Our review of The East London Hotel (now Yotel). Stylish, practical, well-designed and great value for digital nomads and travellers.
I’ve stayed at The East London Hotel three times before and what I love about this hotel is the thought that’s gone into the little details. If you visit their website you’ll know that this didn’t happen by accident – “They say that truly good design is invisible and that’s what we strive for at The East London Hotel.”.
The East London Hotel is a perfect place to stay for anyone passing through London for 2 or 3 days. The basic rooms are fairly small but very comfortable due to their design. It’s modern too, for example; the check in can be done online after which you’ll receive an email with your room number.
The first time I visited I was offered a welcome drink as I came straight through the doors. No messing about with passports, credit cards and the like… just a nice cold drink, type in your room number on one of the tablets at the entrance, active your rooms keycard and away you go. It’s how most hotels should do check in. No needless waiting for reception stay, no fuss, just simplicity and ease. In fact, once in the room with the TV on you’ll find out that the reception is actually run over WhatsApp messenger. You can ask them questions over the app and get pretty instant replies, another example of implementing something new, not for the sake of it but because it works. There are also staff at the hotel if you do want to speak to someone in person.
Hotel Features
I’ve stayed in hundreds of hotels over the years and I tend to measure the quality of the hotel based on a couple of main features, how comfortable the bed is and how good the shower is. The East London Hotel ticks both of these boxes and more.
In the room there’s a number of thoughtful features including designated space under the bed for luggage, a decent sized TV, reading lights, USB ports, coffee machine, a desk, a shower (with both the awesome monsoon shower and standard shower head options), great shower gel provided by Rituals bath products, large fluffy towels, an anti-steam mirror, switches near the door to indicate “do not disturb” and also hangers for coats. Some of the cheaper rooms are windowless but also perfect if you what a total black out room. The beds are super comfy with mattresses that are custom made for the hotel with Silk and Lambswool by and have 1000 hand nested pocket springs.
Monsoon shower… tick.
Super comfy custom made bed… tick.
It’s fairly easy to see why we really love The East London Hotel.
Fast, easy and free WiFi
Whilst I was staying in Bethnal Green I spoke to a friend who’s opening a bar around the corner. He mentioned that his new bar would have free and as open as possible WiFi, we agreed that today that’s what people want. WiFi that’s super quick and easy to access.
Far too often you’ll find yourself in a hotel where the WiFi drops out, isn’t quick enough or just asks for far too many details before you can log in. Imagine if you arrived in your room and your device was already connected? Well The East London Hotel gets fairly close to this, it asks for your name and email before giving access but is pretty easy and simple. Once connected it stays connected and is rapid too. Even if you’ve got a room on the lower floors the WiFi stays connected, prefect if you’ve got work to do.
Cafe, Bar and Location
The room operates as a great base and the cafe serves as a useful co-working type place along with a decent bar serving local craft beers on draft until 11pm and bottles after that, they also have a good range of cocktails. The food is served all day and along with the drinks are all sourced from local suppliers in East London.
The location in Bethnal Green is a great place to explore east London and also has a range of bars, cafes and restaurants just round the corner. One of my favourite craft beer bars in London, Mother Kelly’s is situated just behind the hotel under the railway arches. In fact, The East London Hotel couldn’t be in a better location for a craft beer pub crawl of East London.
If you’re the trendy type the hotel is also only about a 20 to 30 minute walk from Brick Lane and Shoreditch and the V&A Museum of Childhood is just across the road if you fancy taking a trip down memory lane to your childhood.
For access to central London the hotel is a 1 minute walk from Bethnal Green Tube station which will take you into central London on the central line in 13 minutes.
The Staff
You’ll find staff working behind the bar, in the cafe and also appearing around the check in/out tablets to help when you’re checking out. We found them to be super helpful, friendly and cheerful. Exactly what you’re looking for when staying in a hotel.
Easy Check In/Check Out
Like checking in the check out is equally a breeze. You’ll receive an email on the morning of check out asking if you want to check out or extend you stay a little bit longer. Clicking check out does just that, then all that’s left to do is the drop your card key in the box near the entrance. No queuing, no waiting, more hotels should be like this.
I’ve also emailed the hotel with queries before and found them to be extremely responsive.
What we loved about The East London Hotel
- Pre-check in emails and simple, quick check-in
- Good bar with local craft beer on tap
- Large cafe to work in with power sockets
- Check out email – simple, quick check-out and ability to extend check out with website
- Option of windowless rooms for total black out sleep
- Do not disturb switches in the room
- Awesome monsoon shower
- Lovely Rituals bath shower gel
- Super large fluffy towels
- USB wall sockets
- Large 43” Smart TV
- Nespresso coffee machine
- Comfy custom made mattresses
- Air conditioning
- Super fast Wifi
- Very good location
Overview
It’s a simple, modern hotel, well priced and perfect for digital nomads passing through London. Don’t expect huge rooms if you’re going for the basic but the price is extremely good value for money in London and for its location. I expect The East London Hotel to become increasing popular due to its comfort, simplicity and value, I just hope the prices don’t increase as a result!
Prices
You’ll find room prices at The East London Hotel cheaper during the week. One thing I did notice however is that a room with two single beds actually seems to give you more room than a double despite being the cheaper option of the two. Even compared to Airbnb in London The East London Hotel is great value.
Booking.comBook The East London Hotel – via Booking.com
The Details
LOCATION: 309-317 Cambridge Heath Rd, London E2 9LH, UK (Google Maps)
CLOSEST AIRPORT: London City Airport, Stansted Airport (via Liverpool Street Station)
CLOSEST TUBE STATION: Bethnal Green Station (Central Line) – 1 minute walk away
PROPERTY TYPE: Hotel
PROPERTY SIZE: The hotel has 161 guest bedrooms
BAR & RESTAURANT OPENING TIMES
– BREAKFAST Mon-Fri 7am – 10am Sat-Sun 7am – 11am
– LIGHT BITES 12pm to late
– BEER, WINE AND SPIRITS 11am – late
– COCKTAILS 5pm – late
PRICING: Fri-Sat ~£70 – £170, Sun to Thurs ~£56+ (per night)
WEBSITE: https://www.theeastlondonhotel.com
PHONE: +44 (0) 203 146 1960
EMAIL: hello@theeastlondonhotel.com
Book The East London Hotel – via Booking.com
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Images in this article are credited to The East London Hotel with their permission
