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Story by Melanie Votaw
Photography courtesy of City Inn and Melanie Votaw
City Inn Westminster
I hesitate to use the word “perfect” when writing a review, but there simply isn’t a better word for the location of London’s City Inn Westminster. It’s practically next door to the Tate Britain art museum and just a short walk from Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. Yet, the street (John Islip Street) manages to be relatively quiet. You may find another hotel that’s even closer to the Houses of Parliament, but you’ll almost certainly have to deal with noise.
The nearest Underground stations are Westminster (of course) and Pimlico, which are on four different lines collectively. This means that you can get to City Inn easily from anywhere in London. Another benefit of the location? A few taxis line up outside and are almost always immediately available.
Of course, the perfect location means that City Inn is busy. The lobby was bustling when I arrived, but the staff was friendly and checked me in quickly, even though they were unaware of my “travel writer” status. A staff member was  always available to help me with bags, and I sincerely appreciated not having to ask for help or look for someone. I was promptly taken to my suite, which included huge floor-to-ceiling windows with a great view of the London skyline.
My suite had a small dinette table and counter, a minibar, a couch and chair, coffee table, and an iMac combination television/computer screen. The separate bedroom had another one of those great iMac wide flat screen televisions/computer screens. As quaint as some of the older hotels may be, the modern ones like City Inn offer a lot of hi-tech creature comforts. The iMac allows you to play music with an iPod, and gives you access to Apple’s technology, like iTunes, iChat, iPhoto, iMovie, and iSight for videoconferencing.
 City Inn also offers complimentary Wi-Fi, which is something I especially appreciate, as many of the finest hotels now charge for daily use. It’s not surprising that another of City Inn’s hotels in Manchester, England won the Technology Award at the European Hotel Design Awards in 2007.
With the furniture, natural light, soundproofing, and technology, the suite was more comfortable than many apartments. Add cooking facilities, and I could have lived there long-term very happily.
City Inn is a large 4-star hotel with 460 rooms and 16 suites and is very popular with business travelers. It has meeting facilities that can accommodate groups as large as 200. The lobby is large with white columns, a red carpet, and a spiral staircase. It also serves as an art gallery with rotating shows.
The elegant Sky Lounge at penthouse level is dramatic because of its views of London’s skyline, while the large cocktail bar, Milbank Lounge, is dramatic because of its bright red couches and whisky library. Of course, the hotel also has restaurants, and they’re surprisingly inexpensive for London. You can get a three-course dinner for less than £20, which is excellent for an award-winning restaurant that serves natural British ingredients, including Shetland organic salmon and milk-fed lamb from Essex.
For me, the most impressive amenities of City Inn are those that I personally didn’t need during my stay. The hotel has wheelchair accessible rooms with wider doorways and extra floor space, beds that are lower to the floor than usual, what they call “roll-in” showers, higher sinks, grab rails, and pull cords. I can only imagine how much these special considerations must mean to someone in a wheelchair.
I wouldn’t hesitate to stay at City Inn again. It was an exceptionally comfortable room, the service was very fine, and – once again – you can’t beat the location.
© June 2009 LuxuryWeb Magazine. All rights reserved.
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