Dolphin Square Hotel

We booked Dolphin House at the last minute for 2 nights for a family of five transiting from Holland to Southwest England. We got a two bedroom apartment, the rooms were smaller than what we had experienced a week earlier at the Harrington in South Kensington (see our separate review) however the fitout was nicer and facilities far superior, although we didn't get time to fully utilise them. For instance, the room rate gave us access to a very modern pool and gym complex attached to the hotel with full changerooms attached. Downstairs and within the complex there was also a small selection of shops including a pharmacy, grocery store, cafe, and travel agent. Considering this part of town is not a major tourist or shopping area, it was handy to have these shops nearby. The Pimlico tube station is two blocks away. The room had a washing machine but no dryer, however there are two laundrettes nearby, one close to Pimlico station. While I had a laptop and was able to use the wi-fi, there were also a couple of Internet cafes near the laundrettes.

I stayed in this hotel on a weekend deal with my fiancee and it was absaloutely superb. The staff are extremely helpful and friendly. the service was great. We paid £170 for 2 nights for a fabulos studio room with a kitchenette and continental breakfast. We had requested a room with a view preferably on a higher floor and they allocated us a room with a fantastic view of the gardens. The room itself is was beautifully decorated and very clean. The bathroom and kitchen was very modern. The pool is an added bonus. Its art deco style and is lit up with blue or pink light so its very relaxing. The only problem we had was with the residents of the complex..they seemed to think they owned the pool and we very snobby about it. Obviously thiis has nothing to do with the hotel but that was the only problem. The hotel is very near the pimlico tube station and there aree lots of little shops around the area. We had a wonderful weekend and were extremely impressed by this hotel. We plan to return on our next weekend break. I strongly recommend Dolphin square

My friend and I stayed at Dolphin House 9/11/08-9/15/08. It was our first trip to London. I found the hotel via Trip Advisor and it met our needs perfectly. I booked online at the hotel's website and paid 90GBP per night. We chose the hotel largely due to rate and location. While there are cheaper hotels in London, we also wanted a decent room and location. The location is good, albeit slightly outside of main tourist areas (which helps with the rates). We planned to use the Tube to get to the sights around town and Dolphin House is convenient to the Pimlico station on the Victoria line (10 minute walk). While the line was closed during part of our visit (certainly not the hotel's fault), replacement busses took passengers to Victoria station at no cost. Dolphin House is largely an apartment community, so don't expect a typical hotel feel. I found the hotel office staff to be overly formal (slightly removed, disinterested, and not that friendly) for my taste, but both check-in and check-out went fine. A bellman took us to our room, helped with luggage, and answered several questions we had. The complex has a health club, including a pool. We didn't get a chance to use the facilities, but did tour the club and found it to be decent (free weights, sauna/steam, locker rooms, etc.). All guests can access the club, but again we didn't have time. The complex also has a small group of stores which came in handy (notably the coffee shop and grocery store). The room was very nice, #17. It was quite spacious and modern, had quality furniture and bedding, a kitchenette (sink/microwave/refrigerator/coffee maker), two large closets (with safe), and an unexpectedly big bathroom (with tub/shower combo). I will attach a couple of room photos that I took. The rooms offered by the hotel are not in a secured building, but we were reassured that 24-hour guards monitor the complex. Doors to the inner courtyard as well as exits to the street were not locked. We had no problem with this and never questioned our security during our stay. The room was generally quiet and comfortable. The room includes a TV with DVD player. My friend accessed the internet from here as well. When we had a problem with the DVD player, we called the front desk and two staffers quickly came to assist us. Our room was cleaned daily. Overall, we liked Dolphin House and it provided us with a "home base" during our tour of London. The room was quiet and the complex has much to offer. Don't be expecting a typical hotel at Dolphin House, but it was great to mingle with the local residents in the apartments and be real Londoners! With the Tube linking Pimlico to key transfer points, we were just a few minutes away from most places we wanted to see and paid less for our room than most visitors in more popular tourist areas.

I've stayed at what was the Dophin Square hotel before, and in a guest room in the complex which you used to be able to book via a resident. What have they done to this lovely place? It's been taken over and the front of house now looks modern and impersonal - lots of designer furniture and polite but useless staff in dark suits sitting behind Apple Macs. I paid over £200 to stay in a room in part of the building that used to house the guest rooms available to the guests of permanent residents. It was basically the same room with an upgrade of soft furnishings and addition of a sink and a fridge in the bedroom. The bathroom was the same, just with designer bath products! It was also very noisy with an irritating humming noise coming from some electrical equipment outside. I arrived late and didn't have the energy to go all the way back to reception to change rooms, but the noise kept me awake throughout the night. In the morning I discovered there was no hair dryer in the room and called three times before someone brought one round. Over-priced and underwhelming. I won't go back.

After reading the fantastic reviews for Dolphin House we booked 'run of the house', through their website for three nights. We chose a serviced apartment rather than a hotel because we wanted to do some basic self catering in the evenings. At check in we were allocated apartment 1 on the ground floor. It was so disappointing. The room was small and slightly grubby. The carpet in front of the kitchen unit was dirty and stained. There was no microwave, just a kettle and a toaster. The fridge had been turned off, so had defrosted and was full of warm water. There was crockery for one person only. We rang reception and asked if we could be moved to a room with a microwave and a working fridge. The member of staff said she didn't know, but someone would ring back in 5 minutes. After 20 minutes and no response, we marched back to reception with our luggage, to find that the message had been passed on but no one had chosen to act on it. We were told that since we had booked on the 'run of the house' tariff, we couldn't be moved. After some more assertive complaining about the state of the room, a one bedroom apartment on the 6th floor was 'found'. We were then lectured by the member of staff about what a great upgrade we were getting when we shouldn't really have it - surely 'run of the house' should mean getting the best available room, not the worst one. The one bedroom apartment was a big improvement, with large bedroom, bathroom and sitting room. However it still had only a small kitchen 'unit' with tiny sink, microwave and kettle, squeezed into the hallway of the apartment, which seemed a very strange use of the space. Perhaps we were unlucky, but both of the apartments we saw were slightly shabby and grubby, both with barely adequate kitchen facilities. Customer service is clearly not high priority at Dolphin House. Half of the staff we came across were pleasant, the other half were unhelpful and indifferent. Dolphin House is in a good location within walking distance of Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey etc, but I would not stay there again and do not recommend it.

We stayed in a 1 bedroom apartment at the Dolphin House for four days in late August/ early September. Let me first comment that the rooms are lovely- they are exactly as advertised- spacious, well appointed, and very clean. Unfortunately for me these positives did not outweigh the negative experience we had at the hotel. There is a major construction of the Pimlico School across the street from the hotel- on weekdays the construction takes place between 8:00 and 20:00 and on weekends they are working on Saturday mornings and afternoons. According to a sign outside of the school the construction will be ongoing until 2010. If you are facing the street and are sensitive to noise you will not be pleased with this hotel. We arrived very early from a transatlantic flight and waited until 3:00 p.m. to access our room. Immediately upon check in we requested a room facing the square as opposed to the construction zone as my husband is a very light sleeper. We were told there were none available but to check back again tomorrow. The following day we complained again and were told to pack up our luggage and they would move us to another room facing the courtyard that day. We arrived late in the evening and found they had not moved our luggage and had no record of the request and alas had no courtyard rooms available- they suggested we check back tomorrow. Rather than continue to keep our luggage packed and be continually disappointed we did not make the request again. During one of these discussions, the front desk also assured us there would be no construction on the weekend which was not the case. The staff at the front desk was always very nice but they weren’t effective and in our case couldn’t keep track of their commitments. The weather was not very hot in London but for some reason the rooms and building hallways were extremely hot and stuffy. I cannot imagine staying here when the weather is hotter- I think it would be an excruciating experience. We had the windows open at night when the construction ceased but for some reason the flat would not cool down. The staff in the restaurant at breakfast was poor as other reviewers mention. The manager rushes around the restaurant but it’s not clear what he might be doing exactly. He doesn’t help patrons who come into the restaurant waiting for tables even if the two waitresses have their hands full with patrons already seated- he literally walks back and forth through the breakfast area and doesn’t so much as make eye contact with a patron as he passes through. Overall if the construction was complete and it was winter this would be a hotel we would consider again. Until then this is not a hotel I could recommend.

We stayed for 2 nights in one of the square’s 1-bedroomed apartments. The check-in staff were attentive and very efficient. The room was spotlessly clean with a small kitchen, a living room and an en-suite bedroom, all done in a modern and tasteful style and roomy for such a good location. The living room includes a large flat screen TV connected to a multimedia computer giving either a selection of Digital TV stations (Freeview) or access to on-demand movies, games or internet access, though these all have to be paid for. WiFi is also available in the room at a reasonable £5 for 24 hours. The first night we treated ourselves to a phoned-for take-away from a company called Deliverance, whose menu was left in the apartment. The food was adequate but didn’t really deliver on the rave reviews on the back of the menu, particularly the Chinese shredded beef. There are some shops attached to the complex on the ground floor, including a small supermarket and off-licence, and some gardens to roam around in the square. The only downside to the room was the noise coming from the building site across the road, although with the window closed it wasn’t overly intrusive. The main complaint we have is with the attached restaurant that served the continental breakfast. The food itself was high quality, but on the second day there was none left and we had to ask for more to be put out. The service from the staff was very poor, with a very off-hand attitude. i suggest getting provisions from nearby Pimlico (5 min walk) and make your own in your room kitchen! Overall, an excellent apartment, close to central London giving a good service for a reasonable price.

what a fabulous stay book 2 nights from 23/08/2008 1 bedroom apartment and got a lovely 2 bed apartment everything u needed was in there highly recommended and will be visiting again

We stayed for 2 nights at Dolphin House Serviced Apartments in August during a weekend sightseeing visit to London. We booked a weekend package deal through laterooms - 100% recommend doing this - for £170 total for two people for 2 nights (+breakfast included) we had a one bedroom apartment (normal rate £450). The apartment itself was smart, modern, very clean and had all the mod cons. The apartment consisted of lounge, bathroom, small kitchen, hallway and large bedroom. Although we didn't use the facilities of the complex we were informed we had free use of all the leisure facilites (including swimming pool, gym, tennis court etc) and had access to the attractive garden. Dolphin House is only a 5 minute walk from Pimlico tube station (zone 1) so is ideal for sightseeing. For a central London hotel the quality of this place was excellent and booked at the rate we found, offers outstanding value. Only one minor grumble reagrding the accommodation was that the rooms were hot at night (no air conditioning). However, a fan was provided in the bedroom therefore it was not a big issue. We would recommend this hotel for leisure visits and business stays alike. Extremely comfortable stay - we will be back.

We stumbled across these appartments on [--] and what a find. They were so cheap for central London only $230 NZ a night, so to be honest we weren't expecting too much, but they got rave reviews on laterooms, so we thought, give it a go, and as they were so well positioned for walking to see the sights we didn't mind if they were a bit grotty, but not to be, these appartments were lovely,and as an added bonus there is a nice restaurant on site with the best coffee we had in London as well as a store and hairdressers and gym and pool all on the complex.We were blown away by how good it all was.Just a 5 minute walk to the tube and a couple of restaurants nearby. My only complaint is that the rooms were terribly hot......don't know why, but they were. Lucky enough they did have a fan which we had to leave on all night, but appart from that the rooms were spacious and immaculate, the bathroom was huge as well. Will definetly stay again. Wendi Green Christchurch New Zealand.