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Monday, February 10th
Hotel Chocolat was founded by Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, who wanted to "transform” the way you enjoy chocolate. They wanted a playful approach to this decadent treat with more cocoa and less sugar. Known for its hot chocolate "Velvetiser", Hotel Chocolat is a standout for hot chocolate as well as chocolate truffles and bars. Today Hotel Chocolat has 126 stores in the UK and serves a range of bars and restaurants. The chocolate is all made in Cambridge, UK. More recently Hotel Chocolat began offering its chocolates and gift boxes in Japan and the USA (as of 2023).
Click through to listings to see prices
Browsing for chocolates at Hotel Chocolat makes you feel like you've stepped into a mix of Willy Wonka and a Cambridge Library. The warm and inviting website makes it simple to find chocolate gift boxes. All you need to do is click "Chocolate” on the navigation bar, and you'll see a scrolling list of the collections and boxes offered at Hotel Chocolat. Each listing shows a photo of the entire "collection” with a short description. Some of the items have a maximum purchase allowance (so you can't buy more than two of the festive collections, for example), and a "Shop Now” button to take you to the purchase page for individual packages. Once you get to a specific listing page, you'll see a more detailed description of everything you'll find in the collection, a full list of ingredients and allergens, and the shipping policies.
4 packages and around 14 flavors
There were 4 different chocolate gift boxes at Hotel Chocolat at the time of our review. These may rotate seasonally, as all of them qualify as "festive” collections. The bundles and collections include a variety of chocolate treats, including an all-milk chocolate collection, a dark chocolate collection, an "everything” collection, and the "Ultimate Bundle” which includes a Velevetiser Starter Kit for making your own hot chocolate. You can find classic chocolates, chocolate almonds, chocolate batons (like a Kit-Kat shape), and a range of cute chocolate designs in fun shapes like Caramel Penguins. Across the different boxes, we found around 14 individual flavors of chocolates, though Hotel Chocolat lacked some transparency on the exact details of the flavors. You're left to kind of sleuth out the contents by checking the ingredients list, which doesn't separate out ingredients by each chocolate, regrettably.
Pricing from $150 to $540
Pricing is simple at Hotel Chocolat, but it isn't cheap. The Milk and Dark collections are $150 each, the Everything Collection is $250, and the Ultimate Bundle is $540. There are occasionally sales that help with this cost. For example, at the time of our review, there was a promotion on the Ultimate Bundle that made that particular chocolate gift box $400 instead. There is also the opportunity to get 10% off by reading through the history of the company in a popup window and going through a little interactive story. Once you're finished, you'll just have to add your name and email address to get the discount.
Shipping is free on orders $50+
If you spend more than $50 at Hotel Chocolat, you'll qualify for free standard shipping (2-5 days) to any address in the contiguous US. Since all of the chocolate gift boxes offered by Hotel Chocolat are well over $50, you can be sure to get free shipping any time you order. While it doesn't make the boxes more affordable, it does help keep costs down (and avoid any sticker shock when you check out).
Happiness Guarantee included
There isn't a specific refund policy for Hotel Chocolat, but the company offers a Happiness Guarantee listed on every single item in its inventory. The guarantee states that all chocolate that you purchase is covered by the guarantee and that if you aren't happy, Hotel Chocolat will "do everything” they can to solve the problem. However, there's no mention of refunds or reshipments in the actual guarantee details.
Rave reviews for chocolate flavors
Regrettably, Hotel Chocolat holds a "C” rating from the Better Business Bureau, and there are currently no reviews on the BBB for this chocolatier. We did find plenty of reviews on Trustpilot during our research. Over 50,000 customers have left reviews for Hotel Chocolat with an average rating of 3.9 stars out of 5. There is ample praise for the delivery and quality of the chocolate. One reviewer said the flavor of her chocolates was "absolute heaven” and that she plans to buy Hotel Chocolat's sweets on repeat. Most of the poor reviews show that customers ordered Hotel Chocolat sweets from other vendors, and owed most of their complaints to the delivery service through that vendor rather than Hotel Chocolat itself.
A balanced choice if you can afford it
Hotel Chocolat is a mixed bag in terms of chocolate gift boxes. It has great flavors, but the details on those flavors are hard to find on the Hotel Chocolat website. The company offers competitive guarantees and a low threshold for free shipping, but it's also extremely pricey and may be out of budget for many chocolate fans. Overall, Hotel Chocolat earns a balanced rating in our review. It's definitely worth a look, but you may want to search elsewhere for your chocolate gift boxes if budget is a primary concern.
Whether you want a traditional chocolate, something like a holiday Ferrero Rocher, or a new confection with unique flavors like lavender or orange, there's a box of chocolates out there for you. With online ordering, you have access to far more assortments and flavors than you would at a local sweet shop, and you can easily send chocolates to your loved ones anywhere in the country (or the world).
If you choose to indulge in this cacao-based confection, you'll be in good company. Americans spend an estimated $22 billion on chocolate each year, and 90% of recent consumers said that chocolate is their favorite category of treat. Milk chocolate, unsurprisingly, is a popular favorite, especially in the US. Around the world, dark chocolate is generally preferred. Chocolate is something that brings people together. So, why not enjoy it?
When we say chocolate is a classic sweet, we don't just mean in the last few decades. Chocolate has one of the most interesting stories out there. The discovery of chocolate (specifically cacao beans) can be traced back to Mesoamerican civilizations. The beans were so precious, they were once used as a form of currency.
Our word for chocolate comes from the Aztecs who called the bean "xocoatl”. Originally, chocolate was made into a drink, similar to the hot cocoa we drink today, but a lot spicier (try Mexican Hot Chocolate sometime, if you want a more authentic flavor). Supposedly the Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of chocolate per day.
While you might not be as much of a chocolate superfan as the emperor, we can definitely see the appeal. Chocolate, as we know it (the chocolate bar and chocolate confections), started being made around 1847. There are tons of benefits to enjoying chocolate too. Cacao can lower your blood pressure, and dark chocolate has a range of health benefits including improved brain health, improved mood, and promotion of your good (HDL) cholesterol. Bottom line? You can enjoy your sweets without any guilt.
There's no limit to what you might find in a chocolate gift box online. If you're ready to get that delightful melt-in-your-mouth chocolate treat, but aren't sure which confectionary to choose, don't sweat it. We've put together some factors that can help you pick the best vendors for chocolate gift boxes:
"Life is like a box of chocolates"... or it could be as soon as you grab these gift boxes for yourself, your friends, and family. To help you find the best chocolatier to satisfy your cravings, Top Consumer Reviews has researched and ranked the top chocolate gift boxes out there today. Now, crack open those sweets and pick one. Like they said in Forrest Gump, you never know what you're going to get!
Select any 2 Chocolate Gift Boxes to compare them head to head