tinnub

From Marble Arch tube station, assuming you are on Oxford, go two blocks (towards Oxford Circus), make a left where "Next" store is. Walk two blocks towards Portman Square. The street where you turn left is across from the large store going out of business. Hope this helps, but any one on Oxford or at the tube station should be able to direct you. It is very easy. Enjoy your stay.

gregorygrady

Thanks for the great information kawoh!!! Very useful indeed. Due to the many posts here saying a car is useless (and obviously a money pit) in central London, I have looked around and decided to book at Alamo since they have a location at Marble Arch. Unfortunately it's just under 1/10th of a mile into the "congested pay-zone". Yep, about 500 ft between Marble Arch Tube station and The Churchill, and then The Churchill is another 200 or so feet from the Alamo location on Bryanston St. Anyways, to answer your question RTWSTARALLIANCE, you can find maps on Mapquest. Also in all honesty, Alamo has an outstanding Mapping Tool (it says it's powered by "Maporama" which I've never used before I saw it on the Alamo website). It is better than Mapquest IMHO for foreign destinations, I also used it for Australia a week or two ago. You can even zoom close in and see which way the traffic flows on each one-way street. But it has Marble Arch and Portman Sq clearly identified so you might want to check out Alamo's Mapping Tool. Just pull up the Map for the Marble Arch Alamo Location. It is then interactive and you can move the map, zoom, enter a new address or site, etc.

So my next question is: how closely do they watch you in the congested zone? Can I safely drive my car 1 block into the congested zone on a Friday afternoon (~2pm) to return my car and not have to pay the $10 "congestion-zone" fee. Or am I SOL? Maybe I can leave my car on the other side of the congestion-zone and run to Alamo and point to my car and have them pick it up. Oh well, I guess shelling out the $10 is still cheaper and (probably) more convenient than dropping my car back at Heathrow and then taking the Heathrow Express/Taxi route and/or switching lines on the Underground like kawoh suggested, although that is probably the route I will be taking on my way back.

kawoh

get out of marble arch, turn left, walk past "KFC" on the left hand side, after KFC, there is a street turn left there, walk up the street all the way up until you hit a dead end. There, turn RIGHT and walk about 30m. Directly on your left hand side, next to the Traffic Light, is the Hyatt Regency Churchill. You'll need to turn left at the traffic light as the entrance is on that street.

Saves you trudging through all the crowds on oxford st.

divaof travel

It is constantly monitored by cameras at each entry point.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I noted herein a suggestion to buy a 30 day T Mobile pass here in the US before going to London. I then understand I can use this at BT Openzones. Is there a BT Openzone or frankly T Mobile "zone" at the Churchill? Thanks

gregorygrady

No, the Churchill has a different wireless internet system (not BT Openzone and not T Mobile) that costs £15 ($30) per 24 hours. I'm not sure if a T-Mobile card would work.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

I guess it is only the US Hotels that are getting T Mobile. They keep advertising it. I thought it was systemwide.

kawoh

no t-mobile wireless in the hotel, you need to go to mcdonalds on oxford st or a starbucks unfortunately. Internet is available on broadband (cable) in the room - as stated 15 pounds per 24 hour period (not noon to noon)

i would not suggest dialup - rates for local calls are timed and high.

RTWSTARALLIANCE

OK. 15 pounds for 24 hours. Maybe I will get points and I know I can write it off. Beats a walk to McDonalds let alone the temptation for a burger.

shinbal

My stay here was a 10, from check-in, to check-out. If there's a way to make a Diamond feel welcome and like a valued guest, they did it.

I was here on a 3-night award stay with points, standard room. I indicated in my reservation comments that I was spending my birthday with them, and that any help upgrading would be appreciated. (You may now throw rocks at me for my shameless self-promotion to the hotel )

We arrived into LHR at 6:30, and after passing through Immigration decided to take the Tube to Marble Arch. Close to 90 minutes all in with walking time, but I thought we were way too early for an "early" check-in. So we arrived at the hotel at about 8:30.

Immediately upon announcing our arrival, the smiling desk agent announced "Happy Birthday, Mr. Shinbal, and Welcome to London and The Churchill". We were then escorted to the RC Check-in on the 8th floor, as it was explained to us that we had been upgraded there.

The RC Concierge repeated the greeting and well-wishes and offered a choice. We could get in immediately to a king room with no park view, or wait a few hours for an even larger room. We took the available room. It was a great size King room with a wonderful bathroom. I know many people have posted here about the huge rooms they've gotten. I hope on a future visit there to get into one of them....but honestly, for an award room, the RC upgrade was already tremendous. An 8:30AM check-in was even better.

On return to the hotel later, we found a bottle of wine and a birthday note from the GM, along with a plate of chocolate truffles, with "Happy Birthday" etched in chocolate. OK. I'm done. They win.

We ate a little bit in the hotel at the seafood-type restaurant later that evening, but didn't eat much (still full from tea at Claridges). Service was nice, food was good.

Concierges in RC were tremendously helpful. We had an issue with the pants press in our room, and an engineer was there to try and fix it....and ended up replacing it. Everything was done quickly after request.

I don't quite know what to say about the Regency Club Lounge itself. What a spread! The service was excellent, and the food always seemed to be just-refreshed. It goes easily in my book as one of the best...if not THE best lounge of any Hyatt I've visited.

I received a small amenity of fruit each day, and the housekeeper, seeing the bottles of water and soda we'd bring in from the lounge, ended up having them in the room and iced for us each night. Yikes.

I've written a note to consumer affairs telling them in general terms of my visit, and in specific some of the staffers who made it great. I remember reading BoulderHyattHopper's thread that was titled, "Can I Just Say Fabulous, Back to the Hyatt Touch" about this hotel. I will jump on that bandwagon. I feel like the staff at the Churchill went out of their way and were incredible on this stay. I hope that others who go here experience what I did.

On a similar note: For those going here and considering transportation options, I posted a thread for opinions on taking the Tube from LHR. We had little luggage and were not pressed for time. 8 Pounds for two of us, each way. It's a significant savings over other options, for less than 90 minutes and a few tube changes. It's NOT for those in a hurry or with lots 'o bags. Anyway, here's the link and varied opinions. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=475833

BoulderHyattHopper

I am glad my post lived up to your expectations. Hmm, let's see we are heading out to 8 nights at this fab property and my birthday IS coming up. Too bad Nick's (2 year old BHH) just had his. They love him there. But IHH and Mrs. IHH are coming too! Should be a great trip, expect another post like this one!!!

Who was working in the RC? Tatiana? Muhammed? Jorge???

Any other tips on London???

divaof travel

This is a damn expensive revenue room. I will be there tomorrow nigt at about $370. I will skip a night and come back again. But if I were not on the expense account, I wouldn't even consider this.

Interesting about the birthday comments, as I will be there on my birthday this week, away from my family.......

lalala

We're going in November to celebrate TH's bd and the completion of her general exams. I'll make a note of her birthday before check in.

I think this hotel is worth the 290 or so a night that we pay (gov't rate) for the service alone, they are stars of the hyatt system.

Happy belated birthday to all of you!

lala

gregorygrady

I didn't actually mean to infer that he should be paying $370 for it. I stayed there earlier this year on a paid stay and I too was on the company dime and surely wouldn't have paid those prices on my own dime. So I definitely know how expensive that place as well as most other hotels in Europe can be. What I meant by my post is that it kills me that someone would use 15,000 points when free FFN award nights could be used instead.............

stephem

I am just completing a stay here this morning, arrived Saturday morning in from the States and was brought up to the RC level for check-in. Very good service, vey nice staff all along the way. Overall this is a solid 4 star property, service is very close to 5 star though (very good staff ratio, especially on the RC floors).

I had gathered up some FT'er 10/31 expiring Suite Upgrade certs a few weeks ago and so presented one of these. We were upgraded to a JR Suite on the 9th floor. It's a very nice room, a tad shy of 5 star in my opinion. Much nicer than the Sheraton Park Lane which is where I have stayed in the past. But it's odd, there is a balcony outside that you can't access and a wall that pretty much blocks the view down to the park. But it does cut down traffic noise. Room size in the jr suite is good, approximately 2x the size of a normal room. My wife is along, so the extra space was welcomed. The bed is pretty weak in my view, nothing like what Hyatt and SW have in the states. Kind of hard, no pillowtop or featherbed. The bathroom has some nice materials, but it has a few rough finishing jobs from a refurb that in my opinion detract from it's overall rating. But it is good sized, separate shower and bath and plenty of room for two to get ready.

The Club is very nice. Breakfast is a good continental spread, fresh squeezed juices, a latte machine. No need to venture out for breakfast. Great friendly service here too! Also, good extended hours, the club isnt just open for 90 minutes, so late risers will appreciate that. We dropped into the Club for drinks last night and also really enjoyed the light spread. This is really light years ahead of most other Clubs at both Hyatts and SW's.

The only minus was the internet went down most of Sunday and I was trying to prepare for meetings. It was a pain but they fixed it as soon as they could.

Lots of good food options within walking distance. The indian place one block away was very nice and good food too. There is a Wagamama a block of two away on Wigmore. Lots of places a few blocks down Wigmore and then right toward Oxford Street.

Cab was about 60 pounds with tip from LHR, I saw the threads about the train options but we have two 60lb bags and various carry ons. That didnt sound fun given our jet lagged state.

Again, the service was right on, they left us in our room and didnt disturb us as we napped to sleep off the flight, but were in there to clean it (or do turn down) on a moments notice when we stepped out for a quick coffee. They clearly keep track of you on the RC floors. We had a number of special requests that were handled expertly. I arrived with the flu, tried to fight it for a day and then realized I needed a doctor to make it thru the rest of my trip. It was late in the evening and I called the front desk in the hope they could get me something for the next morning. The duty manager had a doctor call me back within about an hour and the doctor made a visit to our room around 9pm, bringing antibiotics and other medicines. All this was billed to my hotel room with a receipt for insurance reimbursement. It was not cheap but I am here on work and couldnt afford to miss my meetings. We were also in the middle of finalizing a real estate deal at home, and it was like having a personal assistant here. They took expert care of all the faxing and deliveries we needed done. It's been a while since I've had such personalized service.