Reasons to Stay at citizenM Tower Hill, London

citizenM Tower Hill, London

This Summer has mostly included myself + Hollie trying our best to arrange our Las Vegas wedding (true, it's mainly been Hollie doing all the hard work), house viewings and hours spent with our heads in financial spreadsheets.  With a big wedding comes a new suit, and I've been meaning to take a couple of days out to visit some tailors to see if I can find the perfect fitting garb.

A couple of weeks ago we made some space in our diaries and booked ourselves in for a couple of nights in the brand new citizenM Tower Hill Hotel. Heading to London soon? Below is a few reasons why we think it's worth staying at citizenM's newest digs.

Location

As I get down to London quite often these days I generally like to book a hotel that is pretty central, with decent walking routes and travel links. When I first heard a new citizenM hotel was opening at Tower Hill I assumed it was going to be too far out of the way to be worth considering, but as we took 10 steps out of Tower Hill Tube Station, and saw were were already there, I knew I couldn’t have been more wrong.


With rooms with views facing the Tower of London, a tube stop literally underneath the hotel (but you couldn’t hear a sound) and a 15 minute walk to the centre of Spitalfields Market we both agreed it was a hard-to-beat location.


Unique to citizenM Tower Hill is the Cloud M cocktail bar, located is up on the 8th floor. Them views. In fact you get a 180 degree panoramic view of London’s hodgepotch skyline. The drinks got the thumbs up too, with Hollie going for some form of Champagne cocktail and I grabbed a strong IPA from Scottish brewery Harviestoun. In terms of citizenM Tower Hill vs citizenM Bankside, they’ve both very different, with the latter having more restaurants close by, but Tower Hill edges it for me with its travel access and locality to East London.

Design

Given the option I’d prefer to stay a few nights is an interesting, well considered, affordable hotel than an overly-design, swankfest that you just can’t relax in. citizenM Tower Hill ticks my criteria really nicely, with great attention to detail; from the licensed Vitra furniture and bespoke lighting fixtures to the locally sourced craft beers, spirits and magazine selection. It all goes together nicely.


In terms of the lobby, that’s nicely done too. It’s a big old place, with enough nooks and crannies for it to never really feel overcrowded. Even if you’re not staying at the hotel you’re welcome to nip in, grab a coffee from their Tower of London-facing coffee shop and knuckle down with some work for a couple of hours. The large windows make for the perfect people-watching lookout.

The hotel also features a small design shop, with books + magazines, watches, jewelry, badges and a bunch of small gifts.

Rooms

In terms of the rooms, they’re definitely small but fully equipped with everything you’ll need for a couple of days. Personally I’d probably like the rooms to be a little on the larger side, but for the small time spent in the space it’s not a big deal. Each room in citizenM is equal, the only thing that differs is your view - which you can request at check-in. You can also request for your room to be on a quieter floor.


I'm a pretty light sleeper, so anything that gets me zed-ing is a big plus. The wall-to-wall beds are perfect; firm, spacious and creek-free. Each room comes with iPad-controlled blackout blinds and curtains, which can be retracted at the flick of a button - I'm a big fan of this as if stops any unwanted rays peaking through. Zeds arrived in no time at all.


Each room comes with a few other neat features: usb charging stations, under the bed luggage storage and safe, small fridge, iPad-controlled mood lighting and a huge selection of classic and modern films package on the telly. A choice of hundreds of films is by far more than you’d usually expect from a budget hotel.

Staff

Having previously stayed at citizenM hotels at London Bankside and Glasgow I knew that the staff were usually really decent, and they didn’t let their record down. Even when this prized-wally realised he forgotten his toothpaste and toothbrush they helped me out at 11:30pm with a new set. All the staff we encountered with personable, funny, had time to listen to us and made us feel welcome.

citizenM Tower Hill has one-up on their other London location, with the bonus of their own coffee shop, on the right-hand side of the entrance. We visited at a busy time, but the staff seemed to handle the queues well, and everyone looked like they left happy. Same goes for the evening too, as we requested some pretty complicated  sounding cocktails but didn't feel like we had to wait long before they were sitting in front of us.
 Thumbs up.

Value for Money

We paid £119 for one night’s stay, for two of us + one free drink each (at the ground level bar). Our free drinks were activated by booking online, but I’m unsure if this happens every time. Breakfast wasn't included in the price, but we paid on the day - a full continental breakfast was under £15 for both of us. Fresh juices, tea + coffee, fruit, a decent selection of cereal, freshly baked pastries, cold meats + cheeses and yogurts were all ready and waiting. citizenM gets extra points for providing several casual areas to dine, avoiding the feeling of   been carted into a sterile school canteen.

Overall

Both me and Hollie agreed that we would definitely stay at CitizenM Tower Hill again, and due to the location we'd choose this hotel over Bankside. Considering price, comfy, level of service, friendliness and location I'd say it's going to hard to find anything else that ticks all the boxes to such a high level. If I could I’d make to rooms slightly larger, but for a short-stay or business trip it really doesn’t affect your stay.

Overall I’d highly recommend citizenM Tower Hill to any single travellers or couples (remember, there's only one bed) and I imagine we'll be back before the end of the year.

We were offered one night in citizenM Tower Hill in exchanged for an honest review. We subsequently paid for one extra night + breakfast. All views are our own. Photo 11+19 by Richard Powers for concrete.

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