REVIEWS OF HOTEL EXECUTIVE CLUB LOUNGES, KIDS CLUBS AND MORE.
When you're travelling with two young children, a hotel stay can go one of two ways. Either you spend the whole time managing meltdowns and watching the clock, or you find somewhere that's actually thought about what families need, and everything just clicks. Our stay at the Hilton Reading was firmly the latter, and after two nights there, we came away convinced this is genuinely one of the best hotels for kids we've visited. Here's why.
Before we'd even sat down for dinner on our first night, our two had found the Lego corner tucked just outside OXBO in the lobby. It's part of the Hilton for the Stay x LEGO partnership, a proper "Stay. Play. Take Away" station stocked with bricks to build with, plus a minifigure to take home. Honestly, this little corner turned out to be one of the best bits of the whole trip. Every time we walked past, our kids would drop everything and dash straight over, and during dinner they kept sliding off their chairs between courses to nip out and build for a few minutes before coming back. It sounds like such a small thing, but it made the whole stay feel effortless, and it meant my wife and I actually got to have a proper conversation over dinner for once.
Speaking of dinner, OXBO Kitchen has its own dedicated Little OXBO menu for children up to 12, and it was a genuine relief to see. Small plates like cheesy garlic bread and crispy cod goujons, mains including tomato pasta, fish and chips and a beef cheeseburger, it's proper food, not an afterthought.
Our two went for the burger, plain, because fussy eaters will be fussy eaters wherever you take them, but it arrived on its own branded OXBO bun with a generous bucket of chips and a little pot of ketchup on the side, and it was honestly one of the best kids' meals we've had at a hotel. Simple, but done really well, the patty was juicy, the chips were crisp and golden, and the kids cleared their plates without a single complaint, which for us is basically a five star review in itself. Having a menu that's clearly been designed with kids in mind, rather than just a smaller version of the adult one, made such a difference.
We stayed over the weekend, and this turned out to be brilliant timing, because children get all day access to the pool on Saturdays and Sundays at the LivingWell Health Club. No racing against a clock, no squeezing a swim into a tiny window before the pool switched to adults only. The pool itself is a proper indoor lap pool, generously sized, with deep blue tiling and gentle underwater lighting, and our two spent hours in there, splashing about and racing each other down the lanes. For a hotel pool, the size and the access genuinely surprised us, and it became the highlight of the whole stay for the kids.
Our Family Room was made up of two interconnecting bedrooms, one with a king bed for my wife and me, and the other with two twin beds plus a rollaway for our two. That meant everyone had their own space to sleep, with no chance of anyone kicking each other awake in the night, but we could keep the connecting door open to hear the kids, or close it for a bit of peace once they'd dropped off. Each room had its own ensuite too, which is an absolute godsend when you've got two children needing to get ready at the same time. It's exactly the kind of set-up that makes a world of difference when you're travelling as a four.
If you want to know what really made this stay feel special for our two, it was walking into the room and finding little paper gift bags waiting on their pillows, a yellow one, a pink one, a blue one and a purple one, each finished off with a smiley "Thank You" sticker. Inside were colouring books, mini pencils, felt tip pens, a pair of sunglasses each and a bubble wand. The look on their faces when they opened them was priceless, proper wide eyed, jumping on the bed with excitement. They spent a good half an hour happily colouring and blowing bubbles around the room while we unpacked, and honestly, watching them light up like that is exactly the kind of moment you remember long after a trip is over. It's such a simple gesture, but it told us the hotel had genuinely thought about who might be staying in that room, and it turned an ordinary check-in into something the kids talked about for the rest of the holiday.
Beyond the big-ticket features, it was the smaller spaces that tied everything together. The lobby areas gave us room to sit and unwind without ever feeling like we were in anyone's way, and there was a real sense throughout the hotel that families weren't just tolerated, they were catered for.
One more thing worth knowing: Reading sits right on the Elizabeth Line, so if you fancy a day trip into central London with the kids, it couldn't be easier. It meant we had the choice of a relaxed few days locally or a quick hop into the city, without ever needing to think about driving or parking.
Between the Lego corner, the kids' menu, the weekend pool access, the interconnecting rooms and that gorgeous little welcome gift, the Hilton Reading ticked every box we could think of for a family stay. It's the kind of hotel where the little touches add up to something genuinely magical for young children, and where parents can actually relax too. We'd go back in a heartbeat, and if you're travelling with kids, this is a hotel well worth putting on your list.
We are a family of 4 - mother, father and two children. Our aim is to travel the world and review all travel opportunities to help other families.
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