Opposite South Kensington tube station, The Ampersand Hotel is an ideal place to stay for anyone looking for somewhere cool to rest after a day at London’s most famous museums. The hotel is ideal for less able travellers even though South Ken tube station doesn’t have step free access. Once you get there the access is a breeze.
The Ampersand is a modern cosmopolitan hotel in a large Victorian building and the decor takes advantage of this, combining bold contemporary wallpaper designs with original Victorian features. It has a more relaxed and fun look than many other stuffier hotels in the area. Apero, the hotel’s restaurant and bar, has a good reputation and looks great, as does the entire hotel!
In terms of disabled access, the Ampersand has the head start of being an all too rare case of a trendy hotel which makes information on its access available for people to see online. It couples the virtual guide with good access in reality. A platform lift is provided for step free access to the hotel and inside step free access is available to the reception, public areas and bedrooms via the two guest lifts. All inside areas are accessible for wheelchair users and there is an accessible toilet in the public areas. The floors are wood and marble and they have large print menus and a portable induction loop available.
There are accessible bedrooms on the ground, first and 4th floors. These all have wide entrance doors, low level light switches, power socket by the bed, transfer space of 140cm one side of the bed. The ensuite bathrooms look like some of the most stylishly accessible we’ve seen with wheel in showers and grab rails. There’s more information in the access statement which is helpful but perhaps could be improved by using a Pictorial Access Description instead to make things even clearer!
It has to be said that the Ampersand appears to have it all – hip vibe, prime location and outstanding access. We give them a high 2.5 BBS Ticks for now as we need to audit fully before quite possibly giving them the full 3 ticks!
