citizenM London Shoreditch

citizenM’s pitch has always been clear: luxury where it counts, nothing where it doesn’t. No room service, no minibar stocked with overpriced miniatures, no concierge. Instead: a king-size bed with genuinely good bedding, wall-to-wall windows with city views, mood lighting and blinds controlled by a bedside tablet, a powerful rainfall shower and the fastest hotel WiFi you will find in London. 

The Shoreditch property is the brand at its most confident and has been consistently well-reviewed since opening for a straightforward reason: it does exactly what it promises, every time.

The experience

The ground-floor living room is designed as a genuine communal space. Think Vitra furniture, a curated art collection, books and the canteenM restaurant and bar operating 24 hours a day. It is a better lobby than most hotels four times the price, and one that locals as well as guests use throughout the day. 

The MoodPad tablet in every room controls lights, blinds, temperature and entertainment from the bed, a feature that feels genuinely useful rather than gimmicky. Check-in is self-service via kiosk, which is consistently fast and sidesteps the queuing that plagues hotel receptions at peak times. 

The 24-hour availability is genuinely useful for guests arriving late from international connections or leaving on early morning flights, which is a more practical consideration than it might sound in a hotel this close to Shoreditch High Street station.

citizenM was acquired by Marriott in 2025 and so Marriott Bonvoy members now earn points on stays, which is a useful addition for frequent travellers already in the programme.

The rooms

216 rooms are identical in layout and size. They’re compact but never cramped thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows that make the most of the available square footage. The XL king-size bed takes up most of the room by deliberate design, as it should in a hotel that understands its guests’ priorities. 

They’re equipped with smart TV with full streaming capability via the MoodPad, blackout blinds, mood lighting presets from bright and clinical to dim and warm, as well as a compact shower room with a rainfall head and decent toiletries. 

The room size is non-negotiable, so note that citizenM is not the hotel for travelling with significant luggage or for long evenings spent in the room. It is the hotel for a well-designed base in one of London’s best locations at a price that reflects genuine value rather than compromise.

Food and drink

canteenM operates around the clock, covering a breakfast buffet in the mornings with good coffee and fresh pastries, food and drinks through the day and evening at prices that are reasonable by London hotel standards. 

The neighbourhood

Shoreditch High Street station is one minute away with Overground connections to Dalston, Hackney, Canada Water and beyond. Brick Lane is a nine-minute walk east, Old Spitalfields Market eight minutes south and Boxpark directly opposite. 

The full breadth of Shoreditch’s independent restaurant and bar scene is all within easy reach on foot, and the hotel’s own canteenM means guests are never without a good option even when they don’t want to venture out. 

This is close to the optimal location for anyone who wants to be genuinely embedded in East London rather than adjacent to it.