In this series, I will review gyms in Hotels that I have stayed in around the UK. I am writing this series as it is very hard to know what a hotel means by a fitness room when booking. I have often arrived at a hotel with a gym to find a tiny room with a treadmill and 3 mismatched dumbbells. The ratings are based on what I’d expect from a hotel gym. I mainly do strength training in a gym. As I prefer to do aerobic work outside, this may slightly bias the ratings.
My Visit
I visited the Park International, Kensington, London during the snow storm of February 2018. I stayed for one night on 27th February 2018.
TLDR: small, hot, 👎.
Equipment – 5/10
Aerobic – 7/10
There were:
- 1 x Treadmill
- 1 x Cross Trainer
Strength – 5/10
There was:
- Alot of Dumbells
- 2kg to 36kg in 2kg increments
- 1 x Standard Bench
- 1 x Flat Bench
- Dual Cable Column Machine (like this)
- It was it poor condition
- The weight stacks were not matched, so very hard to use both cables together, like for chest fly etc.
Unfortunately, there were no barbells.
Utility – 2/10
There were:
- Multiple yoga mats
- Back Roller
Unfortunately, there was no access to water in the gym.
Environment – 2/10
The environment was terrible. The room was tiny, hot, with no windows. However, there were mirrors on many walls.
The gym is located in the basement of the hotel. The ceiling was very low, I guess about 220cm (I could not do a standing shoulder press, but I am 197cm tall).
There was an AC system with a control, but it didn’t seem to work, it was blew hot air most of the time.
There was a small, around 22″ TV on the wall playing Dave, which I turned off immediately.
Overall – 4/10
I doubt I will stay here again, there are a lot of comparable hotels in the area. A gym can be a clear differentiator to entice me back for a second booking, but the gym was overall very poor. Do not book here if you want to do a strength workout beyond a bench and some dumbbells.
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