Good Hotel London

Good Hotel is a non-profit organisation that trains long-term unemployed in the hospitality industry and reinvests its profits in social projects. The hotel was designed and built in the Netherlands (it was originally used as a prison) and floated across the North Sea to its current location at Victoria Dock near the ExCeL exhibition centre.

This is the original hotel in the small Good Hotel chain, although this particular hotel was based in Amsterdam until 2016. There is also a Good Hotel in Antigua, Guatemala with new hotels planned for Guatemala City, Amsterdam and Rotterdam.

The hotel has 148 guest rooms, which all have comfortable beds, a small work desk, tea making facilities and an en suite bathroom. Four of the rooms are adapted for guests with disabilities.

Rooms start at a very compact 13m² (140 sq ft), although corner rooms are more spacious at 30m² (323 sq ft). The rooms have low ceilings and the bathrooms are tiny but otherwise, they are large enough for most people.

In contrast to most other hotels, there are no TVs in the rooms. This is a conscious decision by the Good Hotel group to encourage people to get out of their rooms and connect with other people and the wider community.

It is a relatively chic place to stay with a minimalist vibe that keeps its cool without looking cheap. The design doesn’t just look good, it is functional as well with clever storage areas that make the most of what could otherwise be considered a tiny room.

The ground floor reception area (called the living room) has lots of cosy nooks and nice sunny workspaces.

The hotel also encourages sharing through a restaurant that is designed with long communal tables and sharing menus with tapas-style food.

The rooftop bar (only open during summer) has a large terrace with views of the cable car and planes on their final approach to London City Airport.

Free Wi-Fi wireless internet access is available throughout the hotel.

The hotel has a nice waterfront location around a five-minute walk to the ExCeL exhibition centre and it is right next to the Royal Docks terminus of the Emirates Air Line cable car. The O2 Arena is just a short cable car ride away.

It is part of the cluster of hotels at the western side of ExCeL, which also includes a Crowne Plaza, an ibis, a Novotel and the Sunborn London. Although there are a lot of other hotels in the area, the immediate neighbourhood has more local character than the area on the other side of ExCeL and there are also modern blocks of flats and local shops and restaurants nearby.

It is a four-minute walk from Royal Victoria DLR station. From here it is a 16-minute ride into The City with trains running every eight minutes.

In short, Good Hotel is a good hotel that’s on a mission to do good. The hotel was initially planned to stay in London for five years with a closure date planned for late 2021 but it continues to remain open in 2024 and there is no indication on the hotel’s website of it closing any time soon.