Hotel Review: The Shoreditch Crowne Plaza

 
It's odd staying in hotels in London after living here for 6+ years. I used to have this feeling all the time when I would go to Chicago for work, but at least then, I had the benefit of only going to Chicago for work once a year or so. I had only JUST left London on August 6th, so it was so odd to be back on August 26th and stay in the Covent Garden Hotel. And then the King's Arms. And then the Shoreditch Crowne Plaza. Three hotels in one stay!

I liked all three hotels for different reasons. The Covent Garden Hotel was just stunningly lovely. The Kings Arms in Amersham boasted a great breakfast and atmospheric bar and common area. And the Shoreditch Crowne Plaza is just a great business hotel.

The rooms at the Shoreditch Crowne Plaza were compact but clean and very comfortable. (Great quality mattress, nice bedding. Bedding better than the Kings Arms' scratchy linens, but perhaps not as nice as the Covent Garden Hotel.) Each day, hotel staff left me with a bottle of water. Internet was free, albeit on a slower connection that what I'm used to. (You could pay extra for a faster connection.) 

The bathroom was again small but clean. If I had one major gripe, it was the lack of counter space around the sink, but there was a big shelf behind the toilet that I flooded with all my lotions and potions. The bath towels were huge. I'm a huge fan of bath towels as opposed to regular dinky-sized towels.

The basement offered a very small gym with two treadmills (one broken), two elliptical machines, and one rowing machine. No free weights or any weight machines, sadly.

Photo borrowed from the Crowne Plaza Web site.

Most surprising was the nice little bar on the top floor with views over the city and Shoreditch. It's a corporate-y bar for sure, but still very nice. The restaurant–also on the top floor–has super large windows, again looking out onto the city. And although I wouldn't make a special trip for the food, I appreciated that our one group dinner there came with LOTS of vegetables. (Does anyone else feel like when they travel, they don't get enough vegetables?)

Also convenient–Prufrock Coffee right across the street. Boris Bikes right across the street. The Albion right around the corner. 

Not so convenient–if you need a nearby tube stop, Liverpool Street is about a 10 minute walk.

The Verdict: Our corporate rate at the Shoreditch Crowne Plaza was £150 a night. For that price, I'd stay here again. If you go, make sure you join the Priority Club. That gets you a free drink at the bar as well as your choice of newspapers each morning.