We try to do one big vacation per year, and this year we decided to go to London, Gran Canaria, and Barcelona. We spent six nights in London, and all six of those were at the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill.
Arrival
We flew into London Heathrow (LHR) from San Francisco (SFO) on United. We landed at 7:30AM, and from there, it took almost three hours to finally get to our hotel. Heathrow requires quite a bit of walking, the immigration line was long, and then we had to take the Heathrow Express train into Paddington Station. From Paddington Station, it was just a 7£ ride to the hotel.
Arrival was very smooth, and the hotel has a very unassuming look that blends right into the West End / Marylebone architecture. The hotel lobby is classic and simple, with check-in desks to the right, a bank of elevators to the left, and just beyond that, the hotel restaurant, The Montagu. I would describe the hotel as “Classic London.” We used a Globalist confirmed suite upgrade for the room, and we were assigned suite 820, which is on the 8th floor, the same floor as the lounge.
Location
London is huge, and there are a lot of great places to stay. The Hyatt is in Westminster, right between Hyde Park and Regents Park. The proximity to the two parks was a boon for me, as I went running just about every morning we were in London, and both parks have great running paths! I ran around both parks once morning; looping around each one and connecting the two loops was about 9 miles exactly.
Both parks also have multiple playgrounds, boat rental spots, and other activities for little ones that need to burn off steam. In addition to the public parks, the Hyatt is located right on Portman Square, which is a privately owned, fenced in garden / park. The Hyatt has a key to this park, and they’ll let you in if you ask. There’s a small plagyround for children in there, and we enjoyed it with our son on our last day.
In terms of public transportation, the area was great. It’s very close to both the Marble Arch and Baker Street subway stations. There are also numerous bus stops nearby, and using the bus was VERY easy. We bought unlimited use oyster cards for our trip, and we mixed buses and subways together everyday to get around. If you have a kid that requires a car seat, Uber isn’t really an option. I’m not sure what the official rule with taxis and babies is in London, but we took two cabs, and it wasn’t an issue. We generally try to avoid having to do this, due to safety concerns. The hotel is about a twenty five minute walk from Leicester Square and Picadilly Circus. It was nice being accessible to those areas, but not being directly in them.
If you like shopping, the hotel is about a two minute walk from Oxford Street, which is loaded with shops. Nearby Marylebone is filled with cute little restaurants. The bottom line is that this is a perfectly great hub location for staying in London if you’re looking to site see.
Room
So… what is a suite, really? I suppose the most basic definition of a suite would be a habitation that has the sleeping area separated from the living area. If this is the definition, then yes, we got a suite. I had slightly higher expectations, in terms of size. We really prioritize suite upgrades now that we have a toddler. We want the extra space, and we’d prefer that Zachary’s pack n play could be in a separate room so that way we can watch movies or hang out while he’s sleeping at night. In any case, this room had a separate living space, and it was separated with a partition in the middle. The partition had a TV on both sides.
I pulled the curtain across the second partition opening in order to block light and enclose his crib area a bit more in order to better section off the room. Also, I apologize for not taking better pictures. I usually take pictures either before I put any suitcases down or at least have the room tidy. In this case, we were literally heading out the door to leave our stay when I realized I hadn’t yet taken pics. Sorry for the huge mess, the toddler jumping on the bed, etc!
The room had a fridge, which was nice. There was also an extra large walk-in closet. It’s probably time for the hotel to renovate, though. The carpet was old, and it was starting to come up. The furniture looked tired. That being said, the room was quite nice. The bathroom was large, and it had both a shower as well as a tub. The tub was great for our son.
Lounge
When you get off the elevator on the 8th floor, there’s a lounge concierge desk that is staffed by someone all day. They were very helpful in giving us directions and guiding us around the local neighborhood. Then on the far left and right there are two separate lounges you can access. They serve the exact same food and are close to mirror images of each other, but the one on the left is off limits for kids. That’s a great setup. It meant that nobody was bothered by our two year old sprinting through the door every morning yelling, “Cereal! Cereal! Cereal!”
There’s a breakfast service in the morning; canapes are early in the evening. We ate breakfast in the lounge every day of our trip. There were always three or four hot items: scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, mushrooms, etc. There was a small section of veggies and cured meats. There were four cereals. Finally, there was a selection of breads and pastries. I found it to be more than sufficient to get our day started, but it’s nothing too fancy.
The evening spread is sufficient enough that if you wanted to stay in and just eat lounge food for a night or two, you could. The lounge is open until 11PM, though, and even when an official service isn’t in session, you can always go in and grab sodas, waters, beers, or some basic snacks. It was really nice to have this place to go to when my son took a nap. I’m actually writing this review from there right now!
Service
Service at the hotel was very nice. Everyone was incredibly friendly. Doors were opened for us all the time. Requests were handled quickly. Most of all, the people who staff the lounge were some of the friendliest people we met on our entire trip. Beyond that, we didn’t heavily utilize any other services from the hotel so I can’t say much more.
Gym
Poor hotel gyms are a pet peeve of mine. I believe that these days every hotel should have plentiful high-end cardio equipment with enough free weights / machines for people. This Hyatt gym is weak. On the bright side, if you’re just looking to jog on a treadmill, the 3 Life Fitness machines they have are top of the line. They’re definitely my favorite kind of hotel / gym treadmill, and you can change the units from miles to kilometers.
In addition to the treadmills, there are two bikes and two elliptical machines. If you’re looking to do any free weights, you’re limited to a small rack of dumbbells.
Luckily, if you’re into the 90s’ hottest fitness device, they have a few ab rollers on hand!
I ended up using the gym just once on our trip there. It wasn’t that useful, and running through Hyde Park and Regents Park was a much more enjoyable experience.
Conclusion
I would certainly stay at this property again. It wasn’t so mind blowing that I feel like next time I’m in London I have to stay here, but it was a great experience, and I would absolutely stay here again.
