Location wise - 5 stars. Accommodation wise - 3 stars, in total quite decent money for value. The rooms are small, the bed is uncomfortable and faulty, the duvet old and flat. Clean, nevertheless. Because the building is quite old and repurposed to a hotel, you can hear the noise from other rooms, banging the doors. The luggage storage is 6 lockers in total, insufficient for the amount of numbers there. Also, if your room is not shown with a view, it probably doesn’t have it. Would recommend cleaning staff not to use elevators during checkout times.
Eva Marije Smit187 days ago
It was extremely difficult to make a reservation here. My mother in law paid for the hotel but we had to ask her multiple times to sent copies of her ID and make a scans of her face... It's absolutely ridiculous, especially because they already received the payment in full! We cancelled in the end, because we were so unhappy with these ridiculous requests. Would not recommend this privacy-invading hotel
Laura Waringer219 days ago
Lovely, clean and bright room! The room itself was small but the bathroom was large and luxurious. The staff were incredibly lovely and helpful and always accommodated our requests for fresh towels or linens in a timely manner. The only think that was a bit off was that the double bed was on a single bedframe/platform, and when two people were in the bed, it would often become unbalanced and one side would fall to the floor. Besides that, everything else was fine!
Michèle219 days ago
Very good located boutique hotel. The rooms are small but very clean and everything was new and very clean. Super smooth booking, check in/check out experience. Would go again
Stelios280 days ago
We checked in at Sonder Kensington at 20th of July. A day earlier, 19/7/2022, UK had recorded their hottest day, with temperatures exceeding 40C.
When we arrived in our room in the third floor of the building, room was extremely hot inside (while outside it was cool ~25C). We opened the window, which had a safety lock, not allowing it to open for more than 5cm. Room didn’t have air conditioning, which is something we can understand, since temperatures are not that hot in the UK. It did include a ceiling fan, which we operated the same moment we got in the room.
After unpacking and staying in the room for about an hour, we understood that you couldn’t feel comfortable in the room with that temperature, so we headed down to the reception and asked a staff member if there was any additional fan, since room was too hot. Staff member visited our room and confirmed that temperature inside was high. She told us that she would ask the manager about any additional fan, or the option to open the window to have fresh air inside the room. Outside was already in a very good temperature, yet room was too hot. Hallway was also in acceptable temperature. The only problem was inside our room!
We left for few hours, and returned back in the room at night. Staff member told us that there was no additional fan to provide for our room, and that according to the manager, the room window could not open more than 5cm, due to suicide prevention.
We arrived in our room again and even though outside temperature was around 20C, inside the room it felt like it had 33-34C. We arrived from Greece, so are used to higher temperatures, yet these conditions made us feel extremely uncomfortable.
Since this is an app-based hotel, I headed to the app’s live chat. After chatting for more than an hour, we couldn’t find any sort of solution to our situation. We asked if there was an additional room to be moved there, there wasn’t. We asked (since the problem was the suicide prevention), if we could inform the staff member before leaving the room, for the window to be unlocked while we were away, so that fresh air would enter the room and refresh the inside temperature conditions faster. It could not happen. The only solution they provided us was moving to another room, and paying extra on our end for the room transfer.
That night was one of the worst nights we have experienced. In the morning, because of the high room temperature we thought we had fever (symptoms gone 15-20 minutes after leaving the hotel, so it was due to the room temperature). Conditions started becoming a bit better day by day(ceiling fan working 24/7 and the room window always open (just for 5cm), but it took us to night 3, to be able to have an acceptable room temperature and sleep without having the fan working all the time. (At that point, temperature outside was 17-18C)…
Apart from the situation explained in detail above, room size was OK, bathroom was spacious and hotel in general was clean. Wifi internet was fast. Neighbourhood was very nice and quiet in general. London Underground is just a 10 minutes walk and Kensington Park / Hyde Park are nearby to enjoy a walk.
If you plan to arrive in months without extreme temperatures, I would recommend it. If you are planning to arrive in warm months, with a chance to face some situation similar to ours due to an upcoming heatwave, then no I would not recommend it. This whole issue along with the way the hotel dealt with it, is a no-go from us again.
Z1 year ago
I stayed in room 301 (Deluxe) and had a great 7 night stay. Room included mini fridge, full bathroom with a nice size tub/shower that even I (6'2) could comfortably sit/stand in. A hairdryer and white noise machine were also included. Staff are friendly and answered my questions/recommendations without hesitation. If I return to London, I will definitely stay here again. Neighborhood appears to be quite affluent and safe with easy access to public transportation, shopping and groceries.
Francisco machado2 years ago
Perfect! This is like a sweet spot between AirBnB and an Hotel. It had everything we needed for our stay and was beutifully designed. Great attention to details.
Diego Ramirez Alcalde2 years ago
The hotel is well located and clean. Besides that the rooms are not as nice as the appear in the pictures, you may not modify your stay whatsoever as they won’t refund anything if you have to curt your stay short. There’s really no amenities at all, there is only a kettle with instant coffee, no coffee machine as advertised. Not even a bottle of water available. Wouldn’t stay again, it’s really overpriced for what it really has to offer.
Accommodation wise - 3 stars, in total quite decent money for value.
The rooms are small, the bed is uncomfortable and faulty, the duvet old and flat. Clean, nevertheless. Because the building is quite old and repurposed to a hotel, you can hear the noise from other rooms, banging the doors.
The luggage storage is 6 lockers in total, insufficient for the amount of numbers there.
Also, if your room is not shown with a view, it probably doesn’t have it.
Would recommend cleaning staff not to use elevators during checkout times.
When we arrived in our room in the third floor of the building, room was extremely hot inside (while outside it was cool ~25C). We opened the window, which had a safety lock, not allowing it to open for more than 5cm.
Room didn’t have air conditioning, which is something we can understand, since temperatures are not that hot in the UK. It did include a ceiling fan, which we operated the same moment we got in the room.
After unpacking and staying in the room for about an hour, we understood that you couldn’t feel comfortable in the room with that temperature, so we headed down to the reception and asked a staff member if there was any additional fan, since room was too hot. Staff member visited our room and confirmed that temperature inside was high. She told us that she would ask the manager about any additional fan, or the option to open the window to have fresh air inside the room. Outside was already in a very good temperature, yet room was too hot. Hallway was also in acceptable temperature. The only problem was inside our room!
We left for few hours, and returned back in the room at night. Staff member told us that there was no additional fan to provide for our room, and that according to the manager, the room window could not open more than 5cm, due to suicide prevention.
We arrived in our room again and even though outside temperature was around 20C, inside the room it felt like it had 33-34C. We arrived from Greece, so are used to higher temperatures, yet these conditions made us feel extremely uncomfortable.
Since this is an app-based hotel, I headed to the app’s live chat. After chatting for more than an hour, we couldn’t find any sort of solution to our situation. We asked if there was an additional room to be moved there, there wasn’t. We asked (since the problem was the suicide prevention), if we could inform the staff member before leaving the room, for the window to be unlocked while we were away, so that fresh air would enter the room and refresh the inside temperature conditions faster. It could not happen. The only solution they provided us was moving to another room, and paying extra on our end for the room transfer.
That night was one of the worst nights we have experienced. In the morning, because of the high room temperature we thought we had fever (symptoms gone 15-20 minutes after leaving the hotel, so it was due to the room temperature). Conditions started becoming a bit better day by day(ceiling fan working 24/7 and the room window always open (just for 5cm), but it took us to night 3, to be able to have an acceptable room temperature and sleep without having the fan working all the time. (At that point, temperature outside was 17-18C)…
Apart from the situation explained in detail above, room size was OK, bathroom was spacious and hotel in general was clean. Wifi internet was fast. Neighbourhood was very nice and quiet in general. London Underground is just a 10 minutes walk and Kensington Park / Hyde Park are nearby to enjoy a walk.
If you plan to arrive in months without extreme temperatures, I would recommend it. If you are planning to arrive in warm months, with a chance to face some situation similar to ours due to an upcoming heatwave, then no I would not recommend it. This whole issue along with the way the hotel dealt with it, is a no-go from us again.