K West Hotel and Spa Review: An Urban Retreat Oozing Cool - And A Shopper’s Paradise

The space: K West Hotel and Spa, a contemporary 4 Star boutique hotel located less than 30 minutes from central London - just around the corner from Westfield London in Shepherd’s Bush.

The vibe:

Rock and roll meets urban cool - the staff wear Converse and there’s an in-house DJ playing at weekends. The hotel used to be BBC recording studios, and it’s the crash-pad for many a musician after gigs at the nearby O2 Shepherds Bush Empire and Hammersmith Apollo, so it’s this musical heritage that gives K West an edgy, laid-back feel and its contemporary vibe. (It's got to be cool if Bob Marley has recoreded there... right?)

The Instagram shot:

The hits:

The dinner in the hotel’s Studio Kitchen restaurant completely surpassed my expectations.

I opted for the Prawn Linguine, which was hearty and wholesome, while my partner chose the limited-edition Double Whammy burger (which is essentially an uber-posh version of a Big Mac). Despite appearing to be the same size of my face, he wolfed it down without complaints and compared it to some of London’s specialist burger joints.

And as a bonus, for the high quality of the food, the prices are really decent -  £13.50 for the burger and £14.00 for the pasta. The hotel has also recently launched its Glam Rock afternoon tea, featuring names such as ‘Rock and Savoury Rolls’ and ‘Ohh Sweet Child of Mine’, with prices starting from £22.50 without Prosecco.

The location of the hotel really is one of its major draws, whether you live in London or not. It's around 45 minutes by Tube from the centre of town and also easy to get to from Shepherd’s Bush overground, with links to Clapham Junction.

It’s hard to believe that you really can escape the rat-run and enjoy total, blissful relaxation without even having to leave town. And if you want to combine rest with retail - hey it's London afterall - it’s also a total haven for shopaholics, with Westfield London just over the road.

And there is nothing better than shopping-til-you drop...straight into your spa robe, soaking your shopped-out feet out in the foot baths.

The spa itself features a number of treatment rooms, as well as a hydrotherapy pool, steam room, sauna and sanarium, which you’d expect to find in a city spa.

A particular highlight for me was the secluded couples treatment room, where my other half and I enjoyed a full hour of decadent spa treatments, consisting of a 30-minute massage and a 30-minute dry floatation bed.

If you haven't tried one before, you might find you prefer it to a massage. I found it much easier to switch off knowing I didn't have to anticipate a masseuse’s next potentially pain-inducing move!

And switch off I did, which is no mean feat. I’m one of those people that feels like I’m constantly plugged-in - if my brain was a computer, it would have a thousand tabs open at once and at first I was dubious.

But lying there, surrounded in a blanket of warm water (without actually getting wet) was, in a word, heaven. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more at-peace in my life.

Moving into the main spa, under the light of the twinkly 'stars', we made a dash for London’s only Snow Paradise. Switching from the sweltering sauna heat to freezing cold snow and icicles feels like stepping into a Scandanavian winter. Even if that doesn't sound appealing - try it. The blood pumping is seriosuly invigorating and the sauna's only a few metres away.

The misses:

The hotel rooms don’t exactly have the ‘wow’ factor - they certainly have all the necessities but we weren’t blown away. The room we had wasn’t massively spacious and obviously being in residential west London, they’re not exactly going to be rooms with a view.

However the massive, comfy beds made up for it and we didn’t end up spending much time in the rooms anyway as we were busy soaking up our time in the spa.

If you're spa mad and want a pool to do laps of, the small size of this one could be a disappointment. And thanks to the limited space, the layout of the spa is odd, with treatment rooms at the other end of the spa, away from the changing rooms and hydotherapy pool, which felt a little bit awkward when walking between the two in just our towels.

My partner and I weren’t overly impressed with the post-treatment area, ‘Relaks.’ It’s pitched as a place to ‘escape from the world’ but it just felt a little lacklustre to us - we’ve been to post-treatment rooms in the past filled with fluffy pillows, massive beds and fur throws, so this room seemed slightly cold, empty and just lacking any personality in comparison. It also would have been nice to have seen some of the musical heritage, which is visible throughout the hotel, have a bigger presence in the spa as it felt a bit disjointed in comparison.

Beware the Continental breakfast buffet - it seems a bit of a letdown at first glance but give it a chance. Order eggs your way and try the museli, yoghurt and berries while you wait for them to arrive.

The Eggs Benedict were some of the finest I'd ever tasted.

The deets and damage: London’s newly refurbished K West Hotel & Spa has just launched a Glam Rock Afternoon Tea. Rooms start from £125 per room per night. Spa packages include overnight accommodation and treatments.

[Forget Cornwall, Go To Devon!]

[You CAN afford to stay in Mr Grey's apartment]