If I’m to name the three most insta-famous Marriott hotels in London, W Leicester Square and Marriott County Hall are the two that I have already stayed at and was generally satisfied with. The last one must be Renaissance St Pancras though, which is even more eye-catching than the previous two:
You cannot possibly miss the architecture when coming out of the St Pancras or Kings Cross station. Many years ago I remember seeing Taylor Swift shooting an MV here 😛
Due to the Flexible Redemption system that Marriott recently introduced, the hotel has actually dropped in pricing for a few dates. I booked a Saturday night for only 40,000 points.
It’s impossible to capture the entire building in one photo, at least not with my phone 😛
The Great Northern Hotel on the other side of the road looks like a poor dwarf…
Reception is just by the lobby bar when you enter the hotel. I was here for a UK blogger’s Christmas party a couple of years ago.
Before I write any further, you must understand the set-up of the hotel. It consists of two wings: The Barlow Wing which has all the normal guest rooms, and the Chambers Wing which has all the suites (including Junior Suite). Chambers Wing guests enjoy additional benefits such free ironing service, Eurostar VIP transfer, and access to the Chambers Club as pictured below:
The Chambers Club is defined as a Club, not an Executive Lounge, and the hotel only hands out complimentary access to Titanium and Ambassador members if you’re not booking a Chambers Wing room. If you are staying as a Platinum, I’d recommend to use your suite upgrade voucher for an upgrade to the Chambers Wing.
The common area in the Chambers Wing is very impressive.
As it’s a rare chance of staying here, I used one suite upgrade voucher too. The best suite I could select was only Grand Junior Suite, and unfortunately it’s the suite I finally got assigned to – a proper one-bedroom suite would be a lot nicer.
The room is quite old, and its style reminds me of Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh.
I know what to expect though after reading so many online reviews, so it’s not a let-down. The best feature of the room is probably its view:
It looks pretty Hogwarts-y at night – the hotel is actually seen in two Harry Potter films, when the St Pancras station is staged as the Kings Cross as it’s fancier.
The Spa Centre is on the -1 floor in the Chambers Wing. I’m not sure if Barlow Wing guests need to pay extra to use it.
The gym:
There’s no swimming pool but a big jacuzzi instead. It’s quite old though so keep your expectations low.
Steaming room and sauna:
The Chambers Club was closed for a very long time since Covid started, and now it’s on a trial run, open 4.30pm to 10pm Tuesday through Saturday. The Chambers Club will go back to operating seven days a week in May.
You can follow the staircase to spot what’s happening inside the St Pancras station.
Beverages (including alcohol) are available the whole time. Happy hour is between 5.30pm and 7.30pm.
There’s a nice spread of snacks and desserts. A few hot plates are available for order too, including fried chicken, grilled aubergine and truffle fries.
The Chambers Club is good, but not good enough to differentiate from other Marriott hotels and exclude Platinum members, in my opinion.
Chambers Club doesn’t serve breakfast yet, so all guests have it at the restaurant Booking Office 1869.
The buffet is okay – some of the snacks / desserts are exactly the same as what I saw last evening in the Chambers Club…
In additional to the buffet, they only do omelettes and boiled eggs, which is disappointing. Hopefully breakfast at the Chambers Club will be better.
To summarise, it’s not a great hotel, as you can see the room is everything but glamourous, and if you’re not staying in a suite it’s only gonna be worse. However it’s more about experiencing the splendid architecture and its history, so I’d still recommend to try it out once should you have the chance.
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