[scott1nthesky]

I’ve been staying in London on business at about 50% of my usual frequency due to Covid, to get work done that I can’t do remotely. Some of my favourite hotels are closed for the time being and I’ve shifted to others – the differences in service are epic. I have status with IHG and Hilton so always choose one of these two brands.

I’ve had a few nights at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum and the team there went out of their way to make me feel welcome. Status recognition was still in place with a welcome drink (to have in your room) and I was very grateful they’ve kept their lobby lounge open to work from – they enforce mask-wearing etc but it felt good to not have to stay in my room when I was off-site from my job. Nothing was too much trouble and it felt virtually normal. The team provided daily housekeeping, plates, cutlery and glasses on request and offered a full room service bar service.

I’ll compare that with the Hilton London Metropole, which was almost a complete opposite. The check-in supervisor seemed genuinely affronted I was checking in. His opening line was, “You know you can’t just stay here for leisure, why have you made a booking?” When he checked the booking he saw I was on a corporate rate for a company that provides a Covid response and so I was allowed to be there but it felt like getting off to a bad start.

The room wasn’t good – unflushed toilet, mouldy bath and rusted shower. The manager moved me and said this wasn’t to the HiltonClean standard but I wasn’t convinced they were that bothered about it – takeaway rubbish was left outside of people’s rooms for about 24 hours, which meant it got pretty smelly. The manager moved me quickly after the room issue. However, they’d removed really simple services. There was an ice bucket in the room but the ice machines were switched off. I asked at reception for ice and they said the machines were switched off “because of Covid” and the kitchen team had switched off their ice machine “because of Covid.” I asked for disposable plates for takeaway and glasses for drinks in my room but they refused….can you guess why?

After three days and no housekeeping I asked for some room supplies and they were really unhappy about this – grumpy check-in man said, “Didn’t you get enough on day one?” The room service food menu stated drinks from the bar could be ordered but when I tried to order a beer they told me alcohol was only available if I had “pre-purchased an alcohol package”.

So…I bought my own plates, glasses and ice from the supermarket next door for the princely sum of £4.80. Not a big deal in cost but a Hilton that can’t provide anything? Had the hotel been really on the ball with Covid measures, I might have believed that their restrictions were due to safety but their Covid-secure measures were a bit inconsistent – there were no hand gel dispensers by the lifts and the only dispenser by the entrance was empty for the whole week I was there. I carry my own sanitiser but this seemed a bit of a miss when they’d locked out of use the touch-free entry door in favour or a side door you had to open by pressing a button.

I’m curious about the experiences of others and if they differ greatly from pre-lockdown? I didn’t expect anywhere near full service at the moment and I’m grateful there’s still a choice of hotels to choose from when I can’t work from home but I can’t help but feel that rules such as not giving out plastic glasses and switching off ice machines has less to do with Covid and more to do with…what? Cost cutting? Really strict interpretation of Covid rules? I’m not sure. Thoughts are welcome!

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Catalina, FormerBA, Bullfrog, Montysaurus, Jacob

[FrDougal]

That is actually shocking.

Since all of this began I have spent many nights in London area hotels on business (essential worker) and despite the obvious restrictions in place I have pretty much always had consistently friendly service by staff who seem genuinely relieved to have guests. I admit the pot luck of whether a property is providing housekeeping is a bit of a lottery but I can look beyond that as long as the representatives at the property are friendly and welcoming.

Ironically one of the best Iv stayed at so far recently is also a Hilton, the Hyde Park Hilton.

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Bullfrog

[scott1nthesky]

I completely agree about the staff team. Interestingly, the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum is an improved experienced since the pandemic – they used to be quite abrupt but recently they’ve been really warm and welcoming.

Thanks for the tip for the Hilton Hyde Park. I stayed at the Doubletree just down the road from there and they were wonderful; I’ll try the Hilton next time.

[HiltonLondonMetropole]

Hi Scott,

Thank you for your comments and for bringing this to our attention. We are proud of the work we have been able to do supporting our local community, key workers and business travellers over the past year by remaining open. Therefore, it’s disappointing to hear we missed the mark with your stay, which was not up to our usual standard. We will be reaching out to you directly to discuss this with you further and hope to welcome you back in the future.

Kind regards,

Josef Mikulka

Hotel Manager

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ontherunhome, canucklad, Bullfrog, DerekVH, ASK1945, MartynSinclair, GivingupBA, scott1nthesky

[Montysaurus]

I received an email from a Hampton by Hilton in London saying that if I did not provide written proof at check in that my stay (February 2021) was essential they would not let me check in, effectively turning me onto the street as I had advised them that my anticipated check in time was 2200!

[STORMIN']

I am Hilton Diamond and IHG Ambassador Spire, so I tend to stick with these two brands also. My experience of the London Hilton Metropole was much as described by Scott1nthesky and that was before the pandemic. No way this was a Hilton. Oddly enough, the other “worst” Hilton that I have stayed in the UK was the Brighton Hilton Metropole – must be a “Metropole” thing.

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Catalina, DerekVH

[scott1nthesky]

[postquote quote=1093740]

That’s appalling! Every Hilton I’ve stayed at has required me to fill in a form at check-in to confirm I’m there on essential business but they’ve never sent a message like this before I’ve even arrived! Interestingly, none of the IHG properties have asked for this, either verbally or in writing.

[scott1nthesky]

[postquote quote=1093743]

I’m the same status as you with both; interesting we’ve had the same experiences! I last stayed at the Brighton Metropole for a conference a couple of years ago, I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a hotel in such a state of disrepair.

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DerekVH

[scott1nthesky]

You’ll see the manager of the London Metropole commented above – I’ve had a really nice e-mail from them with a kind gesture, which I appreciate.

I do wish they’d do some benchmarking against each others’ standards within the same brand. I checked into the Hilton London Bankside today and the experience could not be more different to the Metropole – at check-in, the staff explained what they could do to make the stay decent, as opposed to what they could not do. They’re operating a full bar on room service. The room has glasses in it (actual glass glasses, not plastic cups, and in different sizes for different drinks!) and the front desk say they can provide crockery, cutlery etc on demand. The room is spotless. I’m sure the team here are under incredible pressure like all of hospitality but what a difference in experiences.

Last night I stayed in the Hilton Garden Inn at Heathrow Terminal 2. That was okay – friendly welcome, great breakfast. One thing I did think odd was room service – they’re doing a menu but won’t deliver it to your room, you have to call it in then collect it yourself from the restaurant. That’s absolutely fine but they then charged 12.5% service on top of the menu item. I always tip for good service but for collecting a pizza myself from the restaurant?…

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Catalina, Bullfrog, DerekVH, Jacob, sparkyflier, PeterCoultas

[SimonS1]

It seems there is the same mix of standards in the hotels being used for quarantine. Consensus on the groups I use is that (for example) the Radisson Blu was pretty good but someone at the Best Western posted this “evening meal”.

The response by the Hilton Metropole above is the usual corporate bingo stuff (cross off Covid, Key Worker, local community, reaching out etc). Maybe the manager should get off his arse and start managing?

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Catalina, scott1nthesky, sparkyflier, Bullfrog

[Swissdiver]

In preamble, the Swiss rules are not the same as the British’s. We do not have to prove a stay is essential. Also, hotels are allowed to open their restaurant(s) but only for their guests.

It is in my view acceptable that hotels reduce their offering during the pandemic as they just try to survive, like many. But I have to admit it is sometimes very frustrating. As an exemple, one hotel decided not to have a kitchen open between breakfast and dinner. So I had to bring my lunch from outside… Inconvenient but acceptable. What is though not acceptable is an uncleaned room or unwelcoming staff, as reported above. These shortcoming are moreover totally counterproductive since it is during difficult times that clients’ loyalty is won…

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scott1nthesky

[Montysaurus]

I stayed in the Brighton Metropole thrice in late 2019. My description of it would be “faded gentility “.

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DerekVH, scott1nthesky

[jsn55]

I’ve run into the “dead ice maker” a couple of times and can’t believe they’re blaming that on the virus! Quite ridiculous. As far as overall awful service at big hotels,seems as though that’s encountered every once in a while, virus or no. I always assume that the GM is someone’s brother-in-law and pays no attention to his job. That lackadaisical attitude filters all the way down the ranks and takes a long time to eradicate. I’ve stayed at the Brighton Hilton three times, and the last experience was positively ghastly. Service in the restaurant/bar was nonexistent, there was no heat in the room, and the shower mechanism fell off the wall twice. My husband called one evening, and nobody answered the phone at all the first 3 times; the fourth call was answered by someone with a very heavy accent who said “Hello” in stead of a normal hotel greeting … she seemed put out that she had to put his call through to me. I didn’t feel very well, otherwise I would have been out of there after the first night. Such a disappointment.

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Catalina

[Keith]

We just stayed at the Hilton Gateshead in a caring capacity The hotel know us very well and know we act as carers to a 90 year old so no “proof” questions just questions along the line of “how is your mum”.

Its very much room only with a very highly priced room service, ice machines out and breakfast is grab and go and no loitering BUT the friendly staff make it well worth staying and we usually get a nice upgrade (diamond in Hhonors) with a view of the river so we make the best of it and hope for better timees soon

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jsn55

[jsn55]

You’re reminding me of the SF Hilton where we stayed one night a week for 5 weeks in a row in November as I prepped for eye surgery. My much-loved diamond status got us nothing but a great view (not complaining). No ice, no room service, no exec lounge. It was almost comical having an experience like this at a Hilton.

[Author]

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