Luxury Hotels - Corinthia hotel -- London

This is a relatively new hotel in Whitehall Place that has yet to get its act together. It is neither Virtuoso nor Amex FHR, but I booked a special online deal through Amex (third night free, GBP100 room credit, continental breakfast) that reduced to cost for an executive room, the largest non-suite, to about GBP300 a night.

However, unbeknownst to me, I was put into a room one level lower than the executive room I booked. I found this out only when I switched rooms due to a lack of mobile reception (Orange/t-mobile) and finally got the room type I requested.

I find this deception inexcusable. It's the first time it's knowingly happened to me in a luxury hotel.

Not only is mobile reception a problem -- something which, after I experienced the problem, the hotel told me multiple times they knew about -- but wireless access, while free for all guests, is also quite slow.

The bathroom has a rain shower and a second shower head which wobbled around unstably when I tried to use it. There are double sinks which is nice. Every room has a kind of hallway entry which some may appreciate but I felt was a waste of space. Toiletries are by a company named ESPA and are fine.

The continental breakfast was ordinary. The croissant and pain chocolat had clearly been sitting around for a while before being sent to me.

The location is convenient to Charing Cross station and the west end. It's not that good for shopping or museums.

Overall the hotel has potential but I doubt that I'll be back unless some of you FT experts report evidence of improvement.

Interesting. I'm at the Savoy now and hate it. There is no food service at the bars and a Tuxedo is required to walk thru the lobby.

Interesting. I'm at the Savoy now and hate it. There is no food service at the bars and a Tuxedo is required to walk thru the lobby.

Mike,

One of the funnier posts I've read on here in a while. Why, why, why did you book at the Savoy? By all means, move to somewhere better--there are plenty of choices.

Mike,

One of the funnier posts I've read on here in a while. Why, why, why did you book at the Savoy? By all means, move to somewhere better--there are plenty of choices.
I am. I screwed up. This a fine hotel, but not to my style. I'm moving to the lower key Lanesborough in a few hours after viewing the Hockney exhibit.

I just really dislike hotels that require a tuxedo to walk thought the lobby and a tie to do your business in the loo.

You don't need a tux at the Corinthia, although the most convenient entrance from Trafalgar Square/Charing Cross is locked tight at night and you do get to walk all around the building as an extra bonus.

Now I am wondering what a tie is used for in the Savoy loo.... :)

Corinthia can be very cheap, though. I have seen it advertised at £199 recently whichis crazy for a ludicrousy expensively bult five star given that you can pay £150 for a Holiday Inn Express in London these days.

Indeed it can be really cheap and the service reflects that.

Today I tried the Sunday brunch, GBP35+service for 3 courses and a glass of Piper NV champagne. This is an excellent deal and it would have it been a great experience had they not made a mistake on the bill in their favor, which I had to ask them to rectify.

They also do a 3 course weekday lunch for GBP25+service without the champers which, if it was of similar quality to the Sunday brunch, would also be a good deal.

Edited to add: I hate to keep knocking this hotel but this morning (my last) the fancy digital TV put itself into some weird non-functioning mode. The way it is mounted means I will have to call engineering to do a reset (i.e., there is no guest access to the plug that I can see). Also, I think the internet service functions in such a way that some sites I use regularly -- like email -- actually won't load properly and many others require being reloaded to get to work.

I just really dislike hotels that require a tuxedo to walk thought the lobby and a tie to do your business in the loo.

Dress code at the Savoy is really not especially strict. The Ritz is the last I'm aware of in London, but even they've just watered down their policy.

Dress code at the Savoy is really not especially strict. The Ritz is the last I'm aware of in London, but even they've just watered down their policy.

Savoy is very casual. Most of the customers in the River Restaurant must be on cheapo Groupon deals, looking at the frequency of Groupon promos for that place I get!

Savoy is very casual. Most of the customers in the River Restaurant must be on cheapo Groupon deals, looking at the frequency of Groupon promos for that place I get!

Oh dear...

http://www.fairmont.com/savoy/GuestServices/Restaurants/Overview.htm
odd variation...

Smart Casual, No Sportswear [yes shorts]
- river restaurant
- american bar
- beaufort bar
- thames foyer

Smart Casual [yes sportswear and shorts]
- simpson's in the strand

Smart casual, no shorts or sportswear
Smart trainers and denim are acceptable
- savoy grill

http://www.theritzlondon.com/restaurant/dining-en.html

jacket and tie; jeans are not permitted; sports shoes are not permitted
- restaurant
- palm court

smart attire is a must; jackets are required; sports shoes are not permitted [jeans??]
- rivoli bar

smart casual
- cigar shop and tasting room

Oh dear...

Indeed, here is one of them:

http://www.selected.telegraph.co.uk/London/fooddrink/threecourse-meal-and-champagne-at-the-savoy-for-pound39/400

with 483 sold just from this one

Indeed, here is one of them:

http://www.selected.telegraph.co.uk/London/fooddrink/threecourse-meal-and-champagne-at-the-savoy-for-pound39/400

with 483 sold just from this one

39 pounds no less! This makes for one of the most inexpensive deals in London.

Indeed it can be really cheap and the service reflects that.

Today I tried the Sunday brunch, GBP35+service for 3 courses and a glass of Piper NV champagne. This is an excellent deal and it would have it been a great experience had they not made a mistake on the bill in their favor, which I had to ask them to rectify.

They also do a 3 course weekday lunch for GBP25+service without the champers which, if it was of similar quality to the Sunday brunch, would also be a good deal.

Edited to add: I hate to keep knocking this hotel but this morning (my last) the fancy digital TV put itself into some weird non-functioning mode. The way it is mounted means I will have to call engineering to do a reset (i.e., there is no guest access to the plug that I can see). Also, I think the internet service functions in such a way that some sites I use regularly -- like email -- actually won't load properly and many others require being reloaded to get to work.

My last 2 nights in London is booked here. Now I wonder if I should cancel. Slow internet speed in particular is a pet peeve of mine. And so is a bad breakfast :(

When I was leaving the hotel, a hotel manager came up to me as I was getting into the cab to say that my first room WAS an executive room, it just was a smaller one. This proves two things:

1. They read FT, I hadn't mentioned this to anyone at the hotel.

2. All executive rooms are equal, but some are more equal than others.

The internet thing is really strange. Using the exact same laptop, two different email sites which loaded fine both immediately before and after my stay, didn't work at the Corinthia. One of them I fixed by clearing the browser cache but the other didn't work period. Also some problems with Facebook there.

The internet thing is really strange. Using the exact same laptop, two different email sites which loaded fine both immediately before and after my stay, didn't work at the Corinthia. One of them I fixed by clearing the browser cache but the other didn't work period. Also some problems with Facebook there.

Think it is a IP related issue. My guess is maybe the hotel provides free internet but tries to save cost by providing low bandwidth internet connection and to give the "illusion" of high speed, the IP might be caching recently accessed webpages to improve the speed. This can cause problems with web-based email sites like yahoo or gmail. Really strange if they are trying to cut cost on this. I have stayed at Sofitel and Four Seasons while in London and both hotels have blisteringly fast internet connection with no problems at all. For the Sofitel, it's free also.

I was at Four Seasons Hampshire last week and they have started 2 tier internet, £12 for normal and £18 for fast. Bit of a swizz since 'normal' is presumaby just the fast version artificially slowed down! Luckily fee was waived as I was in a suite booked via Virtuoso.

This is a relatively new hotel in Whitehall Place that has yet to get its act together. It is neither Virtuoso nor Amex FHR, but I booked a special online deal through Amex (third night free, GBP100 room credit, continental breakfast) that reduced to cost for an executive room, the largest non-suite, to about GBP300 a night.

However, unbeknownst to me, I was put into a room one level lower than the executive room I booked. I found this out only when I switched rooms due to a lack of mobile reception (Orange/t-mobile) and finally got the room type I requested.

I find this deception inexcusable. It's the first time it's knowingly happened to me in a luxury hotel.

Not only is mobile reception a problem -- something which, after I experienced the problem, the hotel told me multiple times they knew about -- but wireless access, while free for all guests, is also quite slow.

The bathroom has a rain shower and a second shower head which wobbled around unstably when I tried to use it. There are double sinks which is nice. Every room has a kind of hallway entry which some may appreciate but I felt was a waste of space. Toiletries are by a company named ESPA and are fine.

The continental breakfast was ordinary. The croissant and pain chocolat had clearly been sitting around for a while before being sent to me.

The location is convenient to Charing Cross station and the west end. It's not that good for shopping or museums.

Overall the hotel has potential but I doubt that I'll be back unless some of you FT experts report evidence of improvement.
Thank you for your feedback regarding our hotel, we were very sorry to hear about your experience during your recent stay with us.

The ‘Mega Sale’ package you booked on our website was a limited time package for £249 offering 2 nights for the price of one. It was designed as an invitation to come experience our hospitality and get a feel for our location, which is a 5-10 minute walk to the Southbank, Covent Garden, Westminster, Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. I am sorry to hear that you did receive the upmost quality experience that we aim to deliver to all of our guests. I am personally looking into the issues you mentioned and have begun to address these with my team.

Averaging 45m² (making them among the largest in their category in London’s luxury hotel market), our rooms do vary in shape & therefore layout. Looking at the Executive room which you were originally allocated, I can see that it has a walk-in wardrobe (which applies to 75% of all of our guest rooms) whereas the Executive room which you were later given does not, hence affecting the rooms configuration. However, I do appreciate that this may have made the later of the two rooms appear more spacious and therefore more likely to be an executive room.

With regards to the mobile reception, as we have an access point outside of that guest room door, we don’t believe that signal strength could have been the issue. However, we are looking into this further and are constantly working to maximise the reception on as many mobile servers as is possible.

Our wireless internet connection is complimentary within the hotel and generally functions well, however as a Victorian building (and the ex- Ministry of Defence Head Quarters) it is possible that our connection may be slower in some areas. We can begin to narrow down these areas with such feedback, so thank you very much for providing us with this. Another reason you may have experienced slower connectivity is that the wireless system does timeout every 30 minutes for privacy/protection reasons. I am discussing extending this time period with our technical team after reading your feedback.

I do hope that you will contact us if there are any other questions that we can address. We understand the power of a first impression however we hope that you will chose to experience Corinthia Hotel London again in the future.

- Executive Assistant Manager, Corinthia Hotel London

Thank you for your feedback regarding our hotel, we were very sorry to hear about your experience during your recent stay with us.

The ‘Mega Sale’ package you booked on our website was a limited time package for £249 offering 2 nights for the price of one. It was designed as an invitation to come experience our hospitality and get a feel for our location, which is a 5-10 minute walk to the Southbank, Covent Garden, Westminster, Soho, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. I am sorry to hear that you did receive the upmost quality experience that we aim to deliver to all of our guests. I am personally looking into the issues you mentioned and have begun to address these with my team.

Averaging 45m² (making them among the largest in their category in London’s luxury hotel market), our rooms do vary in shape & therefore layout. Looking at the Executive room which you were originally allocated, I can see that it has a walk-in wardrobe (which applies to 75% of all of our guest rooms) whereas the Executive room which you were later given does not, hence affecting the rooms configuration. However, I do appreciate that this may have made the later of the two rooms appear more spacious and therefore more likely to be an executive room.

With regards to the mobile reception, as we have an access point outside of that guest room door, we don’t believe that signal strength could have been the issue. However, we are looking into this further and are constantly working to maximise the reception on as many mobile servers as is possible.

Our wireless internet connection is complimentary within the hotel and generally functions well, however as a Victorian building (and the ex- Ministry of Defence Head Quarters) it is possible that our connection may be slower in some areas. We can begin to narrow down these areas with such feedback, so thank you very much for providing us with this. Another reason you may have experienced slower connectivity is that the wireless system does timeout every 30 minutes for privacy/protection reasons. I am discussing extending this time period with our technical team after reading your feedback.

I do hope that you will contact us if there are any other questions that we can address. We understand the power of a first impression however we hope that you will chose to experience Corinthia Hotel London again in the future.

- Executive Assistant Manager, Corinthia Hotel London


Thank you for taking the time to post a reply. It's always nice to see a hotel pro-actively monitor and engage in this forum.

We have an AMX Plat card and an email alerted us to a pay for 2nites get 1 free at this hotel for dates up to May 31, 2012. Still hesitant to book. For the dates we would be interested in (4 nites) 1148.40 GPB. Must use AMX code to access the rate.