Dolphin Hotel

Originally built in the 1850s, this hotel still maintains a fundamentally English feel, especially in the lobby area where there are traditional touches like deep red leather Chesterfield sofas, a cast iron fireplace, and antique furniture. The property has a homey feel, and there are some attractive black-and-white prints of London scenes on the corridor walls. High ceilings and ornate cornicing can be found throughout the building, as well as lots of natural light. Note that rooms are located over four floors, without an elevator. The hotel is geared towards tourists, especially groups and families, as the large rooms can easily accommodate them. Guests are drawn here for low room rates and the central location near Paddington Station and Hyde Park.

The hotel is located on a fairly quiet, tree-lined street and in a pretty row of Victorian townhouses, just across the street from a small park in the heart of Paddington. The streets surrounding the hotel are home to many other budget hotels, and lots of restaurants, including a steakhouse, Indian, and Italian, as well as fast food chains like Burger King. It’s only a two-minute walk to Paddington station where there is an overground train line as well as the underground. The train to Heathrow Airport from Paddington takes under a half an hour. The large station also has shops, cafes, and restaurants within it, including Yo! Sushi and Starbucks. Hyde Park is a 10-minute walk away, and there are a number of popular attractions in and around it, including Kensington Palace and Gardens, the Princess Diana Memorial Playground, and the Serpentine Gallery. Whiteleys of Bayswater shopping mall and all of the restaurants that surround it is also fairly close to the hotel, around 15 minutes away on foot. 

Rooms at the Dolphin are available as Single, Double/Twin, Triple, and Quadruple Rooms as well as a Family Room room with five beds. All rooms come with flat-screen TVs with satellite channels, a phone, and tea- and coffee-making facilities. Some rooms also have a hairdryer, trouser press, safe, and mini-fridge. Most of the rooms are well maintained, and they have plenty of natural light and high ceilings, but the decor in some is quite dated, and guests have reported some cleanliness issues. Many of the rooms have windows that open up over the street with views of the small park across the road. Bathrooms are generally compact and smell quite musty. They don’t have baths, just a small shower stall plus a toilet and basin. It's worth noting that not every room here has an en-suite bathroom and those guests will have to share an external bath with other rooms. Due to the hotel's location near Paddington station, the rooms do suffer from slight noise and movement each time a train passes through the station or the tube. 

The Dolphin Hotel includes breakfast in the room rate. The buffet consists of a decent selection of eggs, cereals, yoghurt, pastries, toast, cheese, cookies, juice, and coffee. For a small charge, the breakfast can be upgraded to a traditional full-English cooked breakfast, which has generous portions and is popular with guests. There isn't a full restaurant or bar on the property.

The hotel has a comfortable guest lounge in the lobby area which has plenty of seating, a TV, and books to borrow. There’s also a small but pretty garden. There is no car park on-site but there is a public one nearby which guests can use for a daily fee. A meeting room for up to 50 people is available at the Dolphin's sister hotel, just a few minutes’ walk away. The hotel does have Wi-Fi but they charge a daily fee to use it.