Good Hotel London

The Good Hotel in London describes itself as “premium hospitality with a cause.” In addition to donating money from each booking to a partner NGO (founded by the same Dutch “social entrepreneur” who founded the hotel), they commit to working solely with local vendors that offer healthy work environments and fair wages to their employees and — through their Good Training program and in partnership with the local borough government — train and hire the long-term unemployed. The Good Hotel commits to giving these workers jobs until, with the hotel’s help, they are able to find other positions in the hotel industry in London. They state that they want to change the model of how business is done and have a clearly thought through sense of their mission and “responsibility.” This ethos is conveyed consistently on their website and throughout the hotel.

I only stayed one night at the Good Hotel, intrigued by the concept but turned off by its remote location (although it’s convenient to Canary Wharf if you have reason to be there, which I did on this trip) and the potential that its no-frill rooms would depress me. After all, the hotel is a former floating Dutch prison. The first concern was valid, the second was not, although the walls are thin and I could hear the man next door snoring. (God bless the incarcerated.)

Regardless, my desire for great common space — an obvious imperative in a hotel with tiny rooms (about the size of the rooms at the Arlo NoMad or Soho or the CitizenM chain) — was met tenfold: long tables, countertops, couches, a roof deck bar — most with views of the water — and staffed by a remarkably friendly and helpful staff with zero of the pretension that can make some “premium hospitality” hotels unbearable.

I paid less than the equivalent of $150/night for the “Deluxe Waterview” room, which is an unheard of rate for London, and the hotel provides a service (available at other hotels) that allows you to use a smartphone to make free international calls and navigate yourself around the city, which helps you save money on data and connecting with someone back home.

There was no gym, but I was able to run along the river. Unfortunately, that was about all I was able to find to do in the neighborhood, so I was grateful for the short stay and the amenities at the hotel itself. I ate well. I drank well. I was content.

What makes me want to consider staying at the Good Hotel again is that, as the “social good” hotel is seemingly becoming more of a thing, it’s one of the only in which I’ve stayed that I believe is sincere in its mission; it doesn’t feel like simply a marketing ploy.

Even the laziest marketer can cite research that says young people like doing business with businesses that do good. (Not GenXers, we like to kick puppies, it seems.) However, at most “social good" hotels, “doing good” is not much more than those postcards that chain hotels put next to your bed to ask you if they can skip giving you clean towels, presenting it as an eco alternative when it’s more likely an effective strategy for cutting labor costs.

At most “social good" hotels, “doing good” is not much more than those postcards that chain hotels put next to your bed to ask you if they can skip giving you clean towels.

I just stayed at the 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge which was BEAUTIFUL and likely a spot to which I will return when I can find a good rate. They promote their eco message pretty aggressively (more on site at the hotel than online), but thinking that you’re contributing to making the world a better place by staying there is an affliction reserved for the well-to-do.

I stayed in another “social good” hotel recently (which shall remain unnamed because I don’t have anything positive to say about it) that also marketed itself as being focused on “wellness.” This equates to giving guests a crystal when they check in and then keeping them up all night listening to the bass beat coming from the roof top bar and through the guest room walls. (Wellness, my ass.) A couple of months after my stay they sent me a survey that included a question about whether I was more inclined to participate in efforts to achieve social justice after having stayed at the hotel, which reflects a pretty serious misunderstanding of what leads people to commit themselves to social justice — or even what the hell social justice is.

Of course, I’m not suggesting that my one night a the Good Hotel London changed the world — I would have scoffed if they sent me the same survey — but I believe them when they say they are trying to do something different. And if contributing to their success by booking a room at their hotel from time to time helps to demonstrate to other businesses that “different’ is good, I’m in.

My Stay: May 11-12, 2018