The Grosvenor Hotel Victoria, London

Buses and taxis were literally a step outside the hotel entrance. A busy part of London as it is right next to Victoria station, a central London railway terminus.

In my new ebook, I talk about being opportunistic when it comes to travel and tagging along with someone going on a business trip is one example of such. On this particular occasion, my husband was scheduled for a business trip to London and was going to spend a week there. For a while it seemed like it was going to be impossible for me to join him but God works in mysterious ways. To cut a long story short, I managed to book my trip juts a few weeks before he was scheduled to leave. I remember having some drama with my visa application, which was a first in all of the visa applications I had ever done, but when God says ‘Yes’ nobody can say ‘No’, right! In no time, everything was sorted and just like him, I was counting down to our second visit to London.

Still fresh and eager on our second day in London!

The wonderful thing about business trips is, companies understand that they are taking you away from your family for a while and so they generally do what they can to compensate you for the ‘sacrifice’. Such compensation may include them booking you into hotels that you may otherwise not book in your personal capacity and this trip was one such occurrence. My husband was booked into the Grosvenor Hotel Victoria, which is a short walk from Buckingham Palace. That alone tells you the area is fairly exclusive and sought after. The opportunistic me got to experience this hotel by simply tagging along on my husband’s trip. We just had to pay for my flights and the small amount towards the hotel for having an additional guest. Luckily he was scheduled to arrive on Friday and so it gave us some time to explore the city together over the weekend. Looking back, it seems like we did a lot within a very short space of time.

The wonderful thing is, unlike the experience on our first visit, we were under no time pressure and so it gave us the opportunity to take things in. For example, when we went to London the first time, we didn’t get a chance to visit Buckingham Palace, which was on our to-do list. We also couldn’t go to Harrods but we made it to both on our second visit. Infact, due its proximity to our hotel, I must have stopped by Buckingham Palace every single morning on the days that he went to work. The changing of guards just doesn’t get old. I’ve seen it a few times now but I’m pretty sure I will still want to see it in the future. It’s just a beautiful display of a very rich culture and history.

Now, about the hotel. We arrived on Friday morning and were obviously ready to check into our room so we could freshen up but unfortunately our room was not ready for check in. The great thing is they have an amazing holding area/lounge for guests who aren’t able to check in or aren’t quite ready to leave the hotel either. They lounge offers great services. They serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have pretty decent bathrooms with showers and changing rooms. The reception desk pointed us in the direction of the lounge and when we got there and realised the services they offered, we didn’t feel the inconvenience of not being able to check into our room so much. So, we both showered, changed into fresh clothes, had something to eat, left our luggage with concierge and then hit the road to start our Day 1 exploits. Suddenly, it didn’t even matter that our room was not ready for check in.

The enormous hotel lobby linking the main entrance, the entrance to all of the hotel's restaurants and bars as well as the exit to the train station.

After exploring the city for a while, we went back to the hotel in the afternoon, got our luggage back from concierge and checked into our room. We opened the door to our beautiful and generous suite with a lovely view of the city. We were on a busy part of this city (even though I don’t know if there’s a quiet part of London) because it is situated right above Victoria train station. That alone also talks to the convenience of the hotel. It’s quite perfectly located, with access points to many places of interest including (as I mentioned earlier) Buckingham Palace and Harrods. The train station is an interchange of trains that go on different directions around the city and beyond. There were lots of bars, shops, restaurants and various amenities, which were within walking distance. My husband’s office for the week was literally just around the corner from our hotel, so he could walk there every morning. Some say The Grosvenor Hotel is the hotel with the best location in all of London and I can totally see why!


I also noticed that unlike here at home, staff in most European hotels are usually from all over the world. You’ll be met by greetings in different accents in every corner of the hotel, from the reception staff to the cleaning staff and catering. London truly is a melting pot of many cultures and this hotel is just another reminder of that. One thing they all have is common is their professionalism. They may not necessarily be the friendliest people you’ll meet but they’ll surely attend to your requests with great efficiency.

On our first visit to London I recall not liking the food there much. I found it to be bland and uninspired but things were a little different this time around. Infact, things were very different. The hotel itself had a blend of cuisines from all over the world for every meal, which was great because the choices available meant that everyone could find something to suit their palate. Our breakfasts were delectable and we had enough variety to keep every first meal of every single day of the week interesting. The hotel also embraces the high tea culture of the British people by serving tea and all sorts of cakes at 12pm every single day. From my assessment, the people who came for high tea were not necessarily guests of the hotel but could have been day guests who came there specifically for the high tea. I never joined in on these because I was always on some expedition that involved me catching trains or taxis to interesting locations, including a train to Oxford with my sister, who happened to be in London at the same time as us.

Tea and cake, anyone?

The hotel has a couple of restaurants and bars inside and each one of them has a unique character and ambiance. So you could easily spend your entire day at the hotel but feel like you had different experiences because of the offerings they have. The bar opens until midnight and I suppose you could have your sundowners there and then go out in the city for the remainder of the night.

I can’t say this hotel is cheap or affordable but I cannot say it’s expensive either because it all depends on your personal limits. The rates at the time we were there (June, 2017) would have set you back roughly R5k per night (p/p sharing). By London standards, I'd say it's expected given what you get for this amount. With its unique touch of luxury and all the other factors that you will benefit from by virtue of its ideal location, there's no price tag you can attach to such comfort and convenience. If not to stay at this hotel then pop in for that afternoon tea and cake or grab a sundowner at 1 of the bars inside.