Number Sixteen, Firmdale Hotels

Stayed here for third time on recent London trip to attend Wimbledon. It is a beautiful small boutique hotel with the most wonderful interior decor by Kit Kemp. Close to train station and lots of interesting venues within walking distance. The staff are friendly and helpful however when we visited they needed more staff at breakfast as service was very slow particularly for coffee and refills. The bedrooms are comfy with lovely bright bathrooms. Room service is excellent. There is no tea/coffee machine in room but an honesty bar in lounge for all drinks. The weather was hot but you can open the window which is a bonus if u don’t like air conditioning. The hotel is on a quiet street and has a lovely garden. Look forward to staying there again

The Number Sixteen Hotel is located in South Kensington very close to the tube and walking distance to a number of cafes. The decor is eclectic and interesting. Staff very helpful. I was located on the third floor. This floor was not accessible by elevator. The elevator did not go beyond the second floor. After getting to the second floor and walking down a long corridor, you encounter a very steep narrow flight of stairs to the third floor! I imagine in years gone by it was where the servants slept! Once I had made it up the stairs my door was literally and step away from the top of the stairs - a dangerous spot when exiting the room. The room was beautifully decorated - very comfortable bed but oh so tiny! The bathroom again was tiny, when sitting on the toilet my legs were under the wash basin! Heaven help a large person - they most likely wouldn’t be able to use the facility. No fridge, no space other than the floor for your suitcase. Very disappointing! I overheard a couple of people asking to be moved to a lower floor mainly to avoid the steep staircases! I would recommend requesting either the first or second floors only.

Having been a neighbour to this hotel for over 25 years, I wanted to have British tea afternoon with a friend at No 16. We have been ejected rather abruptly by the reception staff insisting that only guests could access the hotel. This is stupid and wrong as I actually had many coffees, lunches, meetings at the hotel over the years. .. unless the rules recently changed, which is even more stupid.

Hotel Sixteen is an exquisite hotel. The decor is artful, inspiring, and soothing. There is overall great attention to detail, the rooms are very comfortable, and the service could not be better. The staff go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and happy. In particular, I'd like to acknowledge Francis, who made my young granddaughter feel welcome as we checked in; Anthony, who exhibited great kindness with us as we checked out, and the female staff person who was very helpful with us on a couple of occasions (sorry I didn't get her name, I only know she is Bulgarian). We will be enormously happy to return to Number Sixteen on our next London trip.

Having stayed at Firmdale Hotels before, I absolutely love the feeling that you are not staying in a big corporate hotel, but instead a lovely warm and inviting home from home. The hotel is in a great location just minutes from South Kensington High Street and the rooms are very comfortable. There were a few niggles which irked us a bit and don't understand why hotels don't get this right which sadly makes me question if we would come back again given other options in London. For the prices charged you need to be on your A game at all times. (1) no tea or coffee facilities in the room. Nearly £7 just to ask for a pot of tea sent to the room and even more miffed when the hotel tried to charge a service charge on top. why not just have a kettle in the room? (2) A small 24hr menu which is fine in a hotel of this size but a lot of 'not sure we have any food / staff have left for the night' comments when we tried to order something at 11pm. You either have a menu and a service or you don't. (3) Security Box not working.and whilst the room was lovely, it is starting to look a little dated vs latest designs - great 15 years ago but again so many hotels are now catching up. This is not meant to be a negative review as I am sure people visiting will all love what is a great hotel but a reminder to firmdale that you can't take things for granted and small things like this matter.

Welcoming: nonetheless a credit guarantee we had to wait two hours until the booker arrived with the physical credit card because the receptionist looks like more a customs agent than an hospitality one and according to hotel policies they can not let in guests even if they have the whole amount pre authorized. The question is: what kind of customer do you usually welcome to implement a such a 2 stars hotel policy ? We felt that missed only the all inclusive bracelet at the check in. All the team laughed while I was looking for another hotel outside of the property on the phone. Room: check the layout picture uploaded. Room number 19 is a deluxe (not standard room) located exactly behind the reception. You can hear all the noise from the reception, the staff talking and of course other guest in corridor shouting or walking. On the layout room 19 should be maximum a deposit or a bathroom certainly not a bedroom. Cleaning lady entering the bedrooms without knocking at 9 a.m while still sleeping. I mean, after what happened at the check in, at least the decent to be a bit more careful. The staff is totally untrained and not adequate for the price rooms are offered. It is not a matter of high price - if you get the service you pay it happily but this is not the case. Avoid this property - maybe try in a few years after some changes will be made.