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The Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment is one of four Hyatt Regency Properties in London, and it joined the World of Hyatt in January 2023 after spending the preceding years as the Crowne Plaza London Albert Embankment.
I first visited this property just after it had joined Hyatt (the pens in the room still had Crowne Plaza markings), but as I didn’t review the property at the time, I recently made space in my calendar for another visit.
The admin
- Length of stay: 1 night
- Actual cost of stay: $204 (net) $330 (gross)* including taxes.
- Cost of the stay in points (had I booked with points): 20,000 (cat. 5)
- Elite status at time of stay: Hyatt Globalist
- Points earned from the booking: 1,863
- Upgrade instruments used: None
- Room booked: 1 King Bed
- Room received: 1 King Bed River View High Floor
- Upgraded: Yes
*The cost of the stay would have been $330 using a Hyatt Leverage rate had I not also used a UK Amex offer to reduce the price to $204 (£159 at the time of booking).
Getting there/location
The Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment sits on the south side of the river Thames between Lambeth and Vauxhall bridges and opposite the London Borough of Westminster.
Its location isn’t great for public transport (the closest subway/underground station is 10 minutes’ walk away and the buses in the area aren’t particularly efficient), but if you’re prepared to walk, there are still a few places of interest not too far away.
- Lambeth Palace – 7 minute walk
- Tate Britain Museum – 15 minute walk
- Palace of Westminster/Westminster Abbey/Big Ben – 20 minute walk
- The London Eye – 20 minute Walk
The property is next door to Radisson’s Park Plaza London Riverbank and is a 10 minute walk from Vauxhall Underground station (subway) and a 20 minute walk from Westminster Underground station.
If you’re arriving from Heathrow and are happy to use public transport, the one of the cheapest and quickest ways to get to the hotel would be to take the Underground (subway) Piccadilly Line to Green Park station and to change there to the Victoria Line which will take you to Vauxhall Underground station from where the hotel is a 10 minute walk (total estimated travel time 70 – 75 mins).
If you’re arriving from Gatwick and using public transport, the easiest way to get to the hotel would be to take the Southern Trains service or the Gatwick Express service to London Victoria station and from there, change there to the Underground’s Victoria Line which will take you to Vauxhall Underground station (2 stops) from where the hotel is a 10 minute walk (total estimated travel time 50 mins).
If you don’t have mobility issues and don’t have bulky luggage, the journey to the hotel by public transport isn’t too bad (it’s not great either), but anyone with suitcases should probably consider taking a taxi/Uber.
The upgrade
The day before I was due to arrive, I noticed that the Hyatt app showed me staying in a ‘King Bed River View High Floor’ room and based on the information from the hotel’s website, that’s a room 4 levels up from the entry-level ‘King Bed’ room that I had booked.
That sounds impressive for a complimentary Globalist upgrade, but you have to be careful with room categories at this property because for a hotel with just 142 rooms, it has a lot of room categories. Here they all are:
- 1 king bed
- 1 king bed courtyard view
- 1 king bed high floor
- 1 king bed courtyard view high floor
- 2 twin beds river view
- 1 king bed river view
- 1 king bed river view high floor
- 1 king bed deluxe
- 1 king bed deluxe river view
- 1 king premium high floor
- 1 king bed deluxe high floor river view
- 1 king bed deluxe balcony river view
- 1 king bed deluxe balcony river view high floor
- Executive suite balcony river view
See what I mean?
Most of the rooms are between 220 sq ft and 260 sq ft in size, so the key differentiators are the view, the floor, and the size of the bed that’s offered (the premium and deluxe rooms have king beds that are ~6ft wide while all the other king rooms have beds that are ~5ft wide).
I was more than happy with an upgrade to a high floor with a river view, but it’s worth noting that at the time of check-in, the property was still selling at least three room types ranked higher than the room I was upgraded to.
If you’re a Hyatt Globalist visiting this property, do not expect to be upgraded to one of the higher room categories (although keep in mind that a less premium room with a river view is likely to be nicer than a more premium room without that view), and definitely do not expect to be upgraded to an Executive Suite complete with balcony and river view.
These rooms are almost never offered as complimentary upgrades and I’m lead to believe that they’re even hard to book using Suite Night Awards.
Arrival and check-in
As soon as you pass through the front doors to the hotel, you find yourself in a small-ish lobby/reception area.
When I arrived, the single agent on view was already dealing with a guest, but a second agent appeared as I approached the front desk and was soon checking me in.
After confirming my upgrade, swiping my credit card (for incidentals), confirming my email address, and thanking me for my ‘loyalty’ to Hyatt, I was asked if I wanted a 4pm late check out (yes), and I was briefed on the arrangements for breakfast and the arrangements made for Globalists in lieu of a Regency Lounge (just like the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars, this property doesn’t have a lounge).
The formalities were completed efficiently and swiftly, and I was soon on my way to the room.
King Bed River View High Floor
There are two small elevators that serve the property’s guest floors, and at busier times of the day (breakfast time and in the hour leading up to the standard 12pm check-out) you may have to wait a few minutes before one of them shows up.
The corridors are quite narrow, but they’re well lit and it looks like they may have been refurbished in the recent past because they’re in good condition.
The ‘King Bed River View High Floor’ rooms are approximately 250 sq ft in size, so they’re quite compact despite being among the larger rooms the property offers.
The room I had been assigned was set out like most standard hotel rooms around the world. After you open the door, you’re faced with a small corridor (off which is the ensuite bathroom) and the sleeping area is directly ahead.
As you’d expect from a 250 sq ft room, most of the sleeping area is taken up by the 5ft/160cm king size bed (UK king size) …
… but the room doesn’t actually feel tight, compact or lacking in space, and this probably has to do with two things:
1 – The light coming in from the unobstructed river view
2 – The fact that not much of the room is taken up by storage space
There’s only one narrow closet in the room (which is partly filled with an ironing board and the in-room safe) …
… and there are three drawers which aren’t more than 12″ deep.
That’s it for useable storage space.
If you’re traveling light or only staying a couple of nights, this won’t be an issue. If you’re traveling as a couple and have brought clothes for an extended stay, some of those clothes will probably have to remain in your luggage.
Elsewhere in the room, there’s an armchair and small table by the window.
You’ll find a desk, a chair, a long ottoman and a flatscreen TV on the wall opposite the bed.
And by the entrance to the bathroom, is a small area housing the minibar and tea/coffee making facilities.
Here’s the minibar menu:
The ensuite bathroom is also quite compact, but the good news is that the hotel hasn’t tried to squeeze a ridiculously small bath in here, so what you get instead is a good-size shower.
In fact, not only is the shower a good size, but it also has great water pressure, it heats up quickly and the rain shower portion works very, very well. This is one of the best (possibly the best) hotel shower I’ve tried out this year.
The toiletries on offer are all full-size and by the New Zealand brand ‘Antipodes’ (not a brand I know).
The last thing I should mention about the room is the fact that it offers guests good access to power outlets.
Each side of the bed has access to two UK-style power outlets (bring an adapter if you’re not from the UK) as well as 2 USB-A ports. And the desk (which is a good place to get some work done) has access to a variety of power options including two UK-style power outlets, one US-style 2-pin outlet, one European-style 2-pin outlet and two USB-A ports.
That’s quite an impressive array.
Overall and despite its size, this was a nice room, and while the limited amount of storage space will be annoying for some, the comfortable bed, excellent shower, great view and good desk at which to work go a long way to making this a room that I’d be happy to stay in again.
If I was visiting London for more than a few days and knew that I’d be spending quite a bit of time working at whatever hotel I chose, the small size of the room combined with the lack of lounge would probably make me choose a different property (I’d like a bit more space), but for a short stay (especially if I’m not going to be spending a lot of time in the room), this is just fine.
Dining & bars
The Hyatt Regency London Albert Embankment has two restaurants, and both have bars attached to them.
POTUS Bar & Restaurant
This is located on the ground level of the property and occupies a space just to the left of the lobby.
The bar is the first things you see as you enter the first of two rooms that the POTUS Bar & restaurant occupies, and as well as the usual bar seating, the area around the bar offers several other seating options.
The bar is open 12:00 to 00:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00 to 01:00 of Saturday and Sunday and if there’s a notable sporting event going on (or if there’s a live football match being played), the bar’s big screen will show it … and this is where the bar gets to showcase a feature that I’ve never seen in a bar before.
If you sit up at the bar, you’ll find a pair of wireless headphones on a stand in front of you …
… and you can use those headphones to listen to whatever game is being shown.
For big events where most people in the bar want to watch what’s being shown, the bar’s speaker system will be used. But for regular games on TV, the headphones allow guests who want to listen in to do just that without the rest of the bar being forced to listen in as well. It’s a great idea!
Adjacent to the bar is the main restaurant dining area which holds ~ 14 tables.
The restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week, and if you’d like to see what the latest menus look like, follow this link.
The restaurant is named after the abbreviation often used for the President of the United States and both the bar area and the restaurant feature a significant number of images of former US presidents … often in the company of a British Prime Minister or a member of the UK royal family.
Mezemiso
Mezemiso is the hotel’s rooftop Lebanese restaurant and shisha which is open between 18:00 and 02:30 daily.
The restaurant has its own elevator which is accessed from the lobby, and rather than being a regular elevator, it’s a glass pod that takes you up one side of the building to the top floor of property.
The restaurant has its own bar …
… and several seating options (some with fantastic views).
The key attraction here, however, is the outdoor terrace that you walk down to (4 or 5 steps) and which overlooks the river and looks out towards the north and west of London.
When the weather is being kind, the views are fantastic.
There are, however, a couple of issues here.
Firstly, the terrace can only be used by guests purchasing a shisha or a cigar from the restaurant/bar, so if you don’t smoke, you’re not going to get a table here.
Secondly, the music that gets played in Mezemiso is aimed at a younger crowd and a crowd that doesn’t mind having to deal with music that’s pumped out at a higher than average volume (at least that has been my experience on both visits to date).
The staff are very friendly, the views can be amazing, but this isn’t somewhere I would choose to come to relax.
Breakfast
Breakfast is served in the POTUS restaurant between 06:30 and 10:00 Monday to Friday and 07:30 and 11:00 on weekends and public holidays.
As a Hyatt Globalist, my breakfast was complimentary, but for anyone who doesn’t hold Globalist status or who hasn’t booked a rate that includes breakfast, the buffet costs £26/$34 and the à la carte items start at £8.50/$11.00.
Unfortunately, I forgot to ask if the à la carte items were included in the Globalist breakfast, so I made do with the buffet and can’t tell you if the à la carte options are included (sorry!)
The buffet was pretty standard, but it couldn’t be called impressive or special.
The menu and the images should give you a good idea of what was on offer during this stay, so I’ll keep this section brief.
- The coffee (ordered though the staff) was excellent.
- The hot food in the buffet was average at best (although the scrambled eggs were good).
- It took staff a while to replenish several of the cold items that had run low or run out.
- The pastry selection was poor.
Overall, if I had paid £26/$34 for this buffet I think I would have been a little annoyed.
The quality of the food here wasn’t as good as the quality of the food on offer at the Hyatt Place London City East where, if you prepay for the breakfast buffet, you can pay less than half of what the Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment is charging.
I really wish that I had noticed the a la carte menu before I started on the buffet as it would be good to know how good or bad those options were (there wasn’t a menu on my table, so I only saw the à la carte option once it was too late).
In lieu of a club lounge
As I mentioned a little earlier, the Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment doesn’t offer a club lounge, so because that leaves Globalist members with nowhere to enjoy a complimentary evening drink or complimentary snacks, it has put something in place to try to make up for that.
At check-in, I was given a card that looked like this:
As you can see, the card invites Globalist members to enjoy ‘evening snacks and house beverages’ in POTUS between 17:00 and 19:00 daily.
You hand this card over to the staff at the POTUS bar and in return, you get this menu:
By this stage of the evening, Joanna had joined me and she too was allowed to choose a house beverage (red or white wine, non-alcoholic drinks and a variety of bottled and draft beers) and some snacks.
We ordered …
- Guacamole with tortilla chips
- Hummus with pitta bread
- The skewer bites
- The cowboy caviar
… and this is what all of that looked like.
The snacks were pretty good with the houmous being star attraction (no skimping on the tahini or garlic), and the beer that I had (Camden Hells Lager) was pretty good too … but none of that completely makes up for the absence of a lounge.
Leaving aside the fact that a lounge offers somewhere to work or somewhere other than your room to relax, it also gives eligible guests somewhere to get a soda, some water, or a hot beverage at all times of the day (possibly even some snacks), and none of that is on offer here.
At the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars (which also doesn’t offer a lounge), guests who would ordinarily have access to a lounge have a way to get some basic drinks (hot and cold) and basic snacks at most times of the day, and while none of that excuses the absence of a lounge in a property of that size, it’s better than just a few bits and pieces between 17:00 and 19:00.
Yes, the Hyatt Blackfriars may feel the need to make a bit more of an effort because for reasons that I really can’t understand, it sells rooms with ‘Club Lounge Access’ even though it has no Club Lounge, but it would be nice if the Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment would allow Globalists to get tea/coffee/water from POTUS throughout the day.
Note: Be aware that if you’d like a snack or something to eat in your room but don’t want anything POTUS has offer, the hotel actively discourages guests from ordering food to be delivered. There’s a sign saying so in the lobby.
Gym/fitness centre
The hotel’s fitness center is located in the property’s basement, so as well as being quite small, it offers no natural light.
The good news here is that there’s more than enough equipment in here to give most people a good workout (there’s even a Peleton bike).
The less good news is that because so much equipment has been crammed into a relatively small space, if there’s more than 2 or 3 people in here it’s going to feel pretty crowded.
Tip: If all you need to do is a bit of cardio work, avoid this gym and enjoy a run alongside the river outside the front door of the hotel. On this side of the river the sidewalks are wide, there aren’t a lot of pedestrians to navigate, and you can’t get lost because you can simply follow the river back to the hotel.
Pricing
This a property at which prices vary significantly depending on the day of the week.
During the week, nightly rates can often be in excess of $400 (which is steep for this property), but during quieter months (e.g. January and February), midweek rates can be more reasonable.
At weekends, rates are often considerably lower than midweek, so unless you’re booking close to the date you’d like to stay, you should be able to find Friday and Saturday night rates at under $300 (which is pretty good in an expensive city like London).
Unsurprisingly, award costs follow a similar pattern.
As a World of Hyatt Category 5 property, award nights at the Hyatt Regency Albert Embankment cost 17,000, 20,000, or 23,000 points depending on whether your chosen dates fall into off-peak, standard, or peak season, and you’ll find that the majority of off-peak dates at this property (of which there are a lot) fall on a Friday or Saturday night.
Final thoughts
As with most hotels, there are things to like here and things to dislike.
On the negative side of things …
- The rooms can be small and if you don’t have a window overlooking the river that allows a lot of natural light to come in, they may feel cramped.
- There’s not a lot of storage space for clothes.
- The location isn’t great. It’s at least a 20 minute walk to most of the closer attractions and even though the closest subway stop is only a 10 minute walk away, it’s served by only one line and it’s one of the less useful lines the London Underground offers (the Victoria Line). This means that to get to most of London’s key attractions you’ll have to walk 10 minutes and take at least two subway trains (often, walking 20 minutes to Westminster station and catching a subway from there will be a better way to go, but that option may not work for everyone).
- Given the size of the rooms and its location, this property can be expensive. A rate under $300 would be a reasonable ‘deal’, but I wouldn’t pay $350+ for a stay here unless there was no other reasonable alternative.
- For what’s being offered, the buffet breakfast is expensive, and there aren’t many alternative places to get breakfast in the area immediately around the hotel.
- The lack of a lounge is understandable in a property of this size, but it would be nice if there were some basic snack/drink options for Globalists outside of the evening 2-hour window.
On the positive side of things …
- If you get a river view and the London weather is behaving, the rooms can be a really nice place to relax (despite their size).
- The showers are excellent.
- The property’s public spaces seem to be in good condition.
- The furniture in the rooms is in good condition (it doesn’t look tired or worn).
- The blackout curtains work well.
- The staff seem friendly.
- If you choose your dates carefully, this property is often one of the cheaper Hyatt options in London. It’s not as cheap as the Hyatt Place London City East, but it’s often cheaper than all the others and it’s closer to the center of town than the Hyatt Place.
Would I return? Yes … with conditions.
I wouldn’t be in a hurry to return if I didn’t have strong status with Hyatt that should guarantee me an upgrade. I’m not prepared to pay the rates the property charges for river view rooms, and I don’t think I’d enjoy a small room with a view of the interior of the property.
I also wouldn’t return if it meant paying more than $300/night as there are other options out there that I’d prefer to take. For example, I could pay considerably less than $300 at the Hyatt Place London City East and ‘put up’ with the inconvenience of being further away from the center of town, or I could dig into my points reserves and book an award at a more central (and better) property like the Churchill, the Great Scotland Yard or at any of Marriott’s more acceptable properties.
To sum up, if I could snap up a good/great cash rate I’d return, and if I could book a weekend stay for 17,000 points/night I’d also probably return … but only if I was reasonably sure I’d get upgraded to a room with a view.
Related (other London reviews):
Thanks for bringing up that king beds are a different size in the UK. I thought I was imagining things.
It can be especially confusing with hotels in the UK because the term ‘King Bed’ is usually used without mentioning which definition is being employed, so you’ll get some properties who only offer the US size (I think the JW Marriott Grosvenor Square is an example of one such property) and others where only the UK- definition is being used, so unless you’ve visited before, you won’t know what to expect.
The Antipodes toiletries may just be a hang-over from when it was a Crowne Plaza, because that’s the brand also used at the Crowne Plaza at LHR T4. I thought Hyatt Regency used Pharmacopia toiletries – at least they do in the US. Despite being English and living in England, all my Hyatt Regency stays have been in the US, so maybe the brand choice is different over here!
You may be right with the Crowne Plaza theory as both the HR Churchill and HR Blackfriars use Pharmacopia.
I’ve never seen a hotel or restaurant that doesn’t allow non smokers to sit on the terrace!
That and the rule on no food deliveries puts me off. Sounds more like student halls and not an expensive hotel in the hospitality industry.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this hotel! A river view sounds lovely, especially with nice weather in London. It’s great to hear that the rooms, while cozy, are well-maintained and that the showers are excellent. The condition of the public spaces and furniture adds to the overall appeal, too. I appreciate the tip about choosing dates carefully for better rates—it’s always helpful to know which options are more budget-friendly while still being conveniently located. Your insights are really valuable for anyone planning a trip to London!