Val Penny's Hotel and Restaurant Reviews The Traveller's Guide to Hotels and Restaurants around the World

It may sound ridiculous, but last week my husband and I travelled to London, England for dinner. It gave us an opportunity to catch up with our daughters and son-in-law before Christmas and also to catch up with a friend I was at high school with and his husband. We needed to stay somewhere convenient and central. We chose the citizenM Hotel.

It is a hip, trendy hotel with a modern, glass facade. The citizenM Hotel is on a commercial street in central London’s South Bank. It is near London Bridge, the Shard, the Borough Market, the Tate Modern museum, Shakespeare’s Globe and Menier Chocolate Factory theatres. 

We did not really know what to expect: certainly the citizenM Hotel was not like anywhere we had stayed before. Check-in was speedy, courteous and highly computerised. The hotel has minimalist, mood-lit rooms where my husband had a lot of fun changing the colour if the lighting. Free WiFi is provided throughout the hotel, including in the rooms and a tablet was provided in the room too. Our room also had a flat-screen TVs with complimentary movies, and the room controls were operated by the touch-screen tablet. Integrated bathrooms feature rainfall showerheads. It is the best shower I have ever had in a hotel room. It is fabulous. 

As might be expected from a city centre hotel, the rooms are relatively small and are dominated by the enormous, comfortable, king-sized bed. There room had storage space and bottled water is supplied. There was a small desk, a stool, a chair and a safe in the room. Our room faced into the internal court yard, making it very peaceful and quiet. The only thing that would prevent me from using this hotel for a longer stay is that no tea or coffee making facilities are supplied.

The citizenM Hotel has a trendy lounge bar and lobby work space on the ground floor. There is also a 24/7 canteen for light meals where the varied buffet breakfast is between 6.30am-11am.   The staff were all extremely helpful and courteous and this hotel is eminently suitable for disabled guests. We would use the citizenM Hotel again, but not for a lengthy visit to London.

Valerie Penny