Langham Hotel

Have just returned from 2 nights at the Langham Hotel (15th Feb 06)for myself and my daughter aged 14 on a mother/daughter bonding/shopping trip! We travelled down by train and caught a tube to Oxford Circus which was at most a 5 minute walk away from the hotel, probably 3 without luggage.

We were upgraded to a deluxe room on arrival which although probably no bigger than a standard room was spotlessly clean and very nicely decorated in warm colours. The beds were comfortable with 2 pillows but a couple of spare pillows in the wardrobe, as we've had in other hotels, would have been useful although I'm sure if we could have had some delivered immediately had we asked. The bathroom was of a standard size but again spotlessly clean with bathrobes/slippers and all the little extras, shampoo/conditioner/body lotion/cotton buds/cotton wool pads etc. Beware the power of the shower, managed to soak the bathroom trying to wash my hair over the side of the bath. The room had air con also but as it was February we didn't use it, the room was a comfortable temperature. The mini bar in the room as always was unbelievably expensive but again I didn't use it and probably normal prices for a 5* hotel.

We had continental breakfast included in our rate which we chose to have delivered to our room on the first day. We paid an extra £3 pp service charge but it came up on a trolley which opened up either side to make a large round table that fitted very nicely between the two twin beds. It was worth the £3 service charge pp as it meant we could nibble on breakfast whilst glamming ourselves up for the shops, a real timesaver. We made our choices the evening before from an extensive list i.e. many juices/cereals/croissants/pastries/toast etc as well as a good choice of teas, types of milk etc, and hung the list on the door (before 2am). As typical of us Brits I did wonder whether I should tip the waiter who delivered the breakfast, I chose not to as I'd paid the service charge and felt that if I was wrong I would get away with it being a woman!

The second morning we ate breakfast in Memories restaurant in the hotel which was very light and welcoming. The staff were always on hand with with coffee and juice and there was a good atmosphere, not too stuffy and I didn't feel uncomfortable with my teenage daughter. We could have eaten in the Palm Court restaurant but there would have been less choice of food apparantly so we chose not to.

W

J Gerrard, Barnsley/England
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