Coming up today, the Citizen M Tower of London. For a reasonable price,
you get a great location, stylish common areas a teeny tiny room and
incredible views from the Shard to the Tower Bridge. The full tour begins in 15 seconds.
Hi there, if you’re new here, my name is Kevin and today we are going to be taking
a look at why I think such a tiny room might just be okay. To check out the price I paid,
my booking details and my next five videos to come out- check the description below.
Citizen M is a chain of hotels that first appeared in Amsterdam in 2008.
Walking into the lobby we have a small coffee bar directly next to the entrance. Behind,
we find a collection of living room styled spaces which provide for all sorts of seating
arrangements and lead you to the automated check in area in the middle of the hotel’s ground floor.
While there were always humans to assist or chat, checkin was a minutes long process
that assigned you a room and allowed you to add on extras like a late checkout
before prompting you to program your own room key- which doubles as s luggage tag.
Citizen M’s philosophy, “affordable luxury for the people”- whether or not they’re luxurious
I guess is subjective- but no matter in New York, Paris or here in London,
the prime locations are generally key to their success. Let’s take a quick closer look.
Located in the City of London in the east of Greater London,
The Citizen M Tower of London is a great location for first time visitors with
seamless access to the Tower Hill underground station which was literally under the hotel.
Directly across the street from the Tower of London, the hotel features some fantastic views
from their Tower View rooms which include the Shard and the Tower Bridge as well.
Back inside in the rear of the ground floor is a bar open throughout the day which also
serves a reasonable grab and go breakfast if you’re interested in a bite before you
head out. For myself, I favored a visit to Pret which was a five minute walk away.
Just adjacent were indoor and outdoor dining areas which for the most part were used as informal
meeting or office spaces for guests who may not have wanted to be cooped up in their room all day.
By the way, if you’re enjoying this video so far, please give it a like and subscribe. It’s
free for you and great for the channel! Up to the 7th floor was the hotel’s best feature-
the rooftop bar and wrap around terrace. There were two walk up bars as well as table service.
On this lower level there was always a buzz about, but it never felt overly crowded.
Head upstairs though and it was practically a different world.
More meeting spaces and study nooks, with table service as well if you needed it.
Similar to my stay at Arlo Hotels in New York last year, whatever space you might be lacking in your
room- there will always be a variety of common areas to keep you happy throughout your stay.
You know I’m a sucker for a good sunset view though- so my chosen nook was on the outdoor
terrace enjoying the evening as a bit of golden light fell over the Tower of London.
Let’s head down to my room which was on the 4th floor. I paid a bit extra
for my Tower view room. There were also non-Tower View rooms as well
as interior view rooms which looked into this courtyard.
While I don’t mind a tiny room now and again, I certainly wouldn’t want one with an interior view.
While this was my first stay at a Citizen M, the one thing I will say that could
likely bring me to another in the future is the consistency of the product. I mean,
the rooms are near identical at all of their properties. It’s that consistency though which
leads to many clever efficiencies in the room- giving it a small but very functional layout.
Walking into the room we pass through the bathroom
area with a wet room on the left and the vanity cum mini bar on the right.
Just beyond it is a small lounge chair, a king sized bed and those great views.
The bed has a wall mounted TV just across from it a small side table and a working desk and stool.
The desk has a comprehensive iPad remote control which can do everything from
make your bathroom purple to open and close the integrated blinds.
The vanity area is well laid out given the space and if you are someone who is even remotely
considering staying in a room this small, then more than likely the counter space is enough.
The wet room was spotlessly clean with a surprisingly spacious feel.
Behind the wet room near the entrance is a very small wardrobe space which also had a lock box
and full length mirror. The storage area was supplemented by a really deep under bed drawer
which could easily fit most sized bags if they’re able to be split open like you see mine is.
We are left with one last look at the view before we head to the Flip Flop Score. And it’s a new
scoring system starting today. I wanted to be able to use consistent categories across all types of
hotels and resorts and more importantly across a variety of types of flights. Hard to judge
Easyjet and Qsuites using the same categories. If you do or don’t prefer the new scoring format,
let me know in the comments below and feel free to pause to take a closer look at the scores.
I want to thank you for joining me here in London day and look forward to seeing you next time on
my flight to Barcelona. Hope you’ll consider subscribing for two new videos every week.