Bermonds Locke, Tower Bridge

I have stayed with Locke many times across the UK and Europe, and it has always been one of my favourite brands. Unfortunately, this stay has completely changed my opinion. My reservation was for 18–19July. As soon as I entered the room, I immediately noticed it was unbearably hot. The room temperature was over 28°C (as seen in attached. I then discovered the air conditioning was completely broken. Although the control panel showed it was switched on, there was no airflow at all, and an error message was displayed. I went to reception to ask if I could change rooms. I even offered to downgrade my room—I didn’t care about the room category anymore, I just wanted somewhere with working air conditioning. The receptionist genuinely tried to help, and I do not blame her personally. However, what she told me was deeply concerning. She explained that she didn’t actually work at this hotel, was only covering someone else’s shift, and therefore did not have access to the hotel’s management system. In other words, she could hand over room keys but had almost no ability to resolve guest issues. That is an astonishing way to run a hotel. She came to inspect the room herself, confirmed the AC wasn’t working, and contacted the manager. I was then told the manager would arrange another room. After waiting around 10 minutes, I was informed that I could no longer move rooms and that the manager would come and speak to me personally the following morning. That never happened. I was forced to spend the entire night in a room that felt like an oven. The windows were locked, so there was no ventilation whatsoever, despite the outside temperature being around 18°C overnight. Somehow, the room remained at around 28°C throughout the night. Sleeping in those conditions was genuinely unbearable. No guest should ever have to endure that. The following morning, I waited for the manager as promised. I checked out, and the manager never appeared. The Sunday receptionist even came to my room, saw the temperature for himself, and admitted he found it hard to believe anyone could have slept there. To make matters worse, I later discovered the manager wasn’t even planning to arrive until 12:00 pm, which is an hour after checkout time. So the promise that the manager would meet me in the morning was never realistic. I then gave the hotel two full days after my stay (Sunday and Monday) to contact me and address what had happened. Nobody contacted me. No apology. No explanation. Nothing. This review exists because the hotel had every opportunity to resolve this privately and chose not to. The issue isn’t just a broken air conditioner—things break. The real problem is the complete lack of professionalism, communication, accountability, and customer care. Every member of staff I encountered was either new, temporary, or covering shifts. The staff themselves were polite and tried their best, but they had neither the authority nor the support needed to solve problems. That is a management failure, not a staff failure. I booked a larger room specifically because I wanted to relax with air conditioning after a long day. Instead, I spent the night in what felt like a sauna. If I hadn’t been completely exhausted, I would have left immediately and booked into the nearby Travelodge or Holiday Inn. At least there I could have opened a window. This was, without question, a 2-star experience at best. One terrible stay is enough to make me question whether I can trust the Locke brand again, despite years of positive experiences elsewhere. I sincerely hope this is an isolated issue with this particular location. However, unless management starts taking guest complaints seriously, I cannot recommend anyone stay here. Avoid this property until its management demonstrates that it values its guests.