Britannia International Hotel Canary Wharf in London

Worst experience of my hotel life. Mostly horrible staff. Looks like they’ve been trained to be hostile to paying guests. Good food. A couple of decent staff. My window wasn’t fixed for 24 hours on the hottest day of the year despite my 4-5 calls to them. Oh btw they will never answer the room phone. Spend a bit extra and hop across to Novatel Canary Wharf instead. That’s what I did after 24 hours and it was like going from Hell to heaven.

My friend and I stayed at this hotel for a week, and it was a frustrating experience from start to finish. We arrived with high expectations, but encountered several issues that left us disappointed and upset.

On the first day, we were given a room with a view of a loud generator. We requested a change, but the next room was also poor. After waiting again at reception, we were finally moved to a room with a river view. It was the best option they offered, but still not great.

The issues continued throughout our stay. The bedside lamp broke and no one came to fix it. The fire alarm went off more than twice daily, disturbing our sleep. Housekeeping is only provided every four days, and when I asked for clean sheets, I was told to change them myself.

A major concern occurred when a maintenance worker ignored the "Do Not Disturb" sign and entered our room without permission while I was in a confidential video call. He turned on all the taps, made noise, and completely disrupted my work. When I complained at reception, they didn’t seem to care or apologize.

We were also asked to leave the restaurant for only ordering cake, even though the place was almost empty. The breakfast was poor, with very few options and an early closing time of 9:30 am. The beds were much smaller than advertised — only 75 cm wide — and my friend fell out twice. The staff showed no concern about this.

Other problems included very dirty windows, a slow and confusing elevator, unresponsive reception, and extremely weak Wi-Fi. Most of the staff seemed unmotivated and poorly trained.

On the positive side, the location is good, near Canary Wharf station. The dinner menu is reasonably priced, and some staff members, especially the cleaners, were friendly.

Overall, I had a much better experience here two years ago. It’s clear the hotel has declined, possibly due to a change in management. I would not stay here again and recommend others to consider alternative hotels in London.