A Night at citizenM Tower of London Hotel

Have you ever stayed in a hotel in your home city? Well, that's exactly what I did just last weekend.

I consider myself as a Londoner having grown up on the very outskirts of the city and know the capital like the back of my hand (well, almost...), but I'd never really chosen to stay in a hotel in London because I've never felt like there's been any need when everything's pretty much on my doorstep anyway. However, when citizenM offered me a night's stay in their Tower of London hotel, I was actually quite excited getting out of my flat for the evening, even if it was only a few miles along the river.

Check-in for the hotel is from 2pm, so after a lazy Saturday morning we packed a bag and headed towards Tower Hill station. The hotel is conveniently located right beside the tube station, and you really cannot miss the sleek hotel sign that sits right in front of you as you leave the tube station. Upon walking into the huge lounge that boasted a contemporary decor with eclectic artefacts dotted around, we were surprised and a little excited to see that the check-in set up was completely different compared to a standard hotel. citizenM are clearly a forward-thinking hotel that thrives on the ease of using technology, meaning their check-in system is completely electronic!

Although there are staff on hand to help with any check-in queries, you simply walk up to one of the many computer screens situated in the lobby, fill in your details in order to check-in and set up your own room key. It was also a nice touch when we were offered a list of different types of rooms we may prefer based on whether we'd like a higher room and which view we'd prefer. Unfortunately we weren't offered the view over the Tower of London, so we opted for our room to look over the luscious, green Trinity Square Gardens instead. It took us no more than a few minutes before we had checked in and had our room key in hand ready to check out our room for the evening.

We were allocated a room on the 4th floor, which is about half way up the building and still offers pretty impressive views of the surrounding area. The room itself was small, but everything was planned to utilise the space well, and the bed... well, the bed, which is situated right beside and level with the window, is absolutely enormous and actually took up most of the floor space in the room - not that I'm complaining! The bed was ridiculously comfortable and after the honorary dive onto the bed straight after checking in, I almost didn't want to get back out despite it being just after 2pm.

The rooms are fully functional and suited to your every need, and although it may seem like a bit of a novelty, we had fun playing with the iPad controls, which let you customise the colour of the lighting, opening the blinds and controlling the smart TV, which sits at the end of the enormous bed. You can adjust the lighting of your room from the colour wheel on the iPad or opt for one of the presets that includes 'business' and 'romance'. Not gonna lie, I was hoping the 'romance' setting would blast out some Barry White from the speakers and a bottle of champagne would just appear from a secret compartment under the bed, but no... we were treated to some dim mood lighting in a lovely shade of red. So, citizenM, if you happen to be reading this, please note my Barry White + champagne request. Ta!

Another highlight of the room was the fact there was a mini fridge situated just beneath the wash basin and mirror, which was perfect for storing any snacks and Saturday afternoon beers before we headed off to 'Pride in London'. The shower was surprisingly spacious and offered two different shower heads, including an overhead rain shower which is always appreciated at any hotel.

Our stay also included a complimentary breakfast, which offered a decent amount of vegetarian options including some delicious veggie sausages and bubble 'n' squeak, which was the perfect Sunday morning remedy after a night out in the city. Unlike a lot of hotel breakfasts I've experienced in the past where you make your own coffee from a machine (that never offers dairy alternative options), your morning coffee is made fresh by a barista behind the bar so you can have that perfect morning latte to accompany your breakfast.

The lounge is absolutely huge with different set ups of seating dotted around all over the place. As well as being a lounge for the guests to enjoy, it's also the perfect place to grab a coffee, set up your laptop and get some work done. If you're a freelancer, it's definitely worth considering the citizenM hotel for your next freelancer date outside of your usual office space.

citizenM hotels are dotted across Europe, including Amsterdam and Paris, but they've also got one-off hotels in New York and Taipei too. Even though we had a very brief stay with citizenM, I would definitely stay in one of their hotels again in the future, because as well as being one of the most homely and inviting hotels I've stayed with, I also really, really miss the absolutely enormous bed!

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