Hotel Review: The Milestone Hotel | Victorian Splendour & Old World Luxury Charm

Photo Courtesy of The Milestone Hotel

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Overview

Whenever we stay in London my first “go to” site to check hotels is the Leading Hotels of the World. We have stayed quite a number of times as Hotel Café Royal near Piccadilly, The Landmark at Marylebone, One Aldwych and The Langham when it was part of this group too. Despite having favorites I do also like to try out new places too, so this time we opted for the Milestone Hotel in Kensington. We were originally slightly disappointed with the room allocated (403) in terms of both the outlook and the fact that it had only a shower over the bath. I had requested a walk-in shower but using the shower over the bath meant that my head was almost touching the ceiling (being lowered than the already low room height for presumably aircon workings). We were able to move after one night however and the difference was incredible. We also saw an“entry-level” queen sized room on the 5th floor - while an amazing outlook over the park from a raised seating area, the room was incredibly small for two people as was the narrow shower room - beautifully appointed however and very recently refurbished, albeit just a cubicle shower.

Hotel website: https://milestonehotel.com

Would I stay here again?   If we could get room #305 (or equivalent again), absolutely! Some of the rooms have the potential to disappoint perhaps however many of them have the absolute wow factor.

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Hotel Review: The Milestone Hotel & Residences | A True London Landmark opposite Kensington Palace

Photo Courtesy of The Milestone Hotel

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Location

The hotel is located at the corner of Kensington Road and Kensington Court, right opposite Kensington Gardens and Palace. It’s right next to Kensington High Street (the tube station is less than 5 minutes walk) and only a short walk in the other direction to the Royal Albert Hall. Everything is on your doorstep - shops if want them, restaurants, cafes and bars; not to mention Kensington Palace for sightseeing, shows or concerts at the Albert Hall as well as Hyde Park for recreation. Location could not be faulted, easy access by taxis and Uber as well as nearby underground stations.

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Accommodation

The hotel has only 43 deluxe guest rooms and 13 luxury suites, there are also 6 long-stay two and three bedroom residences. We had a fantastic (newly renovated) deluxe room on the third floor overlooking Kensington Court. On entering the room there was an internal staircase to take you down to the bedroom area - here there was an exceptionally large and comfortable king-size bed, seating area, desk area and a huge mount-mounted LCD TV. While the design was traditional (with great artwork) there was also every necessary piece of tech (like the ultra modern wall TV, USB points at both the desk and each side of the bed), high tech super-efficient air conditioning etc.). Despite being near the busy Kensington High Street and Kensington Road, the soundproofing was fantastic with the traditional windows being supplemented by inner double glazing for extra noise protection.

The room was beautifully designed and superbly appointed - homemade cookies on arrival with a welcome note, everything sparkling clean and with the most amazing bathroom. We had ideally asked for a walk-in shower and this really was a huge walk-in power shower. The bathroom was full of Penhaligon's Blenheim Bouquet toiletries, Milestone branded Egyptian cotton towels, two sets of robes (toweling and waffle) and slippers and everything else you could possibly want. There was room service both morning and evening, always left immaculately. 

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Food & Drink

The hotel has Cheneston’s Restaurant where breakfast, lunch and dinner are served and also has The Oratory (the original chapel) for private venues which also forms part of the breakfast room. There was a continental buffet set up in the reception area between the restaurant, private dining space and the Park Lounge at the front of the hotel where daily afternoon tea is served. 

Breakfast was excellent, as well at the continental buffet (cereals, yoghurts, fruits, cheese, meats, bread and pastries) there was a full choice of English breakfast, vegetarian cooked breakfasts or lots of other choices too of eggs. First morning we both had smashed avocado on brown toast with poached eggs. 

The hotel also has a uniquely style bar (Stables) and the Popeye-themed black and white Conservatory. This opens late for residents and a great place to relax with a drink after dinner. We went out for dinner with friends at a local restaurant on the Saturday night then came back with them for cocktails in the conservatory bar.

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Facilities & Service

Service throughout the hotel was exceptional (there are two members of staff to each guest) - friendly, efficient but not overly formal. We had a great welcome on arrival at reception, the desk agent being friendly and engaging, this flowed through in every aspect and especially good interaction with the Front Desk Manager who oversaw the change of room. In the basement there is a small but perfectly serviceable resistance swimming pool, full gym (and personal training available too, with pre-booking) with lots of equipment and a sauna. As with everything in the hotel, this area is beautifully appointed and very well maintained. There is also an in-house beauty therapist for treatments where you are given her direct contact details to make bookings for efficiency. I contacted Fiona to make an appointment for a massage but unfortunately she wasn’t able to work the weekend we were there. You can borrow bikes from the hotel, or the option to borrow a helmet and use the London Council ‘Santander’ Cycle scheme from points nearby - this gives you the option to drop off bikes at various points across the city rather than being tied to the same bike all day.

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ThePrivateTraveller’s top tips (any areas for improvement?):

• Hard to adjust ceiling height, or outlook of some of the rooms, I think learning is just to be selective on room choice.

ThePrivateTraveller’s absolute highlights:

• The whole experience basically, after the change of room. Breakfast was an experience as was after dinner drinks at the end of the evening too with friends.

• Fabulous location so near Kensington Palace and the High Street for shopping, and great to be right across from the Park, or within a short walk to the Royal Albert Hall.

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Useful website links:

• Hotels:

  • Leading Hotels of the World

  • The Milestone Hotel https://milestonehotel.com

  • L’Oscar Hotel London https://www.loscarlondon.com/

  • Langham London https://www.langhamhotels.com/en/the-langham/london/

  • Hotel Café Royal https://www.hotelcaferoyal.com/

  • The Landmark https://www.landmarklondon.co.uk/

• Visit London | Official Visitor Guide https://www.visitlondon.com/

• Tube (London Underground) | Transport for London https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/tube/

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