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| Customer reviews for the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hotel. Address: 66 Knightsbridge, London, England, UK, SW1X 7LA Comments are independent submissions by our website users and are not a reflection of our own opinion. Comments are validated by email and posted as written. |
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| Average Customer Rating: 1/10 (1 review) |
| Read reviews on other websites: >>>Superbreak >>>Tripadvisor |
| Milesfaster.co.uk customer reviews ↓ |
| Rating out of 10: 1 Date stayed: November 2006 review: We decided to stay at the Mandarin Oriental in London because we had heard good things about it. What a disappointment. It has a thin veneer which appears luxurious and welcoming but our experience there was no better than that we might receive at a motel, in fact it was worse. Our room was run-down and faced onto a building site which had pneumatic drills going all day, our towels were not changed and the furniture was very badly damaged. Some of the staff were very friendly and professional but, in general, they were ignorant and rude. We were constantly interrogated as to whether or not we were guests of the hotel if we dared to use any of the public areas and random charges were applied to use facilities that we had already paid for. Charges, I might add, that were sporadic and illogical. Within minutes of entering the bar, just after we first arrived, we faced a public grilling from the 'security' staff. This made us decide not to use any of the facilities at the hotel if we could possibly avoid it (having already unpacked and being on a tight schedule we were unable to simply change hotels). We even went out for breakfast rather than be embarrassed by the behaviour of the hotel staff. On our last night we decided to meet some other (more regular) guests in the bar (the hotel does not have a lounge) but were told the bar was full and we could not go in. An acceptable reason you might think but we were then told that we could go in if we paid a cover charge. Obviously this is a new meaning of the word ‘full’ that I was not previously aware of. This charge clearly did not apply to all customers so we called the manager of the hotel to complain. He confirmed our suspicion that the charge applied to non-residents, as is common practice on busy evenings. Having stayed in high quality hotels before, I would have expected this misunderstanding to be dealt with swiftly and discreetly. Unfortunately, we had to suffer the spectacle of a heated debate between the manager of the hotel and the bar manager and we were STILL told that there was a cover charge. I didn't begrudge the nominal fee they were demanding but I did begrudge the fact that the fee was applied so randomly. I will point out that I was asked three more times if I was prepared to pay the charge, once in front of our friends who, as regular guests, seemed to be even more embarrassed than us. I’m still at a loss as what these random charges and impertinent outbursts are designed to achieve. The hotel certainly wasn’t making much of a profit out of them and they didn’t seem to prevent anyone from entering the bar which was ‘full’. If they were attempting to appear exclusive they overestimate the standard of their bar. Although the bar staff themselves were clearly hard working and conscientious, we had to wait far too long to be served. On each occasion that we were treated in such an appalling manner, we remained polite and composed but the staff seemed to take pleasure in resenting their guests and disregarding our concerns. The pathetic excuses they gave us beggar belief. We have stayed in numerous luxury hotels around the world and have never before been told, “We have to keep asking if you are guests because the wrong people can damage the reputation of the hotel”. The outrageous nature of that comment aside, I couldn’t give two hoots about the commercial interests of a hotel that I am paying £400 a night to stay in. Apparently, guests are expected to provide free training on customer relations too. As I informed the 'security' staff on numerous occasions during our stay, ANY complaint can damage the reputation of a hotel. I might have been able to stomach the constant suspicion if I was not staying at a hotel that uses the words ‘opulent’, ‘chic’ and ‘superb’ to describe itself. The service certainly does have a “style of its own” though. We were bewildered by the whole experience until we discovered that several ‘celebrities’ were staying at the hotel while we were there. Apparently, because my personal wealth and success is not regularly publicised in the tabloids, my custom was not worth retaining. Incredible when I consider that the amount of money we gave to their competitors was almost 3 times what we paid for the room. But money isn’t the issue. It would be shallow to just bemoan the fact that I was treated badly even though I am wealthy. I make a point of never beginning a complaint with the phrase "don't you know who I am?" because that is simply not relevant. The truth is that EVERY guest should be treated with courtesy and respect no matter how often they appear on the television. The fact that I should even have to point out this basic principle of hospitality takes my breath away. The hotel's choice to make non-celebrity guests feel unwelcome was at best a commercial blunder, at worst ugly discrimination. Needless to say we will not be staying at this poor imitation of a luxury hotel again. I only wish I had packed my bags before staying one night. |