DoubleTree By Hilton London Islington

I stayed here in August of 2024. Still think about the experience often. Probably won’t go to London again. First, The AC turns off every 2 hours. The first time we asked the front desk if there was anything we could do, they said “no, it’s the law.” The second time we asked, they said they could put us in a list to have it turned on remotely by the front desk. That helped, but was uneasy about the misinformation. Second, we contracted bed bugs. We found them late at night in our bed and brought one down to the front desk to shoe them. We then showed them multiple pictures of the bugs all over our room. Unfortunately we did not know much about bed bugs. Bites show anywhere from 5-14 days later. They quickly gave us a new room. We put all our clothes in bags and they laundered them for us. That’s where the kindness ended. We did not speak to the manager due to it being the weekend. They tried to say we brought the bed bugs in because the bug was “too big” to be new and they hadn’t received any complaints. Little did they know there was a review about bed bugs from 2 weeks before our stay. Staff were not very professional and would often try to deflect. We had to wait until Monday for the Lab team to inspect the room. They found a bedbug infestation. After many frustrating conversations we got the bedbug room comped but they would not comp the second room we were moved to. While on the second leg of our trip in Amsterdam. The bed bug bites began to appear. My partner was in pain and had bites from his forehead to his hands and down to his toes. It was extremely upsetting. I made one last call to the hotel to discuss how they caused us so much pain and emotional distress. They finally comped the rest of our stay. Will never forget this frustrating and emotional experience.

This place has great potential. It’s not exactly a 4-star hotel experience, but more of a 3. I read some of the reviews on here before making the decision to post this review. I do see a pattern: great location, only 2 towels for a room for 3 people, no water (as such if the case in our room) and the key wasn’t working and took several attempts to open our room (an indicator that the door’s battery may be low, as someone else mentioned? ). However, the thing that I can’t get over is how floor 1 smells of weed. I’m not talking just a few steps, but the entire floor! I first smelled it on arrival, but I didn’t think much of it. We went out to dinner at 7pm and returns by 10pm and the odour had gotten worse. You know it’s bad when your 8-year old child says: “Mommy, it smells really bad in our room, but not as bad as in the corridor!” I don’t know if there’s a drug dealer living in this building or if perhaps the staff spend their breaks getting high. Whichever it is, the 1st floor could really do with a thorough cleaning if you ask me! It’s now close to 11pm and the fact that I’m sitting here writing this review simply because my 8-year old can’t sleep due to the bad smell is a bit pathetic, don’t you think? My family and I came here for a 1-night stay as we move away to a different country (and yes, I’m a local Islington resident) and this experience has simply just added to my stress level. Hilton, please step up your game or start seeing your rating decline! My next fear is now the bed bug situation that I saw other reviews comment about! Update: I have contacted the front desk to discuss the situation and similar to the other reviews on here, the staff simply don’t care about their customers! I explained to the front desk how our daughter had a difficult time falling asleep due to the bad smell and how we’ve had to turn on the fan to try to breath better. The answer I’ve gotten is that it’s “cleaning product”? They must be high for sure! I’m middle-aged woman and know the difference between cleaning product scent or weed. Also, if it their cleaning product is this pungent, surely, it’s a health hazard to expose guests to heavy chemicals! The worst part now is that they decided to call my room at close to 11:30p after I had told them that our daughter had finally fallen asleep. The only solution being offered is to move rooms at 11:30pm. Are you kidding me?!!! My kid is finally sleeping after struggling to fall sleep due to this bad smell and you now want me to wake her up to move rooms? No! What I really now want is an apology and a £188 per night rate (now being advertised) as opposed to the £245 rate that we are paying for a room and hallway that smells of cannabis!