Swiss Tony

- What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum Ambassador

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

Booked a standard room at published rack rate, no upgrade received other than managing to get moved before arrival from a twin to a queen room.

- How are the rooms?

Reasonably furnished. Free fruit plate & water (assume for status). Very small double bed. Squeezy soap dispensers in shower and by sink which doesn't seem very much in keeping with the CP brand.

- How is the exec. lounge?
There isn't one. I was given a voucher for the bar at check in but no explanation. I got a free drink from it, but not sure what it actually entitled me to as there were different vouchers for different PC levels.

- What was good and what was bad?

Not much was good to be honest. Check in took ages, room was disappointing - I'd expect at least a king bed as a Plat. Lifts were slow...

- Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

I stayed because I had a very early flight from nearby City Airport the next morning. Including taxes it was about £165, so hardly a bargain. If I had to stay at that side of town again I might be tempted to try somewhere else as the status gave me little of use.

Note from Modeator:
Older post prior to this post could be found in the archive thread of this property:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/inter...ve-thread.html

Thank you
FLYGVA
Moderator IHG Forum

jonandmarkuk

- What is your Priority Club status?
Platinum

- Were you (or for multi-stayers are you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No

- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?

Booked a standard room, wasn't offered any upgrade at check in. Was later advised the 'upgrade' was a better view?

- How are the rooms?

Horrible, certainly didn't feel like a CP hotel. The bed bases were all stained and looked awful. I'm certainly in no rush to stay here again.

- How is the exec. lounge?
No lounge.

- What was good and what was bad?

Nothing really that good. I got a 'free' drink voucher. 1 drink for 2 people? The same sort of voucher I have had at other hotels with lower PC status.

- Value for $ or Priority Club Points? Would you return?

I have been offered an upgrade to a junior suite if I returned, but I'm not sure I would be willing to risk it as the hotel seemed to do very little to recognise the Platinum status and other than being a bigger room I can't see a junior suite being any better decorated than the standard rooms.

docklander

FWIW this property is a reflagged HI . From memory was done not so long after being built and opened in an area then severely lacking decent hotels - but clearly requiring them

chistery

There will be a lot more competition soon, as they are building more round there, and a new Sunborn Yacht will be floating in for a while as well.

I lived next door for a few years, the bar and grill are ok, and it's obviously very handy for the ExCeL centre. The bar can get very busy if there's an exhibition on, other nights it's very quiet. Service at the bar isn't that great. Shame, it's a nice space, just poorly executed. If the DLR or Jubilee line aren't running, it's a pain to get to.

As a plain ambassador I did get an upgrade when I booked a room for Sweet Dilemma, didn't bother staying. The view was direct into the flats next door. If you get a room facing the dock it probably would have been better. No explanation as to whether the water and fruit were free. Room was very small and dark. No explanation as to what the photocopied voucher was for attached to my key wallet.

On a nice day, the Novotel is a better place to spend some tine. You can sit on their terrace overlooking the dock, watch the planes flying into and out of city, and has better service.

pisquee

Have stayed here twice.

First time was our wedding night - were upgraded from a Jnr Suite to full suite with views over the dock and over to Canary Wharf. At the time I had little points and wasn't even Gold.
Lovely lounge area, and great bedroom, both of very good sizes. Massive TVs. Bowl of fruit, bottles of water, filter coffee machine, maybe a bottle of wine - can't remember as we had had quite a bit to drink already!

The views are amazing - the suites are on the corners of the building, having the views out over the dock from the bedroom, and the dock and wharf from the lounge/dining room. There is a wrap around balcony to get an even better experience of the views.

I admit that there isn't much in the vicinity of the hotel - a couple of restaurants, a couple of bars, and a couple of shops.

One of the things my wife and I love about this hotel, is that it is so peaceful to walk around the docks area - none of the noise and hustle/bustle of London - a nice escape from our everyday London lives.

We've eaten in the restaurant. The first stay (April 2009) for breakfast only - the morning of the wedding for me and my best man and ushers, and then the day after with my new wife! Both were very extensive, and had possibly everything I could imagine wanting for breakfast, including Prosecco!

We returned on our first anniversary. By now, from the wedding accommodation, and a Honeymoon with IHG, we were now Platinum. I booked the cheapest room, and we were upgraded to the same suite we had had for the wedding night.

We had lunch in the restaurant that day before we checked in, as the room wasn't ready - but, they were giving us the suite again, so I wasn't complaining!!!

The restaurant for proper meals is very good, and has won awards. It is also on TasteCard for 50% off. This new card on its first outing was more than paid for in this one meal! The hotel gave us free cake as a present for our anniversary.

The only let down of the return visit was the breakfast wasn't up to the standard of the previous year - hopefully this was a one off, and they haven't let this standard slip permanently.

We have not returned since to see how things have changed, but am sure we will.

Is good to have an IHG hotel ot far out of the city with pool, jacuzzi etc.

Swiss Tony

For details I won't go into, I found myself staying here once again.

Check in is still terrible - I just don't understand why they can't do this quicker - every party was taking an age.

Lifts - still dreadful - only two, and half way through our stay one of them broke down.

Rooms - better than I recall last time. We had a suite and a standard room - the suite came with a complimentary mini bar (yay!) but it was embarrassingly badly stocked - two small bottles of wine, two bottles of coke, 1 beer, 1 small chocolate bar. You could buy this lot in the Tesco next door for under £10 (except the wine would be better quality from Tesco).

Breakfast - we didn't have this last time, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised. Food was good quality, service was friendly and the place wasn't too busy - even at 9am on a Sunday.

No IHG status anymore so no perks going there.

I would stay again if I needed to be in the immediate vicinity and the price was right, but there's no way I would travel any distance to get here.

chrism20

Has anyone else been here recently?

I was considering making a reservation for August but am now having second thoughts after reading the reviews