Novotel - London Wembley is one of the many hotels in the Wembley area, unlike most of the hotels…read morewhich are situated around the east end of the stadium, this hotel is towards the west side of the stadium, close to Wembley Arena and on Wembley Way.
I stayed here on a recent trip to Wembley as I watched Manchester City defeat Chelsea 2-0 to win the Community Shield, from the outside this probably looks like one of the better hotels in the area, alongside the Hilton Hotel (which tends to be the most popular and is often used by football teams and fans and sells out regularly), however inside it is less so.
Inside, the reception area and lobby was pretty basic, it seemed a little cheap even down to the uniforms the staff were wearing, I even struggled to understand if a staff member was just a football fan hiding behind the desk or an employee at first.
As I visited on a match-day the hotel had a presence of security outside who had to approve you going in and out, but this wasn't too troublesome.
My room was a decent size however the decor was odd, it contrasted plain and then one wall was blue randomly, the whole decor didn't go well together, it looked like they started painting my room and run out of paint so left it, leaving a freaky mess behind.
One of the biggest discomforts about the room was the air-conditioning, I had to turn it off as otherwise, it was far too noisy, luckily it was easy enough to turn off so it didn't cause problems which I've had at other hotels such as the nearby Holiday Inn London Wembley.
Another problem was the bed in the hotel, I found it to be far too soft to the point it offered my back no support, and the pillows also were uncomfortable and didn't match the bed, one of them seemed slightly dirty and discoloured as well as uncomfortable. Having phoned reception to sort something out, they couldn't help and could only offer me more pillows.
In terms of price, this hotel seemed like one of the cheaper hotels in the area apart from the IBIS, I paid £66.50 for one night, however, I did not get a twin room as I asked for, and the room was a tad too small for a sofa bed or anything else like that.
The lifts also appeared to be slightly troublesome, you had to put your key in before you press the floor number and there wasn't enough room to do it, I did have a problem where my key appeared to wipe, and after going to reception and slowly getting a replacement, it appeared to be "erased" again in seconds despite not being near my phone as the receptionist suggested, therefore another problem with this hotel is the keys.
The hotel also should do more to cancel noise, during the late evening it appeared to be really noisy outside even with the windows shut, and noise from the lobby also appeared to be a slight issue in the evening.
I also found the room service menu to be a little basis, even before considering my gluten-free dietary requirements which was a shame too, the television was basically a reduced Freeview service however the TV guide appeared to be a little laggy and some channels didn't seem to work at all including Sky One! The television was also limited to a volume of 23 which I found to be a tad quiet too.
I sadly feel the Novotel at Wembley sadly deserves the same rating as I gave the last Novotel I stayed in, which was around two years ago now in Paris. Due to the main issues with noise, decor and lack of comfort which resulted in me struggling to get a good nights sleep, the only good thing I can find out about the hotel is the location (which even then could be better signposted as I found the hotel hard to find because it was situated away from the others).