My (failed) attempt to review the Hart Shoreditch Hotel London, Curio Collection by Hilton
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This is my review of the Hart Shoreditch Hotel London.
It is part of Hilton’s Curio Collection of luxury independent hotels which allow you to earn and spend Hilton Honors points.
I’ve never heard of the Hart Shoreditch Hotel …..
Neither had I, until recently.
The big hotel chains do a shockingly bad job of informing the media about new openings. They are a bit better when it comes to their own hotels – especially new builds, when we have seen them going up – but not with their affiliated properties.
I didn’t know The Abbey Hotel in Bath had joined Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio until it came up during the recent ‘Week of Wonders’. Similarly, despite the Hart Shoreditch being brand new and having been part of Curio Collection since Day 1, it has almost no profile.
I felt a bit sorry for it. It opened in February and was therefore forced to shut almost immediately. When it re-opened, the buzz had passed. At present hotels in the East End are having a terrible time – the Ace Hotel has just closed for good, for example.
I also have a soft spot for Shoreditch / Hoxton, having spent a decade living in East London. I was there for the dot com peak and the peak of the art movement. Today, the next door neighbour to Hart Shoreditch is a ‘capital allowances specialist’ which tells you all you need to know about how the area has changed.
Where is Hart Shoreditch?
The Hart Shoreditch Hotel is on Great Eastern Street. It is a short walk from Old Street tube station, heading towards Shoreditch. You are just seconds away from the core Shoreditch / Hoxton bars and (post covid) clubs.
If you know where the Nobu Hotel is, the Hart is literally 30 seconds away.
In truth, the typical guest is likely to be someone visiting a City bank who still thinks they are hip.
I checked in for the day …..
Regular readers will know that, as most Hilton hotels offer cheap rooms for day use, I have been trying out a few properties as temporary office space. Hart Shoreditch was £63 for the day.
First impressions were good. The lobby is what you’d expect from a luxury hotel dropped into what was (still is, partly) a cutting edge area.
Above is a PR photograph which gives a better impression of the layout.
Here is my photo of the bar, which sits in the lobby:
…. and an interesting integrated bookcase and lift lobby:
…. and the restaurant, which is called Barboun and has an ‘Eastern Mediterranean’ theme:
…. with the compulsory artisan coffee bar for guests and passers-by:
My Hilton Honors Diamond status was recognised at check-in, but no upgrade was forthcoming. With the hotel running at low occupancy, this was not encouraging. I cannot recommend this hotel if you have Hilton Honors elite status.
My room at Hart Shoreditch
The room I got was the tiny queen room I had booked. The view was over the rooftops as you can see towards the bottom of the article.
To be fair, despite the lack of space, you could see that quite a bit of money has been spent here. The heavy use of brass coloured metals is perhaps a little dated, but only by a couple of years. See:
and
The bathroom (shower, no bath) was a bit tight. The shower was a brass coloured rainfall / standard combo. Toiletries came in large – but free standing – bottles so there was nothing to take home unless you were taking the mickey.
There was a kettle with rather uncool Nescafe sachets. This seemed an odd piece of cost cutting. Remember that even the Hampton by Hilton in Ealing I reviewed recently had a designer Smeg kettle, and coffee machines are now common at this level.
Having taking my pictures, I went over to the desk. At least it had one – although there were no power sockets nearby. I turned around for the chair …. and realised there wasn’t one.
All I had was a felt covered stool – just visible under the desk – and the low pink lounge chair in the corner.
I clearly wasn’t balancing on this for the next nine hours, so I went downstairs to ask for a room with a chair. The staff went off in a huddle, and eventually decided that not a single room in the hotel contained a normal chair.
With remarkable honesty, they pointed out the chairs in the lobby – which were by tables – but said they were remarkably uncomfortable and I wouldn’t want to sit on one all day. In any event, paying for a room to sit in the lobby made no sense.
We then mutually decided that this wasn’t going to work. I asked why Hart Shoreditch was advertising itself as a day use office, when the rooms have no chairs, and got no answer.
On the upside …. I didn’t spend £63, albeit I had to spend the rest of the day jumping between coffee shops as I hadn’t brought my WeWork pass. Amusingly I still got my 1,000 Hilton Honors Diamond amenity points AND two nights of elite stay credit.
Conclusion
I wanted to like Hart Shoreditch. I was hoping I could write a positive profile about a little known London Hilton property ….. perhaps proclaim it a hidden gem and be the person responsible for getting it onto the radar.
Instead, I need to tell you that it doesn’t respect core Hilton Honors status benefits (no upgrades here). The base rooms are too small and the lack of chairs – to go with the desks which were installed – is bizarre. It will lose them the corporate guests they need.
Price-wise, it is VERY good value at the moment with typical overnight rates of just £89 for what is arguably a 4.5 star hotel. I just wish I could have liked it more.
The Hart Shoreditch website is here.
How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (December 2021)
There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Gold and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.
The Platinum Card from American Express
30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review
Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.
You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with American Express Gold (20,000 bonus points), the American Express Rewards Credit Card (5,000 bonus points) and – for small business owners – American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus points) and Business Platinum (40,000 bonus points).
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
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