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The Hempel – reviews, photos

5.0 of 5
31 - 35 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EA, England
Hotel amenities
The Hempel
Ranked #397 of 1,069 hotels in London
3.5 of 5 stars 236 Reviews
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236 reviews from our community

What travellers say about this hotel
  • Hyde park(6)
  • Star hotel(4)
  • Friendly and helpful(3)
  • Very good(3)
Traveller rating
    79
    54
    32
    41
    30
Only show reviews for Family (14) | Couples (92) | Business (49)
Date Rating
Manchester, United Kingdom
Contributor
16 reviews 16 reviews
Reviews in 10 cities Reviews in 10 cities
33 helpful votes 33 helpful votes
“Chic Boutique”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 10 February 2012

Great experience on a one night stay. Long on style and not too high on price (£150 through Expedia). Ambience very chilled, in keeping with the Zen Garden. Quiet location with easy access to great eateries and Paddington/Lancaster Gate Tubes and Hyde Park. Bedroom had plenty of space and light, crisp eyptian cotton bedding great pillows and decent TV choices. Bar area lovely, not cheap but quality throughout and tasty treats with drinks. You could pay a lot more for a lot less, strongly recommended. J

  • Stayed February 2012, travelled on business
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 5 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 5 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 4 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Londres
Reviewer
5 reviews 5 reviews
Reviews in 3 cities Reviews in 3 cities
4 helpful votes 4 helpful votes
“35 @ The Hempel - Review of the Restaurant”
5 of 5 stars Reviewed 8 February 2012
1
person found this review helpful

e went there yesterday night to take benefit of a nice offer : 6 courses Tasting menu + 1 cocktail at £35.

The food was really nice, good portions and excellent attention to detail. Starter was a beetroot salad, nothing super-exciting but well executed. Second starter was a very nice smoked salmon with organic pickled carrots, excellent and very well spiced, seasoned and designed. Then came the suckling pig, excellent. My main was a braised beef with Garlic puree, again I loved it and was very well presented. My wife had a vanilla seasoned cod, very nice too but the fish was over-cooked. Desserts were very good, especially the chocolate fondant, heavenly !!

Service was very good . We even changed tables in the middle of the evening (as we were next to the window –upon my request- but it was rather cold so they agreed to change us table) and they were happy to do this for us.

My only disappointment was the wine list, clearly not in line with the food, an effort must be done there. No corkage possible either.

Overall, an excellent evening, great food and service, we will come back !

  • Stayed February 2012, travelled as a couple
    • 5 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
Jorge Canela, Food & Beverage Manager at The Hempel, responded to this review
3 March 2012
Dear Sebetanneso

Thank you for taking to give us your feedback about your recent visit to No. 35 at The Hempel.

We pride ourselves on the quality of our food and service so it is reassuring to know you had a great evening with us.

Regarding your comment about the cod dish, I will be sharing your feedback with our kitchen team to ensure no re-occurrence. On a positive note, it is a real pleasure to know how much you enjoyed the chocolate fondant.

We are currently reviewing our wine list with Bottle Apostle, an award wining wine merchant and look forward to having a new selection in place at the beginning of March.

I look forward to welcoming you back to No. 35 in the not too distant future.

Best regards

Jorge Canela
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cotswolds
Senior Contributor
35 reviews 35 reviews
Reviews in 17 cities Reviews in 17 cities
22 helpful votes 22 helpful votes
“Bit cold, but warm welcome”
4 of 5 stars Reviewed 6 February 2012

I stayed here for 1 night whilst on a business trip. I actually rather liked it and the service I received from their staff was excellent - very friendly and helpful.
the room was large with a separate seating area which was nice - I wish I'd had more time to spend relaxing on the massive sofa!
Only thing was that the room was cold, and that was a shame - I had turned the aircon up to full heat and didn't notice the heater which had obviously been added to sort out the problem until the morning.
Other reviewers are correct, it's very minimal, everything is white and hidden behind doors with no handles, but the bathroom was fantastic - I wanted to spend all day in the wet-room shower. I may well return

  • Stayed December 2011, travelled on business
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 4 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 5 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 5 of 5 stars Service
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Brighton
Contributor
17 reviews 17 reviews
Reviews in 9 cities Reviews in 9 cities
20 helpful votes 20 helpful votes
“Hotel "fine" - but not outstanding.”
3 of 5 stars Reviewed 27 January 2012
2
people found this review helpful

Stayed here for 1 night for a business meeting and wasn't as impressed as I thought I was going to be. The hotel is minamalist and contempory which is fine, with lots of white walls, which I thought in some areas needed a lick of paint. The foyer is nice, with sunken seating and a bit unique. The meeting room was cramped and the heating was either red hot or freezing.
I personally liked my room, with the raised bed, stripped floor boards, wonderful view of the Zen garden, light and airy and very clean. The bathroom was small, functional, but the bath was difficult to get in, so not appropriate for an elderly person.
The staff seemed very slow at checking us all in and disorganised.
We had breakfast, lunch and dinner, all of which was very nice, well presented, tasty, but not outstanding.
Also take note, while it is a lovely very quite residential area, it is a good 10 minutes walk to the tube station, so something to consider.

As a group I think we agreed that it was a nice hotel, you could certainly stay in worse , it was clean and a bit different, but not as outstanding as it might have you believe.

Room Tip: As for a room over looking the Zen garden
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  • Stayed December 2011, travelled on business
    • 4 of 5 stars Value
    • 3 of 5 stars Location
    • 5 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 4 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 3 of 5 stars Service
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Adam Rowledge, Rooms Division Manager at The Hempel, responded to this review
25 February 2012
Dear Guest,

Thank you for sharing your experience of The Hempel on TripAdvisor.

I was disappointed to learn that we didn’t quite manage to live up to your overall expectations during your recent visit. We aim to offer every guest an outstanding expeience and I am sorry that you did not feel that this was the case for your stay. I am however pleased that you liked your room and were able to enjoy the view of our stunning Zen garden. With the colour white being a dominant element of the hotel’s design, I can assure you that we do have a continuous decoration programme in place to ensure that the hotel continues to look its very best at all times but also accept that some areas can be prone to more frequent scuffs. I am grateful for your feedback regarding the issue with the heating in your meeting room and can confirm that this matter has been resolved.

Thank you again for sharing your comments, I hope to have the opportunity to welcome you back to The Hempel ion the future.

Kind regards,

Adam Rowledge
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Nairobi, Kenya
Contributor
20 reviews 20 reviews
Reviews in 14 cities Reviews in 14 cities
23 helpful votes 23 helpful votes
“Awful hotel”
1 of 5 stars Reviewed 27 January 2012
5
people found this review helpful

What a complete and utter disaster for a hotel. The layout of the hotel, from the reception to the rooms is very unwelcoming, extremely unsafe - I fell down the unnecessary stairs in my room during the night - and strangely odd. Oh, and the service is awful verging on diabolical. Every time I had reason to complain, my complaint was met with endless apologies but no action. When I asked what it is about the hotel that warrants the smart imagine it tries to create on its website, I was told it was designed my a designer. Well, what can I say? I too design - I am an engineer and I can assure you this hotel is badly designed .... unless you enjoy spending 20 minutes looking for the draws and cupboards. This is, without a doubt, the worst hotel I have frequented in London in the last 20 years and, even worse, the worst value for money hotel. There are other hotels within 250 metres of this one with better service at half the price. I will never stay here again.

Room Tip: Don't stay at this hotel and you will be able to avoid all its rooms.
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  • Stayed January 2012, travelled on business
    • 1 of 5 stars Value
    • 4 of 5 stars Location
    • 2 of 5 stars Sleep Quality
    • 2 of 5 stars Rooms
    • 4 of 5 stars Cleanliness
    • 1 of 5 stars Service
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Adam Rowledge, Rooms Division Manager at The Hempel, responded to this review
25 February 2012
Dear Guest,

I am extremely disappointed to read that you did not have a positive experience. I am sorry that you did not find your room to be to your liking, we have 50 individually designed bedrooms and apartments and I am confident that had you mentioned this to any one of my colleagues that we could have offered a suitable alternative. It is difficult to comment on your remark regarding the endless apologies without a better understanding of the issues you encountered but I would be delighted to discuss them with you should you wish to contact me at adam.rowledge@the-hempel.co.uk.

Kind regards,

Adam Rowledge
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Additional Information about The Hempel

  • Hempel Hotel London
  • Hempel London
Address: 31 - 35 Craven Hill Gardens, London W2 3EA, England
Price range (per night):* INR18,502 - 31,042

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