Spending £200 Million on New Soho House Hotel, NED, London, Was It Worth It?

The NED hotel in London is the newest addition to the Soho House franchise. It is one of the new hotels in London 2017 among the Curtain, and Nobu hotel. Also, among all the new hotels in London that opened in 2017, the Ned hotel is probably the biggest hotel in London. When you walk into the building you will be surprised how grandiose the lobby is. The lobby is filled with 9 different restaurants and there are 252 rooms and endless list of amenities that makes you feel like you don’t have to leave the hotel at all. A reported cost of 200 million pounds and an impressive lobby and amenities, is it really worth it to stay at the NED?

Staying at the NED Soho House London: For Travllers? YES.  For Locals? NO, NO, NO

I will start by saying, for tourists and travelers it is worth staying at the Ned London. For locals, not really. There are few pros and cons of the hotel and I will slowly explain it all. I know The Ned is a new hotel in London and still would need to work on things, so I will not be as harsh 🙂

Before you read more you can check out our One Minute video of all the experience at the Ned Hotel below.

After Spending 200Million Pounds in Renovation, The Rooms (Even the Cozy Ones) Are Comfortable, Quite and Spacious

After all, when you choose a hotel, we want a room that will give you comfort. Yes, the amenities are the plus, but what we really need is the comfortable bed and a decent shower. The NED has done it well. Basically, it is the TownHouse on steroid. The bed is comfortable, and the streets are surprisingly quite. The bathroom is really spacious and the toiletries you can get are endless.

If you are a busy traveler not planning to over-use the amenities, I think location wise and the room wise, it is almost perfect! Actual matter of fact, it is better than most of the hotels I have stayed in London. 

The Restaurants at the NED Is Quite Good With Many Choices and Good Quality

The restaurants are actually good. I read some articles, that the restaurant is not the best. But I had the total opposite experience.

Too Many Rules, and Too Many “You Cannot Do This and That” While You Are Staying at the NED Soho House London

If you are staying as a guest, you are only allowed to bring one guest plus yourself  (So only two person can use the facility). One of our friend who live nearby wanted to check the NED Soho house London while we were staying. So we happily invited him and went to the rooftop. But it was a mistake when we couldn’t go in with my friend. So the conversation went like this:

• Maître D’ : Hi, are you a member or staying with us?
• Me: We are staying with the NED
• Maître D’ : You are only allowed to bring one guest. 
• Me: Jim is my guest, and Mark is staying with me at the NED hotel
• Maître D’ : I DON’T THINK SO.

After she said I DON’T THINK SO, everything seemed to go South like Daenerys Targaryen and John Snow when they first met (and it wasn’t a romantic meet up). I do traveling for living and have stayed at many hotels, but I never experienced someone accuse me of lying.

As a ratchet lady with no style and class, my voice was escalating, but I realized there is no point of arguing especially when I had to stay for a week. So we just left.

When we tried to use the Haman, they told us we couldn’t use it. When we tried to take some pictures, they said we can’t.  

So here are some alternate hotels for your staycations with less restriction and “no-you-can’t”: 

• Stay at the hotel behind the One hotel, the Curtain: It has the amenities like The NED Soho House and a good location with less restrictions 

The Amenity Lists are Endless, but Do We Really Need All of it?

The Ned Soho House hotel has so many amenities, you will not be able to use all of it if you stay short. There are 9 restaurants in the lobby, 3 different bars on the rooftop, one indoor and one outdoor pool, steam room, haman room, club lounge, salon, vault bar, spa, a gym and more. I was just “wowed” by it, especially being in the center of London. You will not be able to have that many amenities in one hotel in London!

But do we really need all of it? Do we really need an outdoor pool where it doesn’t turn into one of those New York pool party? Do we, travelers, really need an only members access bar and rooftop where it’s always empty and slow? Do we really need 3 rooftop bars (where only one bar is busy and the other two are totally dead)? 

 

Yes, it is a plus when you have a pool in the city, but for London where it rains often and the temperature barely goes up to 30 degrees, outdoor pool is more of a pain than enjoyment (It is like having a cupcake in front of you when you are on a diet). It is no fun to go to the rooftop bar when it’s always dead cause of don’t bring your friend policy.

So here are some alternate hotels for your staycations where you can get the bang for the buck: 

• Are you looking for a outdoor pool? you can go to The Curtain in Shoreditch.
• If you want the best rooftop bar, you can go to Mondrian hotel.
• If you want great food, you can go to the Nobu hotel.  

 

Stuck Up Staffs Will Look Down on You If You Don’t Dress Nicely (YES, IT IS TRUE)

I usually like to go down to the lobby with my comfy clothe and not like I’m going to a bar. At the Baccarat hotel, I was roaming around the hotel with my James Perse sweat pants and had no problem (and all the other French people did as well). It actually is liberating and comfortable.

So, as per usual, I went down for lunch to the NED Deli around 2:00PM and the staff looked at me with disgust and asked “Do you Need Anything?” I was embarrassed, but I am a proud man, so I said, “No, I was going to sit down for lunch.”

Generally, the NED Soho House London feels like that if you are not a member. There is another Soho house in “SOHO” London. It is the Townhouse and whenever I stay at the Townhouse, I have the best experience. It is also part of Soho House and it is in Soho where you can have great night life and day life. Even though the rooms are a bit old, the staffs are super friendly and welcoming. You can also read my experience here! 

 

So, is it the best new hotel in London 2017? I don’t think so. Overall, the NED Soho house is a blockbuster that turned out to be flop like Tomorrowland. It is still impressive and will give you the “WOW” and “OMG.” But I believe there needs a lot more room for improvement. And I do understand for a newly opened hotel. I hope when I visit next year, it will be a different experience.