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The Hyatt Regency Blackfriars is one of three Hyatt Regency Properties in central London (The Churchill is reviewed here) and it opened its doors in June 2023. A little over a year after the hotel welcomed its first guests, I finally had the opportunity to see what the property has to offer courtesy of a two night award booking.
The admin
- Length of stay: 2 nights
- Actual cost of stay: 40,000 World of Hyatt points (Category 5 standard booking)
- Cheapest cash rate for the booking (had I booked with cash): $956 (inc. taxes)
- Elite status at time of stay: Hyatt Globalist
- Points earned from the booking: 0 (zero)
- Upgrade instruments used: None
- Room booked: 1 King Bed
- Room received: 1 King Bed (Club Access)
- Upgraded: Yes (of a kind)
Getting there/location
The building the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars occupies was the Crowne Plaza London The City until early 2021 (when it closed for lengthy renovations), and it sits within the boundaries of the City of London (one of London’s two financial districts) just a short walk from the River Thames.
Despite its location in a Financial district, the hotel sits within easy reach of a lot that London has to offer with quite a few key sights within a reasonable walk.
- Temple Church – 7 minute walk
- St Paul’s Cathedral – 10 minute Walk
- Tate Modern museum (modern art) – 15 min walk
- Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre – 20 min walk
- Southwark Cathedral/Borough Market – 30 min walk
- Trafalgar Square – 30 min walk
The property is also just across the road from Blackfriars station from where you can take the Underground (subway) to the very heart of London (the Palace of Westminster is just a 5 minute ride away)
If you’re arriving from Heathrow and using public transport, the one of the cheapest ways to get to the hotel would be to take the Underground (subway) Piccadilly Line to Gloucester Road or South Kensington and to change there to the Circle or District Line which will take you to Blackfriars station (estimated time 60 – 65 mins).
The quickest way to the property from Heathrow (using public transport) is to take the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon and from there, to take the Thameslink service to Blackfriars station (estimated time 40 – 45 mins).
If you’re arriving from Gatwick and using public transport, the easiest way to get to the hotel would be to take the Thameslink service straight to Blackfriars station.
Arrival, check-in & the upgrade
On the day we were due to check-in, the Hyatt app showed that our room had been upgraded, but it didn’t show what room we had been upgraded to (this was a complimentary day-of-arrival upgrade courtesy of my World of Hyatt status).
The app didn’t show any suite availability at the hotel, so I had a feeling this wasn’t going to be one of the better upgrades I’ve ever received.
We got to the hotel at approximately 1pm and entered through the entrance diagonally opposite Blackfriars station.
If you arrive by car/taxi, you’re likely to enter via the entrance on the other side of the building as the road going past Blackfriars station is too busy (and too full of cycle lanes) for cars to be able to stop.
If you enter from the Blackfriars station side of the building, you’ll find yourself one level above the check-in desks (there are elevators and stairs to get you down).
If you enter by the entrance more suited to arrivals by car/taxi, you’ll find yourself on the same level as the check-in desks.
The check-in procedures were swiftly taken care of, and we were told that we have been upgraded to a Club Access King room which housekeeping had already prepared for us.
it was nice to have the room ready so early (this was ~12:30pm and the official check-in time isn’t until 3pm), but this wasn’t really a material upgrade.
We would have had access to the ‘club’* anyway thanks to my Hyatt status, so although the ‘club access’ room may be on a higher floor than a standard King Bed room and it may have a better view than the entry-level room either (more on the entry-level rooms later), this was a very minor upgrade on the room I had booked.
At this point, I would normally have questioned the minimal upgrade, but we had a really nice weekend planned and I was keen for us to get on with our day, so I let it go.
I made a mental note of it for the next time I’m considering a London Hyatt booking, but I didn’t take the matter up with the front desk agent.
*You’ll see why I have put the word ‘club’ in quotes a little later.
1 King Bed (club access)
Our room was on one of the higher floors and was located on one of the building’s corners.
Upon opening the door, this is the first view that you get.
Immediately on the right is the bathroom (more on that in a moment), and immediately on the left are a desk, a chair and in-built mini bar.
A few steps further into the room is an armchair and small round table …
… and these are positioned next to the most ludicrously large TV that I’ve ever seen in a hotel room.
Get me popcorn maker and some soft drinks and I could open up a boutique movie theatre with one of these!
Opposite the AMC multiplex is a chaise longue and the room’s king size bed.
I think that this is a UK king size bed and not a US king size bed (which is larger), so set your expectations accordingly.
On one side of the bed is the room’s open hanging rail and narrow closet (with a few amenities like the in-room safe, iron, ironing board, etc…) …
And I really don’t like this. It looks cheap … as does the room’s desk now that I come to think of it.
An open hanging rail is something I expect to find in a budget hotel and not a hotel charging $500+ per night.
Yes, I know that the Great Scotland Yard hotel (another Hyatt property in London – reviewed here) offers an open hanging rail in some of its rooms …
… but somehow, the GSY makes it look ok.
It probably has something to do with the fact that the set up in the Great Scotland Yard doesn’t look like it has come from aisle 23 of the local Ikea warehouse.
Anyway …
On the opposite side of the bed to Ikea’s finest is a slim window looking out towards some buildings across a narrow street.
The view looking ahead.
The view looking down.
The room’s main window (which is directly opposite the bed) is partially obscured by the ridiculous television …
… and offers a view into nearby office block.
At the weekends (when no one is working in the neighboring buildings), this probably isn’t an issue. But during the week, I would think that it would be easy for office workers to look into the room unless the curtains/drapes are closed or the lights are off and the net curtains are closed.
Perhaps that’s the point of the huge TV? Maybe it’s actually an expensive privacy screen?
Aside from the furniture, and the ‘views’, the room has a few other flaws as well.
A quick flaw to spot is the absence of any easily accessible sockets next to the desk.
A slightly less obvious flaw is that if you want to plug in the coffee maker or the kettle and leave them on the desk (where housekeeping puts them) …
… you first have to detach the curtain that’s behind the desk from its fastenings (it’s attached to the wall with velcro all the way down one side), and use the hidden power outlet that’s behind the curtain.
Who thought that was a good idea?
The last flaw, however, is my favorite. The net curtain behind the desk doesn’t fit the window.
You can either have the net curtain in this position (exposing the right side of the window):
Or you can have it in this position (exposing the left side of the window):
The only solution is to part-close the main curtain to cover the patch that the net curtain can’t cover.
The lack of attention to detail in this room is disappointing.
On a more positive note, I like the bathroom.
The sink and the area around the sink look elegant, the finish looks good, and the hotel hasn’t made the mistake of trying to squeeze in a pointlessly-sized bath into here.
The shower is nice as well (the picture doesn’t really do it justice, so you’ll just have to trust me).
The water pressure was good, there are no complicated controls to have to deal with, and a tiny movement of the temperature setting dial doesn’t change the water temperature from arctic cold to scalding hot. That’s a win in my world.
Lastly, as far as the bathroom is concerned, I should point out that the toiletries are all in large bottles …
.. and are the same brand as most (possibly all) Hyatt Regency properties use – Pharmacopia.
As far as amenities go…
I’ve already mentioned the iron and ironing board as well as the tea/coffee making facilities and the mini bar …
… but I haven’t mentioned that the mini bar came with two bottles of complimentary water (per day) or that you can ask to have the mini bar stocked with items from this menu.
The room doesn’t have any universal power outlets (so make sure that you bring an adapter if you’re not from the UK), but it does have a good number of USB-A and USB-C ports by the bed.
The final aspect of the room that I need to mention is the lights.
There’s nothing wrong with the lights themselves, but the fact that they are controlled by motion sensors can be annoying.
After a short period of time, if the motion sensors don’t detect any movement in the room, they switch off all the room’s lights. That can come as quite a surprise at the best of times, but it can be especially surprising if you’re having a shower.
Overall thoughts on the room
I don’t like it. It’s as simple as that.
Yes, the bed is comfortable, the bathroom is small but elegant, and it’s nice to have multiple power options on both sides of the bed, but there are just too many aspects of the room that leave a lot to be desired.
The desk and closet look cheap, the TV is ridiculous, the lack of power outlets near the desk (a desk that’s clearly a work desk) is annoying, the ill fitting net curtains point to someone really not paying attention, and I never like a room that is easily looked into from neighboring buildings.
Overall, I have to question what the room’s designer was thinking.
The building that the hotel occupies is beautiful, so who thought it was a good idea to thrown in some furniture that looks like it was put together with an allen key? And who thinks that someone staying in a ‘5-star hotel housed in a historical building in the City of London’ wants a huge TV dominating their room? And on a wobbly stand?
The furniture in the lobby looks nice, the furniture in the bar and dining areas looks nice (as you’ll see later on), so what happened in the rooms? Yes, the chaise longue is ok, and the oval headboard adds some character, but the rest? It’s not 5-star.
This property has quite few good features (I’ll come on to those) but based on this visit, the rooms aren’t one of them.
The entry-level rooms
The entry level rooms at the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars are the 1 King Bed & 2 Twin Bed rooms and when you’re viewing them on the Hyatt website, this is what they look like.
I’m not sure, however, that all the entry level rooms are as bright as the images above suggest, nor am I sure that all the entry-level rooms have windows on to the outside.
I say this because of how the property is designed.
If you stand by the elevators on the check-in level …
… and look up, you’ll see that the hotel has a whole series of rooms whose windows look out into a central atrium.
This is what the view of these rooms is like from one of the higher floors.
These rooms obviously don’t have windows facing the outside world, and while I cannot be sure of this (because I didn’t ask anyone), I would be very, very surprised if these rooms weren’t designated as 1 King Bed or 2 Twin Bed rooms.
Sure, some entry-level rooms may have windows facing the outside (probably on the lower floors where the hotel doesn’t feel comfortable designating them as ‘city view’ or ‘high street view’), but I suspect that a good proportion of the entry level rooms may be darker than some guests may be expecting.
Breakfast
The property serves a full breakfast on the upper ground floor in the Chinese
Cricket Club restaurant.
Breakfast hours are as follows:
- Monday – Friday: 06:30 to 10:30
- Weekends and Public Holidays: 07:00 to 11:00
This is what the restaurant looks like inside.
Thanks to the windows on two sides of the restaurant, the interior feels light and bright during daylight hours (unless the weather is being particularly British).
Breakfast is a buffet and/or a selection from an à la carte menu.
The Hyatt Regency Blackfriars allows World of Hyatt Globalist members (+ companion) to enjoy the buffet and an item of the à la carte menu. That’s generous.
This was the menu at the time of this visit.
And here are some images of the buffet that was on offer.
The buffet was a hit-and-miss affair.
The quality of the hot items wasn’t particularly high, and they weren’t particularly hot.
The cold items were a lot better and the large amount of fresh avocado on offer was a hit as were the fresh breads and the croissants which seemed to be freshly made (or brought in from a bakery) rather than store bought.
The coffee (I had a flat white) and the fresh orange juice that I tasted were both excellent, and although we had an incredibly long wait before our à la carte orders arrived, the food that turned up was nice (once I got rid of all the unnecessary arugula).
Another positive aspect of the breakfast service were the staff who were all very pleasant.
Despite being very obviously rushed (hence our long wait for the à la carte items), everyone we interacted with was helpful, attentive, and polite, and it’s hard to ask for any more than that.
Overall thoughts on breakfast
It was nice to be able to mix and match items from the buffet with an à la carte item and while I can’t recommend many of the hot items being served as part of the buffet, the fruit, breads, yoghurts, croissants, and juices were very nice.
The à la carte items are of a noticeably higher quality than the buffet items (unsurprisingly), so if you have the choice of one or the other, go with the à la carte option.
Dining & bars
The Chinese Cricket Club Restaurant
As well as service breakfast daily, the Chinese Cricket Club Restaurant is also open for lunch and dinner five days of the week.
Opening hours are as follows:
- Monday – Tuesday: Closed
- Wednesday – Friday: 12:00 – 22:00
- Saturday – Sunday: 12:30 – 22:00
We didn’t try this restaurant out outside of breakfast, but it’s well regarded and can offer some good deals. You’ll find all the latest menus (à la carte, Dim Sum, and business lunch) on this page.
NYnLON
NYnLON is the other restaurant that you’ll find on site and this one is open Monday through Friday 12:00 to 00:00 (although if business is slow, it may close earlier).
This how the restaurant describes itself:
NYnLON is a local bistro set within an upscale and laid-back design having a healthy bias towards sustainable and natural wines. Discover comfort food recipes inspired by New York and London, offering a menu of highly desirable grass-fed, aged prime cuts, grilled shrimp & kale Caesar salad and many more.
And this is what it looks like inside.
There’s a lot to like about NYnLON.
As we found in the Chinese Cricket Club, the staff here are very helpful, friendly and generally just very nice, the table sizes are fantastic (I’ve seen restaurants seat 4 people at tables at which this restaurant seats 2), and while I didn’t eat here, I’m reliably told by Joanna that their Black Angus burger is excellent.
You’ll find the full menu for NYnLON by following this link.
Leaf & Cane
Leaf and Cane is the hotel’s bar on the lower ground floor of the property and it’s open from 17:00 to 02:00 Tuesday through Saturday (it’s closed on Mondays and Sundays).
Cocktails cost between £14 and £18 ($18 – $23), a pint of beer will set you back £9 ($11.50) and a few small plates can be ordered if you need a snack (link to menu)
There’s a lot of seating inside (both tables and chairs and bar-style seating) …
.. but the bar reserves its most ‘fun’ area for outside.
Below street level and through the door from the main bar, is a small area that looks like this:
This is a series of small man-made grottos which, apparently, were once (a long time ago) used by the local police as overnight holding cells for women (presumably ‘women of ill repute’).
Today, what was once probably a horrible place to be put, now looks like this:
They’re a great place to get out of the London weather, the patio heaters outside keep them warm, and they even have power outlets inside.
There are 5 or 6 of these ‘grottos’ (I think) and they’re available on a first come first served basis.
City Lounge
The City Lounge is the hotel’s lobby lounge and is open between 07:00 and 21:00 daily.
The lounge serves hot drinks, wines and Champagnes, as well as a variety of small plates, salads, sandwiches, pastries and desserts (link to menu).
It offers a variety of seating options …
…and, pleasingly, whoever designed this area considered the fact that a lot of the people who are likely to use it will probably need access to power.
Power outlets are plentiful here. Some are built into the tables, and some are subtly hidden at floor level.
The reason why the power outlets may be important will become clearer in the next section of this review.
In lieu of a club lounge
You may be surprised to know that even though this property had a full makeover less than 2 years ago, there is no Regency Club Lounge at the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars.
The hotel has, however, made a few provisions to take care of guests who would ordinarily have access to a lounge if the property had one.
Monday through Friday between 12:00 and 19:00, a small area at one end of NYnLon is reserved for guests with ‘club access’, and this is where you’ll find fruit, snacks, hot beverages, and soft drinks on offer.
If you’re looking for a free small snack, this area may be enough for you, but it’s not somewhere to get any work done – there are no power outlets anywhere near most of the tables and there’s nothing to block out any noise from the diners in the restaurant.
Fortunately, there’s another option.
Monday through Friday between 07:00 and 12:00 and on weekends and public holidays between 07:00 and 19:00, the hotel allows guests with ‘club access’ to enjoy complimentary hot beverages and select soft beverages at the City Lounge in the lobby.
The City Lounge is a considerably nicer place to get some work done if you want a break from your room. – the seating is more comfortable and the power outlets considerably more plentiful – and the coffee in the City Lounge is considerably better than the coffee from the machine in the room at the end of NYnLon.
Alcoholic drinks and canapés are served between 17:00 and 19:00 every day in whichever location is being used as a ‘lounge’ on that day (Mon-Fri = NYnLon & Sat-Sun= City Lounge).
The canapés aren’t served automatically, they have to be requested and they look like this (at least this is what they looked like on my visit).
This is what I think they were (from left to right):
- Some kind of salad based around oats.
- Warm mini Roast potato salad.
- Salmon mouse + eggs on cracker.
- Deconstructed cheesecake (I think) with fruit.
The salad with oats was too dry (like chewing sawdust), the roast potato salad was very nice (it’s hard to ruin a roast potato), the salmon mouse was also very nice, and cheesecake was good too.
3 out of 4 isn’t bad.
Overall, it’s hard to know how to sum this ‘lounge’ experience up.
Does what the hotel offer make up for the lack of a lounge? No, it doesn’t. But it’s nice that some kind of effort is being made.
I suspect that most people would prefer it if the NYnLon area didn’t exist so the City Lounge could be where the lounge offerings are all of the time, but that would probably be more expensive for the property to maintain, so I don’t see that happening any time soon.
The fact is, however, that the lack of a proper lounge at a recently renovated Hyatt Regency property feels like a significant omission and alongside my critique of the bedroom furniture, feels like another way corners have been cut to save some money.
That’s not very 5-star.
Gym/fitness centre
The fitness centre is located on the lowest floor that guests can access – the second basement level (B2).
Unsurprisingly, it has no natural light, but the hotel has done a good job with the lighting, and it seems to be pretty well kitted out as well.
The Hyatt Regency Blackfriars isn’t near to any of London’s major parks, but anyone wanting to do a bit of cardio in the open air could try running along the Thames path that’s just a few minutes’ walk from the hotel.
Pricing
In line with the London hotel market, the room rates at the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars are considerably higher than they would have been 2 or 3 years ago (had the hotel been open then), so even on the cheapest dates in the calendar (weekends in winter) you should expect prices to start at over $350/night for a non-refundable booking and over $400/night for a flexible booking.
Most of the year, however, expect prices to be considerably higher than that.
A variety of searches for next year show the prices for entry-level rooms starting at over $500/night for non-refundable bookings and at over $580/night for flexible bookings, and those rates make the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars look expensive.
In fact, some of the pricing seems a little ridiculous.
Take a look at the prices being charged by Hyatt’s London properties on this randomly selected date next year:
The £499 is the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars, and on this date (a weekend), it’s £150/night ($190/night) more expensive than the Andaz and charging the same as the Great Scotland Yard and the Churchill (both £498).
You’d have to really like/need the location that the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars is (or be completely nuts) in to choose it over the other three.
As a Category 5 property in the World of Hyatt, award nights at the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars cost 17,000/20,000/23,000 points per night depending on the season (off-peak/standard/peak) and because of its business district location, you’ll find that off-peak dates (which can be easy to find) usually fall on a weekend.
It’s also worth noting that this is a property where a Hyatt Leverage rate can be very useful. I frequently see these flexible rates coming in at the same price (sometimes lower) than the advance purchase (non-refundable) rates and up to $70/night cheaper than the cheapest standard flexible rate.
The savings through the Hyatt Leverage program won’t always be this impressive, but this example shows what’s possible.
Final thoughts
This is a tricky one to sum up because there are a lot of different aspects of the property that I liked, but the key to every hotel has to be the accommodation and the accommodation here wasn’t good enough.
I loved the staff at this Hyatt (they were extremely friendly and helpful), I like the decor in the public areas, I (mostly) enjoyed the complimentary breakfast, I like the Leaf & Cane bar, and apparently NYnLON does a great burger … but does that make up for the room and the pricing?
I don’t think it does.
Between the lack of a proper Regency Lounge (a signature feature of the Hyatt Regency brand), some cheap-looking furniture in the room, and the ill-fitting net curtains, there’s a sense here that cost savings were more important than guest comfort when the hotel was being refurbished, and that’s a shame.
This doesn’t give off the feel of the 5-star property that it claims to be.
The biggest problem that the Hyatt Regency London Blackfriars has is that on a lot of days, its pricing is very similar to the Andaz London and even the Great Scotland Yard, and both of those are noticeably better properties.
As I have also showed, this property is sometimes priced on a par with the Churchill (a Category 6 property with good rooms, great location, and very good Regency Lounge) and that’s just madness.
Base on all of this, the only conclusion I can come to is that despite quite a few positive aspects to this hotel, there are much better Hyatt options in the surrounding areas and at the prices that the Hyatt Regency Blackfriars is often charging, those other hotels will offer better value for money.
Will I return? Probably not.
At the ‘low’ end I have the option of the Hyatt Place London City East, in the middle I have the option of the Andaz London, and at the upper end I have the option of the Churchill or the Great Scotland Yard, so it’s hard to think of a reason to return.
Related reading:
A review of the Great Scotland Yard Hotel London (Hyatt Unbound Collection)
A review ot the Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill (Regency Suite)
A review of the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square
You mention two Hyatt Regency properties in London, there are actually four: HR Churchill, HR Blackfriars, HR Albert Embankment, and HR Stratford. The first three are centrally located, the last is further out, but easily accessible to central London via the Jubilee Line tube at Stratford Station. None of them are particularly memorable, with Albert Embankment and Blackfriars being former Crowne Plaza (with service levels and attention to detail that match the experience).
The Andaz and Great Scotland Yard are Hyatt’s best properties in London, at least until the Park Hyatt opens up – though the Park Hyatt is inconveniently located. Luckily (or not, depending on your viewpoint) there are a plethora of boutique Mr. & Mrs. Smith properties in London bookable on Hyatt, but, as we all know, the experience will vary tremendously and virtually no elite benefits are offered aside from increased points earning.
I always forget about the Albert Embankment property! Thanks.
We stayed there for 5 Days last month in July. you have described this Hotel to a T.
My sentiments exactly about the Breakfast being Hit & Miss. Lounge was a Big Dissapointment, when I spoke to the F&B Mgr about my displeasure with the Lounge offerings, He had the Staff prepare a nice complete Dinner with Soup & Shrimp Salad as starters.
The Biggest positive about the Location is The Location. Loved the Location near The River/Bridge. By the way “Watch Out from the Bike Riders” outside.
Will I come Back? Maybe!
If you want a Good Lounge Experience, you need to head to Dubai & Abu Dhabi Hyatts.
This is what we experienced at this property. Very expensive and very limited in offering to guests. Their bar menu (in lieu of an exec lounge) was horrible to what they offer to Globalists. Really shameful.
Also it is not anywhere near central London. It is near the city of London, if you have business to do in that area it is ok. Otherwise forget it.
The worse Hyatt we experienced in London is the Hyatt Regency Embarkment, in location, Globalist recognition was just terrible. You can’t eat the breakfast, its that bad. There is no lounge just some really old hummus on the bar. Would not advise, unless you just want a room. The owner sits in the dark part of the bar/restaurant watching everyone go in and out. Like the Mafia guys sit in the movies. Strange for a Hyatt, maybe ok for an ABC hotel.
If you can afford the Churchill is the best for location, and quality.
Absolutely right about the newly coming Park Hyatt. The location is questionable. It will take years to fix that neighbourhood to meet the Park Hyatt.