Review: Lost Property St Paul’s, London (a Hilton Curio Collection hotel)

This is our review of the Lost Property St Paul’s hotel, part of Hilton’s Curio Collection

This hotel was part of our ‘top 10 new Hilton hotels for 2022’ list. True to their schedule, Lost Property opened last summer. Apologies for taking six months to review it despite the fact that the hotel is just five minutes from our office!

Lost Property is just the latest in a line-up of hotels that are choosing non-traditional hotel names …. another favourite is Hyatt’s FirstName Bordeaux.

The hotel website is here. Hilton offered us a free stay for review purposes. We would have paid all other expenses from our own pocket, but as our office is almost next door …..

Where is the Lost Property hotel?

The developers have secured prime real estate for this property, just across from St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. It is an exceptional location, although due to the shape of the buildings around it virtually none of the rooms have views of St Paul’s.

The location obviously makes it excellent for business travellers in the City but it’s also a fabulous spot if you’re down in London for a holiday. In addition to St Paul’s, it’s just a short stroll across the Thames to Tate Modern and the South Bank, plus you have access to the Central Line via St Paul’s tube station.

For anyone travelling from further afield, City Thameslink and Blackfriars are just around the corner with connections to National Rail services including Thameslink.

Inside Lost Property St Pauls

The main entrance is on the corner. It’s quite discreet:

Inside, you have a small lobby with reception, with the majority of the street-front taken up by the hotel coffee shop which has a separate entrance:

It’s a very cosy entrance and makes the hotel feel very boutiquey. There was nobody behind the desk when I arrived but someone swiftly rushed out after I said a little hello.

As a Hilton Honors Diamond member I was given a voucher for a free house wine, beer or soft drink per person.

The lifts are further down the hall, as is the hotel restaurant.

Rooms at Lost Property St Pauls

The hotel was sold out so I found myself upgraded to a junior suite, which was a pleasant surprise. Other reviews have highlighted the small size of standard rooms, which start at 17 metres square, which is a bit tight but certainly not out of the ordinary in central London.

I was on the 5th floor, but there is one further storey above.

Despite being in a historic building, my room was surprisingly ‘normal’ shaped – basically a large rectangle. That’s because it’s all new behind the historic facade:

The bathroom was very large:

…. with a separate shower next to the bath, which I’ve never seen before but makes sense:

Toiletries are Quercus from Penhaligon’s, in large refillable bottles mounted to the wall:

I really liked the grey stainless steel fittings, and the bathroom lighting, which was flattering and had two settings. I couldn’t work out how to turn off the light in the vanity mirror so ended up leaving this on all night and simply closing the bathroom door.

In the entry hall you have a wardrobe with robes, safe etc.

You then have the junior suite:

There is a king bed in the middle. You won’t run out of charging options here, with two UK mains sockets AND two USB-A sockets on both sides of the bed. You can charge up to four devices if you really want to!

On the opposite side to the sofa you have a desk, plus the mini bar:

There is a Nespresso coffee machine here, plus a kettle. The fridge was empty, but the staff did come round in the afternoon to fill it.

I mentioned before that almost none of the rooms will have views of St Pauls. Here was my view of the (admittedly attractive) offices opposite:

It was a lovely room – on the smaller side for a junior suite perhaps, but given its central London location still plenty large enough, with lots of free floor area to store luggage or what have you.

I liked the design and it all felt very put together. The only thing that didn’t quite fit was the print on the glass counter top on the desk, which felt a bit cheap up close.

Breakfast and dinner at Lost Property St Pauls

The hotel has a restaurant, aptly named ‘Found’, at the back of the property. It is a long, thin room broken up by the bar:

There is also a beautiful chandelier that looks a bit like Chihuly from afar but isn’t, as they are tiny glass birds:

and

For starters, we had the pan-fried scallops and duck terrine which were both delicious:

and

We then had the beef bourginon and lobster pates d’alsace spaetzle with comte. I was trying to visualise what the latter would look (and taste) like – spaetzle are basically a type of German noodle, but I wasn’t sure how it all came together. I decided to take a chance on it:

If I had to describe it, I would call it a lobster bisque with spaghetti. Not exactly what I was expecting, and I’m not sure where the comte comes into it because I didn’t get any cheese as far as I could tell. They also weren’t spaetzle! This dish could do a bit of refining as it was definitely not as good as the beef bourgingon, which was delicious.

The portions are slightly smaller than normal, but for anyone having more than one course I think this is a good thing as often I find mains portions are too large.

For dessert, I had the apple and blackberry crumble, which was as big as my main!

Breakfast at Found

Breakfast is served in the same spot, and there is a small buffet to pick from. Options include a range of cereals and pastries:

…. plus cold cuts featuring Emmentaler, prosciutto and Italian salami. There was no smoked salmon but there was some smoked mackerel:

It is an admittedly limited selection. There’s no ham, for example, or soft cheese such as brie or camembert.

The hot food selection is more impressive, and includes all the bits you need for a Full English. The scrambled eggs were particularly impressive and quite possibly the best buffet scrambled eggs I’ve ever had – still a little on the runny side.

If you didn’t want scrambled eggs you could also order poached or fried eggs, plus pancakes.

About halfway into my breakfast I realised that some tables were getting what appeared to be a la carte options, including avocado toast. After asking one of the staff it turns out there is a separate (paid for) a la carte menu which features eggs royale, benedict and more. Unfortunately this is not included in the hotel breakfast – you need to pay extra.

Whilst it’s a relatively limited selection for breakfast, I did think the quality was good.

Conclusion

Lost Property St Pauls is clearly a popular hotel, and it’s easy to see why.

With an exceptional location it could easily rest on its laurels, but the developer has put a bit of thought into it and built a hotel with personality. It’s certainly more interesting than the majority of hotels in the City of London.

Rates start at around £200 per night but can be substantially higher during busy periods; redemptions start at 60,000 Hilton Honors points per night.

You can find out more, and book, on the hotel website here.

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How to earn Hilton Honors points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Hilton Honors points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Hilton Honors Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

Did you know that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards are a great way of earning Hilton Honors points? Two Virgin Points can be converted into three Hilton Honors points. The Virgin Atlantic cards are the only Visa or Mastercard products in the UK which can indirectly earn Hilton Honors points. You can apply here.

You can also earn Hilton Honors points indirectly with:

• American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
• American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)

and for small business owners:

• American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
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The conversion rate from American Express to Hilton points is 1:2.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Hilton Honors points. 

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)