Bankside Hotel London Review

We stayed at Bankside Hotel for five nights during a family trip to London in June. The hotel was highly rated across a variety of platforms, and we were excited to see if it lived up to the accolades. In this post, we’ll review our experience staying at Bankside Hotel in London.

We’ll start with some basics, summarize the hotel amenities and walk through our room in detail. Then we’ll look at prices and booking methods, before exploring the neighborhood and transportation options nearby. We’ll wrap up with our personal experience and overall feedback, including the all important question: “Is it worth it?”

Let’s get to know Bankside Hotel.

The Basics

Bankside Hotel is independently owned, but falls under Marriott’s Autograph Collection of hotels. As part of that collection, Bankside Hotel showcases purposeful design, intimate spaces and artful experiences. This hotel should not to be confused with citizenM London Bankside hotel, which has a similar name but is completely different.

To demonstrate its commitment to the arts, Bankside prominently features a permanent art studio in the hotel. They continually host a rotating artist in residence, who uses this creative space to practice their craft, display their work and engage with guests through workshops and casual conversation.

As suggested by the name, Bankside Hotel is located in London’s South Bank neighborhood. This art-centric hotel fits right into this vibrant part of London, which is also home to art museums, theaters and street performers.

The hotel itself is moderate in size, consisting of six floors and 161 rooms. At the entrance to the hotel is a modest yet impeccable lobby, which combined with the mezzanine could easily be confused as an art gallery. The property also includes a bar and restaurant, 24-hour gym, event spaces and art studio.

Room Types

Bankside Hotel offers several different room types. Room types differ based on bed size, sofa bed availability, view and room square footage. Each room type comes with a different price tag, of course.

There are seven room types and two suite types. Most rooms types sleep two adult guests, with a handful of rooms and a suite type that accommodate 3-4 guests.

Rooms that sleep up to 2 guests

• Modest Double (Double bed, 226 sq feet)
• Modest Queen (Queen bed, 237 sq feet)
• Modest King (King bed, 269 sq feet)
• Ample King (King bed, 291 sq feet)
• Ample View King (King bed, 269 sq feet, room features a city view)
• Starter Suite (King bed, 445 sq feet)

Rooms that sleep up to 3 guests

• Spacious King (King bed + sofa bed, 306 sq feet)
• Biggest Suite (King bed + sofa bed, 538 sq feet)

Room that sleeps up to 4 guests

• Generous Queens (2 Queen beds, 334 square feet)

In-room Amenities

All room and suite types offer the same basic in-room amenities. There is a laundry list of detailed in-room amenities which you can find on their website here. I’ve summarized the most important and/or unique amenities in this list below.

All Bankside Hotel rooms include the following key in-room amenities:

• Blackout blinds (remote controlled)
• 12 charging sockets (mix of USB and UK outlets)
• Free wifi
• Nespresso coffee maker (plus tea service)
• Complimentary snacks and beverages (chips, popcorn, chocolates and water)
• Luxury bathrobe & slippers (for in-room use only)
• 300 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets and feather down pillows and duvets

Another small amenity that was not included on the official list but no less present in our room was a small art kit. Inside what looked to be a decorative box was a collection of colored pencils and paper. This is a fun touch for an artsy hotel and very much adored by our young toddler.

Building Amenities

Outside of the individual rooms, the hotel has many other amenities and spaces available to their guests.

Lobby & Mezzanine

The first thing you’ll notice upon walking into the hotel is the artfully designed lobby space. Hotel staff sit at a large open table, which feels more like a desk inside a library than the traditional hotel reception desk which channels bank teller vibes.

There are chairs and sofas strategically placed among sculptures, unique tables, decorative plants and art displays. A stairway in the lobby leads up to the mezzanine, which feels like sitting inside an art gallery.

The lobby was beautiful and comfortable, but not particularly cozy. Maybe that’s because of the floor-to-ceiling windows, which made it feel very bright and a little exposed to the outside world. We liked walking through the lobby, but didn’t find ourselves wanting to spend much time there. That seems to be a common thread because it was usually pretty empty.

Art Yard Bar + Kitchen

Beyond the lobby is the hotel restaurant and bar. Before you reach the entrance, there’s a small cafe annex. You can purchase tea or coffee beverages here throughout the day if you’re looking for something more than the complimentary coffee available in your room.

The restaurant offers buffet and a la carte breakfast dining options from roughly 7 – 10:30 AM daily (hours vary by day). Then their all-day dining menu is available until 10 PM and features a variety of items from small plates and flatbreads to full dinners and steaks.

The bar is adjacent to the restaurant’s main dining area and is open from 9 AM to 10 PM daily. It’s a pretty standard hotel bar. They offer several craft cocktails as well as beer, spirits and a deep wine list.

The restaurant had quite a bit of seating, though it did full up during peak breakfast hours. Perspective patrons who were not guests at the hotel were turned away because there were so few tables remaining. In our experience, we were always able to get a table.

The restaurant had highchairs for children available, and also provided colored pencils and a coloring sheet for little ones.

Fitness Center

Guests who aren’t ready to completely let go of themselves on vacation are invited to visit the gym, which is open 24 hours a day.

The gym is small, but has enough equipment to serve its purpose. There is a Peloton bike, treadmills and elliptical for cardio, as well as resistance bands, dumb bells and a power rack for strength training.

It’s tucked away in the basement with no natural light, which is a bit of a bummer. There is water and towels available.

I personally didn’t make my way down to the Gym during my visit (whoops!), but you can see photo and full list of equipment here.

Prices

Bankside Hotel is not a budget accommodation, but it’s not quite a luxury hotel either. I would put it under the ’boutique’ category, which often reads as expensive.

Prices vary greatly based on room type, day of the week and season. Due to its location, weekdays are often more expensive than weekends but not always. Prices are also cheaper the further out you book, so you can definitely benefit from thinking ahead. Since the hotel is small, the cheaper rooms sell out quicker, which is another reason last minute rooms are more expensive.

Depending on the day, prices can start as low as £307 or as high as £669. On average, a night at Bankside Hotel is probably going to cost somewhere between £350 – £450 per night. If you’re flexible with dates, you can review the availability calendar, which will show you the lowest starting price for room by day of each month.

Bankside Hotel is similar in price to other moderate hotels in the area, but a few hundred pounds more than nearby budget options. For example, let’s look at a Tuesday in mid-October one month in advance.

Bankside Hotel starts at £511 for a Modest King room. A similar room at The Hoxton Southwark is listed at £512  and at Hilton London Bankside for £501. For that same day,  the Holiday Inn Express London – Southwark costs £229 and the ibis London Blackfriars costs £234.

Booking

You can book your stay at Bankside Hotel directly through Marriott on their website here. The hotel is also available for booking on third-party sites like Booking.com, as well as through some credit card rewards portals.

I ran a test for a weekday in December and compared the prices for Bankside on several of these different booking methods. I found that all sites I checked had nearly identical pricing (within £10 pounds per night) for the same room type. However, the official hotel website had the widest selection of room types available.

If you’re running a similar comparison for your trip, it’s important to point out that the Bankside Hotel website lists their prices in British pounds, while third-party sites often list the price in your local currency. At first glance this can trip you up into thinking one site is cheaper than the other, but when you account for the conversion rate it turns out to be about the same prices.

There are plenty of good reasons why you might want to book direct or through a third-party site. If you have Marriott loyalty status or are trying to get it, you’ll want to book direct. However, if you always book through Booking.com and prefer to rack up your points there, that may be more valuable to you. If you’re active in the points, status or rewards program game, review your options before deciding where to book.

Bankside Hotel Neighborhood

Bankside hotel is located in the South Bank neighborhood in London. This is the cultural hub of the city and it is bursting with art, theatre, street performers and life.

Before this trip, we’d never stayed in South Bank, nor did we spend much time in the area. It turns out we loved the neighborhood, and will likely stay here again. The Queen’s Walk specifically, which passes near Bankside Hotel and extends to both Tower Bridge and Westminster Bridge, was a highlight our trip. We walked the route almost everyday.

That’s what’s great about Bankside Hotel’s South Bank location. You can walk to so many of the city’s highlights, and the journey there is half the fun. So many of Central London’s best attractions are only a mile or two from the hotel.

Highlights of the South Bank neighborhood include Tate Modern, Shakespeare Globe Theatre, Borough Market and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Also within walking distance (<1.5 miles) is the London Eye, Big Ben, Tower of London, Covent Garden and Sky Garden.

If you like to explore the city on foot, this location is ideal. However, if you’re not keen on walking your holiday away, the hotel is also just a short distance from several train stations to speed you off to wherever you need to be.

Public Transportation

Bankside Hotel is conveniently located never several train stations and bus routes. Making it easy to take public transportation to destinations around the city.

First, let’s quickly cover the bus because it’s the closest public transit option from the hotel. The “Blackfriars Station South Entrance” bus stop is just steps from Bankside Hotel along Blackfriars Road and the Thames.

This stop serves the 40, 63 , N63 and N89 bus routes. These routes will primarily serve to connect Bankside Hotel to City of London and the West End. They’ll also connect you to London Underground stations and  transportation hubs like Charing Cross and Kings Cross stations, where you can connect to other rail services.

The bus is the closest, but the London Underground is generally the fastest way to get around. The closest Underground stations to Bankside Hotel are Southwark station and Blackfriars stations. They’re both 0.3 miles away, in opposite directions, and take about 5-10 mines to walk to. If you aren’t sure how to use the London Underground, we’ve got a detailed guide explaining everything you need to know.

Southwark Station serves the Jubilee line, which will take you west toward Westminster, St. James’s Park and The Regent’s Park or east to Canary Wharf. Blackfriars Station serves the District and Circle lines, which will take you to popular stops along the Thames and around the periphery of Central London’s north bank.

If you’re traveling to or from one of London’s international airports, you’ll likely travel through Southwark Station. You can take the Thameslink train from Southwark directly to Gatwick in about 50 minutes. To get to Heathrow, you can take the District or Circle line and then connect to the Piccadilly line at South Kensington. That journey takes a little over an hour.

Our Experience at Bankside Hotel

We stayed at Bankside Hotel for five nights in mid June with two adults and one almost-two-year-old toddler. Our holiday started and ended in London, and included stops in Paris and Amsterdam. We have been to London many times, but this was our first time in London with a kid.

Here is a look at our personal experience at Bankside Hotel during our visit.

Booking

We booked our stay at Bankside Hotel ten days prior to our arrival. We paid £2,484.00 total for five nights in a Spacious King room with two adults and one child. That comes out to about £500 a night, including taxes and fees (or about $565 USD).

Bankside Hotel is a Marriott Autograph Collection hotel, and we booked our stay directly through the Marriott website. We chose to book direct because we have Marriott Platinum Elite status. By booking direct with that status, we knew we’d receive a welcome gift, 50% more points and a shot at a room upgrade.

Check In

We arrived in London from the US shortly after 7 AM local time, after flying British Airways business class with a toddler who screamed literally the entire flight. We were all desperate for a nap, but were not at all optimistic that our room would be ready when we got to the hotel.

While my husband was checking in, I took our delirious toddler to look at some of the art around the lobby. Almost immediately, a staff member popped over to gift our little one a cute small stuffed animal. They had just learned how to say “moo” so the sheer delight of this new cow toy truly made their day. It’s the little things.

We were shocked, relieved and thrilled to hear that our room was in fact available! We were in our room by 8:30 AM local time. For context, this was mid-June, so not exactly low travel season. This was surely just good luck and we wouldn’t bank on it every time, but it made us love the hotel right away.

While our room type was available, there were no free room upgrades available with our loyalty status. The next room type up from the Spacious King would have been the Starter Suite, so that either was not available or just not eligible for an upgrade.

We were informed that our “Welcome Gift” (one of the Platinum Elite status benefits) would come in the form of free breakfast for our travel party for the duration of our stay. We didn’t used to be breakfast people, but now that we have a child who regularly eats breakfast, this was a really convenient perk.

Room Walkthrough — Spacious King

Our Spacious King room was located right across from the elevator. It was convenient to get to and we did not experience any issues with noise. The room was a different layout than the sample in the 360 room preview on their website, and it felt much bigger. It was also absolutely beautiful.

The door led into a short hallway with the bathroom on the left. It was a standard size bathroom with a toilette, walk-in shower and sink. There was not a lot of counter space, but there were two small shelves to store your toiletries. The bathroom products were by the brand Grown Alchemist.

Past the bathroom was a decent sized closet, which housed the safe, robes and slippers. Hangers were also available.

The hallway then opened up to the main room space. There was a large tv with a bench below it, which was helpful to store personal items and clothes for the day.

Across from the TV was the King bed, draped with a cozy blanket. There were nightstands on both sides of the bed, each equipped with an interactive tablet, light switches and built in charging (both USB and UK outlets).

The far side of the room had two floor-to-ceiling windows, both equipped with remote-control black-out curtains. When I tell you this was the best feature of the room, I am not being dramatic. I’m not sure I will ever fly internationally again and stay at a hotel without blackout curtains. That said, it is worth noting that our curtain on one of the windows was broken and did let some light in at the bottom.

Along the window-side wall was a long table. On one end was the refrigerator, stocked with canned water, chocolate bars and cream for the coffee. Popcorn and chips were also provided. There was a Nespresso coffee maker with regular and decaf pods available. There was also a selection of tea and sweeteners. All of the complimentary snacks and beverages were replaced daily, as they were consumed.

Also on the desk was a small art kit, containing colored pencils and paper. This would have gone unnoticed by most as it was hidden inside a decorative wooden box, but my toddler is yet to find a box they didn’t immediately have to open.

In the far corner of our room was an additional nook space with a sofa bed, table and chair. It perfectly fit a crib, which the hotel provided for us. This space felt like we had an entire extra room just for our toddler. When you travel with kids, you really start to appreciate a room that has generous distance between you and your sleeping child.

Dining

As I mentioned in the booking section, we received free breakfast with our Marriott loyalty status. That covered the breakfast buffet, and a la carte items were available for an additional charge. If you didn’t have free breakfast with your room type, you could purchase either the buffet or a la carte breakfast options.

The service at Art Yard Bar + Kitchen was delightful. We saw the same hostess each morning and she was always very kind. Once she knew we had a toddler, she would bring us a high chair every morning. She also always tried to seat us at a table where we’d have extra space because she noticed our toddler could not be trusted near the plates on the table.

The breakfast buffet had a fine selection of hot and cold breakfast items. There were cereals, meats and cheeses, fresh fruit and vegetables, and breads and pastries. The hot bar included eggs, sausages, potatoes and more. Selections varied slightly each day.

We did not dine for lunch or dinner, nor did we get any drinks at the bar.

Thoughts, Feedback and Recommendations

In short, we loved our stay at Bankside Hotel. Our room was spacious and fit our small family perfectly. The service was impeccable. Our room being available for early check-in was icing on the cake.

If you’re traveling across timezones, I cannot over stress the value of the remote blackout curtains. It was infinitely helpful in adjusting to the time change. That’s nice for us adults but it was hugely helpful for our toddler.

The location of Bankside Hotel is fantastic, especially if you plan to do a lot of walking. The Queen’s Walk was not even on our radar before, but having the excuse to walk it daily from our hotel could not have been a better treat.

Not only is it a lively walk, but it’s also lined with street food. It was great to know there was always a quick food option for us to bring back to our hotel if we needed it. Speaking of quick snacks, there’s also a convenience store right by the hotel which is great for stocking up on snacks or easy lunches.

I think the only bad thing about Bankside Hotel was the price, but that was partially due to how late we booked. For that same time frame several months in advance, it was almost £500 less for the total stay. If you have the luxury to plan in advance, that’s a great way to get this prime experience for slightly less.

In summary, if you’re planning a trip to London and looking for a high quality hotel in a vibrant and well-connected part of the city, Bankside Hotel is a great choice. For the quality, comfort and location of Bankside Hotel, we think it’s worth the money and would highly recommend it if it’s in your price range.