Malmaison London

I was really looking forward to this: Malmaison has a great reputation. The check in was great, but I had booked a room in the brasserie but was told it was closed and we would need to eat in the bar. That was fine: but clearly they were very understaffed and one party came in and were told the kitchen had closed and they couldn't eat. The service was slow and I got the feeling that the place simply hadn't picked up after the pandemic. There were several couples clearly going to St Paul#s for the service so had hoped to make it a really special occasion. The staff are lovely and doing their best - but when we came down to breakfast we were told there would be a long wait for cooked food as everyone has arrived at once, and again short staffing seemed to be the issue. Such a shame as the food is GOOD and the breakfast buffet was really lovely. The room was beautifully equipped but small, with the only window opening onto an inner sort of space between a couple of rooms; it was hot and the aircon wasn't working, and the noise of music from the pub next door was an issue until midnightish from where we were. I don't think it's the staff's fault - they were so accommodating. But it isn't the standard I was expecting from Malmaison even if it was a BH weekend. From the number of families there, there was clearly going to be a lot of disappointment. What a shame.

The hotel was lovely and room was great, service for dinner and cooked breakfast was slow but food was lovely. Having booked for an adult and child, dinner, bed and breakfast, I was charged for child’s meal as the hotel stated this was not part of the package, there was no where on information from hotels.com to say this was the case, this was very disappointing given the price we paid. Friendly and helpful staff.