"I recently stayed here for a long weekend, with my two teenage daughters. This was my second stay at the hotel; it’s 3 years since we stayed before. The hotel has aged well! It looks as good now as it did when it first opened. It’s tucked-off the main street with a very impressive entrance. We had a lovely welcome from Surat on reception, who is the nicest, bubbliest guy you could meet.
I had booked the Walbrook suite, with a rollaway bed for my eldest daughter. I had checked before booking that this bed would be suitable for an 18 year old and was told it would be (more on that later). What sold this suite to me was the extra guest bathroom, meaning 2 bathrooms for the 3 of us, the lounge and the view.
The Pan Pacific is luxury. It’s my kind of luxury! It’s stylish, modern, and understated. It isn’t stuffy, formal, fussy or old-fashioned. Everything looks perfect, the décor, the scent (lobby scent is to die for), the lifts, the soft furnishings, the linen. It’s all just perfect. However, I have come to the conclusion that room choice is very important in this hotel. We first stayed in an executive room, and I actually preferred that to the Walbrook Suite. In summary, some pros and cons:
The good:
This hotel is the most sound-proofed hotel I have ever been to in terms of interior noise. There is literally none. In 3 nights we didn’t hear one bedroom door close, one lift arriving (and the room was right next to the lift), not one guest walking past the door. It’s literally unbelievably quiet. Exterior noise not so good – even from the 18th floor you can clearly hear people outside drinking and partying on the street below at the weekends, but nothing more than usual London noise and not enough to keep you awake.
Housekeeping is of a very high standard.
It has the nicest indoor hotel pool I’ve ever been to. Fabulous view, nice vibe, and was quiet in the evenings. Be sure to swim outside of children’s hours if you want it to be adults-only.
The bathrooms are stunning. Such a lovely design having the bath in a separate room with door. So obvious, but no other hotels seem to do it. Curved tiling etc really smart.
The views from the higher floors are fabulous. We looked straight onto the Gherkin.
Service was good – evening turndown, fruit bowl etc.
The not so good:
The rollaway bed was nowhere near long enough for someone who is 5’6”! It would only be suitable for a small child, so please bear this in mind if you are booking it for an older child or adult. If you are 3 guests who don’t mind sharing a bathroom then book a room with two double beds. With hindsight, I would have booked an interconnecting room, to get the proper beds and two bathrooms.
I was genuinely excited about staying in the Walbrook suite but have to say I felt a little underwhelmed. The bedroom and bathroom were gorgeous. (I also love the fact that there is a substantial hallway in the rooms – the little touches like a full length mirror, a little shelf for your shoes, sunglasses etc is so well thought-out). However, the lounge was disappointing. It was very small. The rollaway bed made the lounge unusable. It literally took up all the floor space up to the sofa. The ‘dining table’ was a triangular marble table - lovely piece of furniture but not a dining table, and only came with one chair. If I’m being picky, the sofa was also extremely hard – not somewhere for relaxing. The lounge just felt very underwhelming compared to the bedroom. Just my opinion, but for any future stays I would just book a bedroom and not a suite.
The Walbrook Suite is advertised as having personalised butler service, complimentary soft drinks in the minibar and complimentary pressing of clothing. None of these things were ever mentioned to us and we certainly never met any Butler. The price list in the room was just a normal minibar list – no mention of anything being complimentary. None of these things particularly bothered us, I was just surprised these things weren’t offered.
In summary, this is a fantastic hotel. It’s smart, luxurious, the rooms are stunning, it’s incredibly quiet inside, the staff are professional and friendly and the facilities are top-quality. I am staying in London in a couple of weeks and am going to try somewhere different this time, but I know I will be back to the Pan Pacific in the future!"
