to have the Brasserie atmosphere. The service in the restaurant was a huge letdown. Rooms were pretty small too.

On the plus side - it's location is great and it is really quiet there, you will get a good night's sleep!