Introduction: Both the leisure traveller and business
traveller will find the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum well located. The hotel is
actually on the busy A4 dual carriageway which is the main commuter route into
and out of London, and connects directly with the M4 motorway and Heathrow
Airport. Situated in an area that makes the start of central London. To the West
is Earls Court Exhibition centre (0.6 miles) and an area popular with budget and
tourist class hotels. West London's other major exhibition centre at Olympia is
just 1 mile from here to the North West. To the East are upmarket areas such as
Kensington, Knightsbridge, Chelsea and Belgravia. Half a mile to the North is
the wide open park areas of
Kensington
gardens and Hyde Park. You could easily spend a whole day in these parks
which are full of things to do and see, such as the Princess Diana memorial
fountain and boating on the Lake Serpentine on good weather days. Excellent
upmarket shopping is to be found along
Kensington High Street (0.5 miles) and the
Kings Road
Chelsea (0.8 miles) with the world famous
Harrods department
store 1 mile away in Knightsbridge. Other nearby attractions include the
Natural
History Museum (0.4 miles),
Science Museum
(0.5 miles), Royal Albert Hall (0.6 miles),
Linley
Sambourne House (0.6 miles),
Kensington
Palace (0.6 miles),
Albert memorial
(0.7 miles) and
Leighton
house museum (0.9 miles).
Buckingham
Palace, official residence of the British monarchy, is less than 2 miles
from this location.
Hotel:
The Holiday Inn Kensington Forum is a large, modern 4 star hotel in a prime
location and is the largest Holiday Inn branded hotel in the world.. The hotel
has 906 rooms on 27 floors, 73 of which are executive, and many with incredible
views over London. The hotel can claim to have one of the largest lobby's of any
hotel in London as well as being the largest Holiday Inn in the world. The hotel
lifts are guest-key operated giving an added level of internal security. The top
(27th) floor has an alcove giving some fantastic views over London.
Each of the bedrooms have a private bathroom, Individually Controlled Air
Conditioning, Remote control cable TV with pay movies, Direct dial telephone
with Voicemail, Dataport, Mini fridge, Tea and coffee making facilities, opening
double glazed windows, iron and ironing board, Separate Hanging Closet, Trouser
Press, Work Desk with Lamp, WorldLink - Power and Phone/Internet Connector and
hairdryer. Bedrooms have a pillow menu. Each room has high speed internet
access. You can also link to the High speed internet access via the business
centre or the WIFI in the lobby area (charges apply).
Room configurations include doubles, twins, executive rooms and king sized
beds. There are 8 accessible bedrooms, one of which has a Ceiling Track Hoist.
Room service is provided 24 hours daily which includes a children's menu.
Dining:
There are three restaurant / bars.
The
Consortia, contemporary and modern in style with a fresh feel and
look is located in the Lobby area on the ground floor with views of the hotel
garden.In the upper area of the restaurant an international menu and modern
European cuisine is served, just the place for a three-course dinner. Breakfast
weekdays 07.00 till 10.30. Weekends Closed for Breakfast. Lunch and Dinner 11.00
till 22:30.
Consortia Bar is open 07.00 till 22.30 (Weekends 08.00 till 22.30).
In the lounge and the lower section of the restaurant, a smaller menu is served,
including sandwiches and English tea. Breakfast weekdays 7 till 10:30. Weekends
08.00 till 22:30.
The
Cromwell Tavern Bar and Restaurant on the ground floor is a popular
meeting place and serves a wide range of real ales, draught beers, wines and
cocktails in a Victorian pub atmosphere. with Live sports events on screen and a
decor of wood panelling. The restaurant is open for dinner only between 18.00
and 21.00.
Bar is open 16.00 till 23.00 (noon till 22.30 Sunday) for non-residents or 02.00
for residents.
The
Forum Room with its 250 seat capacity is located on the first floor
and serves breakfast. A choice of Continental or full English is offered. Open
weekdays 06.00 till 10.30, weekends and Bank Holidays 06.00 till 11.00.
More:
Onsite the Holiday Inn Kensington hotel has has its own high tech 24hr gym which
is free to guests. Here facilities include self driven cycle machines,
Stairclimbers, treadmills, rower and resistance machines.
The hotel offers ten purpose-built conference and banqueting rooms, with 60 to
300 square metres of air-conditioned, flexible meeting space. All rooms feature
air-conditioning, high speed internet access and natural daylight with the
largest room accommodating up to 300 guests reception style. Supplied facilities
include Flip Chart and Markers, LCD Projector, Lectern, Modem, lines, Overhead
Projector and VCR. There is an unlimited supply of starbucks coffee.
WIFI internet connectivity is available in the hotel lobby area and there is
also a dedicated business centre with computers and internet access as well as
fax and printing services.
Holiday Inn Kensington Forum
Hotel services include a Cash Machine onsite, a Concierge available, Dry
Cleaning Pickup and Laundry, Florist, Currency Exchange, Gift Shop, vending
machines and shoe shine. The front reception desk provides safety deposit box
facilities.
All public areas of the hotel are fully air-conditioned and have WiFi access.
Please note: There are were hotels containing the name
Holiday Inn Kensington and both on the Cromwell Road prior to April 2009. If
you are looking for a different hotel you thought was called the Holiday Inn
Kensington then the hotel you want is the:
Crowne Plaza
Kensington
Parking: 76 spaces onsite. charges apply.
Room Numbers: 906 / 27 floors
Check-in: 14.00 (2 pm)
Check-out: 12.00 noon
Comment:
Originally called the London Penta Hotel and first opened in 1973.
The Holiday Inn Kensington Forum has was completely refurbished in 2003 at a
cost of £26 million pound.
Comment: In January 2010 the Holiday Inn Kensington piloted a human bed warming
service. Reported by the media at the time as being one of the strangest jobs in
the hotel industry.
In January 2007 the hotel was among the first businesses in London to take
ownership of office recycling boxes (designed to be used inside rather than
outside) to help lead the way in recycling and waste management.
