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For a short stay in London, I booked a wheelchair accessible room at the Hampton by Hilton London Docklands because it is centrally located and offers private parking. Based on my previous experience on a road trip in England, I now know that finding parking spaces can be quite challenging. Surprisingly, finding a wheelchair accessible hotel in London was easy, which felt unusual, as it typically takes much time. To be honest, since it was this easy, I wasn’t sure what to expect regarding accessibility. Curious about my experience? Here is my review of the accessible room in this hotel.
“Somewhere on your journey don’t forget to turn around and enjoy the view.” – Unknown
On every 7 floors, you will find a wheelchair-accessible room, either a Queen or Twin. For those who don’t know the difference, no worries—I had to Google it too. A Twin room usually comes with two (like twins) single beds, while a Queen room has one bigger bed, resembling the size of a Queen bed.
We stayed in the ‘Accessible Twin Room‘ on the first floor, room number 110. Inside the room, you will first be blown away by the space and then a little disappointed by the carpet flooring. In my opinion, having carpet flooring in a wheelchair-accessible room is a total no-go. Unfortunately, I’ve seen more rooms with it than without. If you’re using a manual wheelchair or hoist on a carpet floor, it could feel like cardio as your wheels can’t roll smoothly.
However, the space underneath the bed is great for a hoist, such as the Molift Smart 150. There’s enough space in the room for a wheelchair, portable hoist, some baggage, and even a caregiver. But if you want a private room and need a caregiver, the wheelchair accessible rooms have connected rooms. The desk in the corner takes up minimal space but is very convenient for, say, having some takeaway dinner.
Now, let’s move on to the bathroom. The threshold between the room and the bathroom is minimal, as you can see in the header photo. Just like the room, there’s plenty of space in the bathroom too. The sink was placed at an inconvenient height for me, but my wheelchair is quite high. My knees never fit underneath a standard table in a restaurant, for example. There’s a foldable shower chair with some grab bars, and the shower controls are at an accessible height. And last but not least, about the toilet, it is only accessible for front transfers or from the right side. For me, that’s totally fine, as I do all my transfers with a hoist.
For us Europeans, the current exchange rate from pounds to euros is rather inconvenient. We paid around £122 per night in the low season, which is about €142, but the price includes breakfast. Considering the central yet quiet location near the London center, I believe the pricing is fair enough. As mentioned before, the hotel has private parking for about £15 (€17.50) per day. Blue badge holders pay the regular price as well.
I’ve been contemplating the rating for this hotel, and I’ll give it a 3.5 out of 5-star rating. We chose the hotel for its location, which was just perfect for our weekend plans. There’s nothing to complain about regarding the space in the room and bathroom, especially for a city hotel room. However, the carpet flooring makes transfers with the hoist quite challenging. To be honest, I might book this hotel again in the future if I visit London again.
