For my wife's birthday treat we came up to London to see a show and stay in a hotel. I picked the Thistle Hotel Hyde Park and I am so glad I did. We had a wonderful room that overlooked Hyde Park and we were welcomed by the reception staff and the Manager. All the staff were friendly, professional and made us so welcome.
The hotel is central for the West End and the shops, theatre land and all the historic sights - it is just down the road from Kensington Palace.
If you want a night, or indeed a few days in London, I cannot recommend this hotel enough. A thank you to all the staff who made our trip memorable.

We were initially disappointed on arrival because we'd asked for a room 'with a view' only to be allocated a room with no view whatsoever - just a wall in the well of the building, literally the room (131 - in itself a superb room) was dark with no natural light at all. No problem though, the staff were helpful and we had a very good capuccino while an alternative room was prepared. I've stayed in a lot of hotels in London, and they are usually samey and predictable. This hotel has real character and was totally spotless. The decor was superb - even the corridors had an air of grandeur which is just not present in the average 4* anymore and the building had some wonderful original features. As another reviewer mentioned, the hot water situation was a little hit and miss. This was mainly due to lack of communication - we needed to run the water for a good 5 minutes on full pelt before any hot water would come out - a huge waste of water. Once we discovered this there was no problem although it was annoying not to have been prewarned on arrival. However, this was a small price to pay for a really spacious room with high ceilings, chandelier lighting, large comfy bed and spotless as I say. We didn't eat the hotel but the menu did look delicious and the restaurant was really warm and inviting - we wished we could have eaten there to try it out. If you're going to the Royal Albert Hall (which we were) it couldn't be more convenient - just a 10 minute walk across Hyde Park. We haven't stayed in this part of London before, usually opting for more Central and Westminster areas. We now realise we've been missing out - the location of this hotel is in a smart area with loads of open space and so handy for tubes and taxi's to get further afield. So, despite a couple of hiccups we would definitely stay there again and recommend without hesitation.