We stayed at The Colonnade in early December, after booking through a third party website. I know that London is expensive and we decided to spend a little more for this "four star hotel." The location is good - right across the street from the tube station. The hotel marketers say that it is "5 minutes from Paddington", but please know that this is by car, not on foot. We did walk to Paddington during our stay and it took us about 20 minutes from the hotel doorstop to being inside the Paddington station. The hotel front desk staff were extremely indifferent and unhelpful and there always seemed to be people hanging around in the little lobby area. As an example, when we checked in, there was a financial advisor in the lobby counseling clients, and this type of visitor was very typical during our stay there. During our stay some young ladies had their room broken into and things were stolen, so it made us uneasy about the overall security of the hotel, with non-guests coming and going. Our room was on the top floor and it was an extremely long stair climb up some precarious staircases. My husband has sore knees and found it difficult. I am in good shape and after a few days I grew veryweary of the climb myself. If you have physical limitations, please make sure that you are not on one of the upper floors, although we ran into some folks at breakfast who had rooms on the ground floor and they said that there was a lot of tube noise in their rooms. Our room itself was small (typical of London) and in ill-repair. The bathroom window did not close or lock, so the wind was whistling in, the A/C unit seemed to be on all the time, despite our attempts to turn it off, the tiles were falling off the tub surround, the toilet flushed tempermentally and the sheets had cigarette burns in them. On the plus side, there was a mini-bar with some drink and snack options and a kettle and teapot. We were promised a newspaper delivery which never materialized and a bottle of water to our room which never showed up. I am guessing that the delivery people did not want to climb the long flight of stairs to the top floor any more than we did. Overall, negative points for security and tiredness of hotel, and positive points for proximity to the tube stop and the original charm of the old building. London is a big beautiful city and there are better options out there. We will not return to The Colonnade.

I was looking for an affordable hotel near Paddington and had gotten an email from the Eton Collection (I'd stayed at one of their other properties that was fantastic!). So I thought I would try this one. I was upgraded to a larger room - high ceilings, comfortable bed, robes for your convenience, fresh water supplied to your room each evening and free Internet (although it was a little awkward that I had to get a different log-in/password every day).
On the downside, no heat in the bathroom - which would have been OK, except the windows were old and drafty. I was also a little disappointed with the evening front desk attendant. Not very friendly and wasn't very helpful in answering some of my London questions. However, the nice young man that helped me with my luggage and showed me to my room was great. Breakfast was not worth it...buffett disappointing and toast burnt!
Nevertheless, I like the charm of a non-chain hotel, so I would consider staying again.

I booked The Colonnade through laterooms. Location was pretty good -- when you come out of the front door of the hotel, you can see Warwick Station on the Bakerloo line across the way, so it is convenient to the tube. Picadilly is a bit of a hike, about 15 to 20 minutes, and across some busy streets. The hotel itself is a bit tired and in need of refurbishment, and the staff fairly indifferent. This, however, is inconsequential to what happened during our stay: our room was burglarized and we experienced significant loss of possessions (laptop, electronics). The room was not forced open and someone used a keycard to gain access. The police were called and a report filed, and the constable that attended mentioned that he had been to a similar incident at The Colonnade about 3 months prior. He also indicated that there had been other robberies at this property in the past. The response from management has been fairly tight-lipped and unhelpful although was still quite cheerful to collect our credit card for our two night's stay. Our loss was around $4000Cdn, and the data (photos, files) is of course irreplaceable and I just feel sick about it. When I inquired with the manager as to who had been in our room during the day (they can read the cards that have been swiped), he would not tell me, and also told me that these swipe cards are easily replicable and that non-employees can make cards to break into rooms. Since our room did not have a deadbolt on the door, this was very unsettling. I have stayed all over the world on business with my laptop and have never experienced a robbery such as this. I would absolutely not recommend staying at this hotel based on the robbery, the fact that the robbery was evidently an "inside job" and based on the very poor non-response from management.

We had two rooms here, a standard and a deluxe on the first floor.

I used to live close by and remember the Colonnade being converted in 1999 – internally it feels like that was the last time it had any attention.

You can see where they’ve been patching up with the filler and numerous paint drips on the furniture and carpet, but you can’t get around the fact there is no grout in the floor tiles, mould on the window sills, bath chrome taps are worn away from abrasive cleaning, the carpet smells etc, etc. The rooms just scream ‘refurb overdue by five years’.

Sure the outside has just been painted, but Little Venice leases demand that every six or so years, it’s a pity they did not do the inside at the same. If that’s planned all well and good, but they still took my money in condition it is currently in.

The general feeling of the communal parts were of a ‘station hotel’ with people coming in with take away meals etc, and staff were virtually unnoticeable. Breakfast were discounted as they seem to be having trouble selling them, and with Baker & Spice nearby I can see why. Wifi is also a charge for service unless you put up with ‘modem’ restricted speeds – come on its 2012, the local coffee shop gives it away as a loss leader!

The hotel website was appalling, presumably built around the same time, and I suppose that should have alerted me. This is certainly no Chic, Unique, Boutique hotel (as they claim) and I will not be coming back.

There are better options in central London at this price and I would urge you to seek them out. Pity, a refurb by a professional management team turning it into an all-suite hotel would make a killing.