For just £30, daredevil guests can venture up onto the roof of the 14-storey building, where you can abseil down while taking in a breathtaking view of the capital
FOURTEEN floors up on the windswept roof of the St Giles London hotel it’s bitterly cold but that’s not why I’m shivering.
The fear of dangling myself over the edge is what’s making my knees knock together.
In the lead-up to Christmas, the St Giles London, near Tottenham Court Road, is offering guests a very odd optional extra when they book their room – the chance to abseil down the side of the building.
For a £30 donation, which all goes to a homeless charity, any guest mad enough and staying at the hotel on December 19, can give it a go.
I was roped in to be a guinea pig for the bone-chilling experience but I wasn’t sure I had the guts to go through with it.
The world’s first bed, breakfast and abseil package, is not for the faint-hearted.
I would be descending all 164ft of the hotel, or the equivalent of 30 black cabs stacked on top of each other.
The path to the roof’s highest point was an obstacle course in itself, involving clambering over piping and up rickety ladders.
Once up on the roof, the views of London, from the nearby Christmas lights of Oxford Street all the way to distant Big Ben and Parliament, was almost worth the crippling fear.
After a short safety briefing I found myself being told to lean backwards over the side of the building and simply walk off the edge.
The route down the building was carefully chosen to avoid letting thrill-seekers peer into guests windows.
Instead, family and friends can follow your progress from the staircase windows beside the route.
Landing safely on the pavement, my antics had drawn quite the crowd, including the hotel group’s CEO, Abigail Tan-Giroud.
The boss asked me how it went as she was about to go and try it for herself, so I obviously lied and told her it was a doddle.
Speaking about the charitable motives behind all the madness, she said: “We are committed to positively impacting the communities which we are a part of through our foundation Hotels with Heart, and this package enables us to offer our guest a unique way to view London – without having to queue – as well as drive awareness and give immediate relief to those less fortunate.”
Back inside the warm hotel lobby, I wasn’t sure I’d put myself through that every time I need to check out of a hotel – or ever again.
But most of all, I was left with a new respect for the bravery of everyone’s favourite roof-climbing, chimney-abseiling, jolly, old, fat man this Christmas.
The Room with a View package is taking place this Tuesday and is available to book at .
