Detailed Review
Designed with contemporary eclecticism in mind the hotel is a magnet for media types and highly inventive advertising agencies that work in the Bohemian area of Bloomsbury. It is just a stone’s throw away from Covent Garden and Soho - in the heart of Central London, UK.
Through the influence of feng shui and cutting-edge design by Conran & Partners myhotel Bloomsbury offers its own unique take on service and style.
Great attention has been given to create a thoroughly modern environment that exudes the warmest of welcomes.
Press Quotes
"An unbeatable address if you want to hang out in Soho, walk back from Theatreland or stroll to the British Museum. East meets west here, in one of the capital's first boutiques." The Guardian 08
Independent Reviews
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“East meets West at this feng-shui inspired boutique hotel with bright, trendy rooms, high-tech gadgets and a Bloomsbury locale.”
Myhotel Bloomsbury
By Angela Moore
Myhotel Bloomsbury is the more serious, masculine sibling of Myhotel Chelsea. It’s built to appeal to a more business-minded clientele than Chelsea’s Flower Show-esque weekenders and lunching ladies. It’s smooth, smart and professional, but lacks Chelsea’s sense of fun in décor and design. It opened in the late nineties to much acclaim and was a pioneer of the sleek, muted contemporary décor that has now been so widely reproduced as to be commonplace.
That said, the hotel is an oasis in the desert of Bloomsbury hotels; the best bet for people who want to be in this odd little stretch of London. It’s set on a quiet street off the madness of Tottenham Court Road, an easy walk down to bars of Soho or to the mummies and marbles of the British Museum. It also has a fun bar and some good private space for guests.
The theme here is ‘east meets west’. In practice, this means corporate-neutral with splashes of interesting Asian chic. Orchids and oil-burners add to the eastern sensibility and mean that the hotel always smells deliciously exotic. Both Myhotels were originally designed with the pinciples of Feng Shui in mind, so you can realign your chi while you sleep with no effort on your part at all.
The hotel’s small bar is something of a find in this area – long, narrow and fun, with a good, solid cocktail list and a mirrored room at the back. Best of all, it’s open 24 hours a day to guests. The hotel has no dedicated restaurant, though a good selection of food is served in the bar and a branch of Yo! Sushi is just next door.
There is also a subterranean lounge, called the Library, which is accessible to guests only – a big bonus. Here there are three computers, a coffee machine and free fruit and water. A couple of sofas have people sprawling on them reading newspapers or choosing from a desultory selection of books. It’s private and comfortable but has no natural light, so not great to linger in. There’s also a small gym and treatment rooms if you are so inclined.
Staff are generally prompt and friendly, though they did fumble some catches (blank stares when we asked to borrow a CD) and, bar apart, the day staff hugely outclass the night staff.
The rooms
The ‘east’ from ‘east meets west’ doesn’t extend to the rooms. These are carefully neutral (chocolate browns, dark woods, caramels). There’s a little flash of character in a faux-fur throw on the beds. Decently sized, decent wardrobe space, decent tea and coffee-making facilities, decent desk space… A little dull, perhaps, but certainly comfortable – soft linens, big pillows, good towels, roomy beds. And you get an up-to-date copy of TimeOut London in your room, which is great. But the bathrooms are a bit cramped, with tubs that it’s very difficult to actually bathe in – why not cut them altogether and keep the excellent showers?
All rooms have a cd player and a flatscreen tv. You can hire a DVD player, if you want, but the hotel appears to have no cds or DVDs anyway, despite a lengthy choice of genres on the ‘mypreferences’ form which you can fill out and fax in before you arrive. Mysterious. However, other ‘mypreferences’, such as a choice of fizzy or still water, and non-allergenic pillows, are fulfilled.
There is one suite, at the top of the house, with its own private entry and a balcony; it’s linked to a double room and would make a good option for families with older children. This is about to be renovated and should be relaunched around September 2006.
The verdict? A WYSIWYG hotel – nothing you would mention in dispatches but comfortable, user-friendly and professionally run.
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