I love this hotel. Situated just over 20 minutes from central London, really close the tube station – there’s no other way to say it except that this is a REALLY fabulous conference hotel. Perfect for many types of meetings and events. From a large 300+ conference, right through to a small senior board meeting. This hotel has got the lot and best of all, you can really see where the £21m spent on the refurb and expansion has gone. Quite simply a quality hotel with an excellent layout – purpose built for every type of event you might need. Site visit recommended as I know you’ll love it too!
The Clayton Hotel Chiswick is a newly refurbished conference hotel, situated just 20 mins outside of central London. Offering modern meeting rooms including a fabulous and flexible ballroom that can accommodate up to 330 guests. This property was truly a pleasure to review!
Address: Clayton Hotel Chiswick, 626 Chiswick High Road, London W4 5RY
Website: www.claytonhotelchiswick.com
Conference Sales Contact: Deborah Barnes (Director of Sales & Marketing)
Tel: +44 (0)20 8996 5200
Email: [email protected]
Distance & time from nearest airport: 8 Miles (20 minutes by car) from Heathrow Airport
Distance & time from nearest station: 2 minute walk from Gunnersbury tube station, which is on the District line and goes directly into central London in just over 20 minutes
Official star rating: 4 star
First impression: Very good first impression when you walk up to the hotel. Although it is situated on quite a busy road, the hotel is slightly set back with its own lay-by outside the front of the hotel. It has an impressive, centrally located main entrance, with everything on the outside of the hotel looking extremely well maintained. It is worth pointing out that the hotel had a fabulous re-furb and extension, which was completed in October 2016 at a cost of £21m and the results are stunning – more of which, later!
Parking: Parking is available at the hotel, which has its own private car park with places available for approximately 100 cars. Cost per day is £16.00 which is very reasonable for the London area.
Coach / Bus Pick-up Location at hotel: This is excellent. At the side of the hotel is another entrance which is used for coach pick-ups and drop-offs. It has its own private lay-by and would be extremely useful (and safe) for when you are taking your group out for an off-site dinner or excursion.
Lobby: The hotel lobby is very nice with lots of space. Immediately to your right is the hotel restaurant and to the left is the bar and the main reception desk, beyond which is a very spacious lobby lounge. The perfect place to do a bit of work, meet a colleague or simply have some down time. I really loved this area as there were lots of private areas to relax in.
Reception: The reception desk was situated just to the left of the entrance and was easy to find. It was large enough to handle multiple check-ins and even had a separate check-in desk for groups to use. The receptionist who served me was very polite, efficient and extremely helpful during my visit. Perfect!
Bedrooms: 227 bedrooms in total. 135 in the original building and 92 in the extension
The bedrooms are situated in two distinct areas – the original part of the hotel and the new extension. Both sections were really good, and had that brand new feel to them – even the original bedrooms due to the recent refurbishment. The bedrooms all had large plasma TVs throughout and the décor was clean and modern with fab bathrooms.
There are numerous levels of bedrooms including: Deluxe Rooms, Executive Rooms, Executive Family Rooms and King Executive Rooms.
Number of floors: There are 7 floors in total
Wi-fi: The wi-fi is completely free throughout the hotel, including in the meeting spaces and worked really well during my visit.
Fitness gym: There was an excellent 24 hour gym (accessed by hotel room key) with excellent cardio and resistance equipment.
Swimming Pools: n/a
Spa: n/a
RESTAURANTS & BARS: The restaurant is called ‘Grill’ and is located on the ground floor, with lots of natural daylight and seats 80 diners. It had a really nice contemporary feel about it with lots of seating options: booth, long tables etc. Breakfast is also taken her as well.
The Globe Bar is located on the ground floor next to reception and it was very bright with lots of natural light. During my visit it seemed to be a popular place for local business people to meet, as well as being used by hotel guests. It had a really nice atmosphere.
There are 8 meeting rooms (or 9 if you count the Chiswick Ballroom which splits into two) and there are lots of different options available to meeting organisers. Very flexible space – great for meetings that require lots of breakout rooms. All of the rooms were brand new and located on a specific meeting room floor directly below the lobby (apart from the boardroom which is on the ground floor). On this lower ground floor there was a spacious conference lobby area – prefect for coffee breaks, fork buffets or drinks receptions. A really useful space with lots of natural daylight.
The Boardroom
Located on the ground floor, the boardroom was excellent. Brand new fittings and plenty of room to serve tea and coffee inside the room. Perfect for use as a standalone boardroom or as a breakout room from a larger conference.
Natural light: Yes
Size: 37 Sq.M:
Boardroom: 16 pax
Location: Ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Burlington Suite
Located on the lower ground floor, this fixed boardroom was excellent. Brand new fittings and plenty of room to serve tea and coffee inside the room. Perfect for use as a standalone boardroom or as a breakout room from a larger conference.
Natural light: Yes
Size: 32 Sq.M
Boardroom: 15 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Griffin Suite & Bedford Suite
These two meeting rooms are identical – both located on the lower ground floor, and perfect for breakout rooms. Brand new fittings and plenty of room to serve tea and coffee outside the room in the wide hallway.
Natural light: Yes
Size: 30 Sq.M
Boardroom: 15 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Devonshire Suite
This larger room has lots of natural daylight and would be excellent for board meetings, press launches and small theatre style meetings. This room is also situated along the long, wide hallway where coffee breaks and lunches could be served comfortably
Natural light: Yes
Size: 53 Sq.M
Theatre: 30 pax
Classroom: 15 pax
Cabaret: 24 pax
U-shape: 16 pax
Boardroom: 20 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Gunnersbury Suite
Another slightly larger room than the boardroom, again this has lots of natural daylight and would be excellent for board meetings, press launches and small theatre style meetings. This room is situated next to the Devonshire Suite and would work as a breakout room and also located on the hallway where coffee breaks and lunches could be served comfortably. Just for info, there are two doors to enter to enter this room.
Natural light: Yes
Size: 58 Sq.M
Theatre: 30 pax
Cabaret: 24 pax
U-shape: 16 pax
Boardroom: 20 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Hogarth Suite
This meeting room is situated in the middle of hallway in between two of the smaller rooms. Again this room has lots of natural daylight and would be excellent for pharmaceutical advisory board meetings, small theatre style meetings, private dining and drinks receptions. This room felt nice and spacious and could be used in lots of different ways.
Natural light: Yes
Size: 75 Sq.M
Theatre: 70 pax
Classroom: 20 pax
Cabaret: 32 pax
U-shape: 26 pax
Boardroom: 30 pax
Banqueting: 40 pax
Reception: 40 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Plasma screen and complimentary wi-fi
Chiswick Ballroom
This ballroom was a fantastic space and could be used in numerous ways. It can also be split into two separate rooms as follows: 2/3 (South) and 1/3 (North). Lots of natural daylight despite being on the lower ground floor – the hotel have cleverly designed a courtyard that runs along the length most of the meeting rooms to make them lovely and bright. With lovely high ceilings, the ballroom would be perfect for large conferences, awards nights, gala dinners and much more. Also benefits from built in projectors and large screens. Loved this room!
Chiswick Ballroom (North & South combined)
Natural light: Yes
Size: 429 Sq.M
Theatre: 330 pax
Classroom: 200 pax
Cabaret: 200 pax
Banqueting: 330 pax
Reception: 330 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Built in projector & screen and complimentary wi-fi
Chiswick Ballroom (North)
Natural light: Yes
Size: 182 Sq.M
Theatre: 120 pax
Classroom: 70 pax
Cabaret: 77 pax
Banqueting: 110 pax
Reception: 110 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Built in projector & screen and complimentary wi-fi
Chiswick Ballroom (South)
Natural light: Yes
Size: 247 Sq.M
Theatre: 150 pax
Classroom: 90 pax
Cabaret: 105 pax
Banqueting: 170 pax
Reception: 170 pax
Location: Lower ground floor
AV Equipment included: Built in projector & screen and complimentary wi-fi
Loading / Unloading
For AV and set dressing companies, loading in was done through the side entrance of the hotel (off road) and would involve transporting equipment down to the conference floor via the hotel lifts. This seemed to be a fairly straightforward procedure.