The Lensbury Resort

"We visit London usually in April and October and have always stayed at The Lensbury Hotel. We cannot fault this hotel. We stayed from Sunday 19 April for 5 days in a deluxe double room during the refurbishment and can honestly say this did not affect us at all. The bedroom was huge and very clean. As the lounge area is closed fur refurbishment they are using the Dunbar room for breakfast and evening meals. We stayed b&b only and can honestly say that the breakfast was excellent. Sead who served us breakfast was very friendly and couldn’t do enough for us. Looking forward to our return visit. The staff are very friendly and polite. We have already booked again for October and the refurbishment should be complete by then. We are looking forward to see the new restaurant and lounge area and if it’s anything like the refurbished Dunbar room it will be lovely."

"AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!! COURT PROCESS PENDING! ROOM 266 from hell!! I rarely write reviews, but our experience here was so disappointing that I feel others should be aware l, particularly given this is meant to be a 4-star hotel. We had booked a stay to celebrate my husband’s milestone birthday, a special occasion we had been looking forward to for a weeks. Unfortunately, it was completely ruined from the moment we saw the room and the hotel. It was not as described and fell well below what you would reasonably expect, let alone from a 4-star hotel. We raised this immediately and, to be fair, the receptionist was kind and tried to help, but the alternative room offered was also unsuitable. It was across the main hotel, and looked more like student accommodation than the luxury that we were expecting. At that point, the hotel was unable to provide any accommodation of satisfactory quality, and with no viable solution available, as the best rooms were taken up by a wedding party that was going on. I also feel like as the hotel is small, they should warn people is weddings are going on because it felt like we were interrupting someone’s wedding when asking through communal areas, near the wedding room etc. We had no choice but to leave and find somewhere else at short notice, at additional cost and considerable stress. Also a lot of tears due to feeling humiliated and embarrassed- I’ll let the photos do the talking to explain why! (Smelly, old furniture and bed and even the lampshade had an imprint of some sort which resembled private parts! Let alone the communal corridors that look as if someone was imprisoned and tried to escape! ) Beyond the rooms, the general condition of the hotel was very disappointing. The grounds appeared poorly maintained, with visible rubbish and old leaves scattered around, which again is not what you would expect from a hotel of this supposed standard. While the hotel has since refunded the original booking and spa treatments, this does not make up for the disruption, extra expense, and the fact that a very meaningful celebration was completely derailed. A particularly upsetting aspect was that I had contacted the hotel in advance to request a nice room for the occasion, which was clearly not taken into account. Overall, this was not just a minor inconvenience, it was a significant failure in delivering what was promised. For a hotel presenting itself as 4-star, this experience fell far short. Based on our experience, I would not recommend staying here, especially for any special occasion. I will also be persuading a small claims court as I as out of pocket because of this experience!"

"Second visit. All looked forward to it. Refurbishment underway with restaurant and bar closed. Was not concerned as it confirmed that there was another space available that was a bar and restaurant. New space was the existing cafe for the gym. Completely different space. Squashed in, no view of the gardens and conservatory. People in gym kit. A very different feel. We booked a meal and service was good but the food was way under par. Before refurbishment you accessed the restaurant and bar through double doors in the main reception. There was soft seating for chatting and coffee, a restaurant all with views of the gardens and the Thames. Now you are all crammed in with no views. Our rooms were in an outer building that meant that we had to ensure that we took coats for dinner. Not what we expected at all and the overnight stay cost around £1000."