Kagehitokiri

grumbler, have you stayed at the haymarket?

grumbler

This is a good question, and the answer is no. I have the chance to try it on an upcoming trip. Is it that different from the Soho, Charlotte Street and Covent Garden hotels that it will it change my mind ? I find the "chain" consistent enough in terms of approach that I wouldn't have thought so - but I am keen to be persuaded otherwise, because they are pretty fun places to stay.

Kagehitokiri

TMOTEE recommended it >
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....8&postcount=30

interesting magazine review >
http://flyertalk.com/forum/showpost....9&postcount=11

will be interesting to see how it is compared to One Aldwych by others here.

grumbler

Interesting. Might try it. My alternative to One Aldwych has generally been Brown's, but that's largely because the Mayfair location is close to where I have to do business.

RichardInSF

...and I got that odd bad room the two times I stayed there, so I stopped staying there! While everyone expects rooms to vary within a hotel, should a really great hotel have ANY bad rooms?

grumbler

My experience in the grand dame hotels is that you really have to book a fairly high category room to avoid this problem - and I agree with you, really great hotels should not have rooms that have significant variances in quality.

Raffles

No. And it has a problem in that the bar and restaurant are very heavily used by non-residents because of its position directly on Haymarket. I was in the bar before Christmas and it was heavily packed - you were lucky to find standing room yet alone a seat.

The pool is astounding but, again, they have a habit of renting it out for corporate functions and private parties so there is a chance it won't be available for guests. I have been to one party there and been in the hotel when another was going on.

grumbler

Drives me crazy as a paying guest to jockey for a place at my hotel's bar or restaurant. On a recent stay at the MO NY, I was pleased to see that the hotel routinely sets aside very good tables at the lobby bar for guests only.

vuittonsofstyle

OK, small convention - corporate business. I think that Firmdale feel they need to be in that market. I think they are wrong. It's like Aman thinking they need to build banqueting rooms!

grumbler

It's a hotel in a large city, where there is a need for these facilities - and the Firmdale hotels are currently hot, so you can understand why they would be a destination for even small scale events or meetings.

vuittonsofstyle

Sure, but as an individual guest, this would tend to make me avoid Haymarket, especially when I can stay at Firmdale's Soho, Charlotte St or Covent Garden hotels. Also, the location of Haymarket is very poor as this area is quite run down and full of tourists.

grumbler

You find Soho (and Covent Garden) more peaceful, less tourist crammed and not as run down ?

vuittonsofstyle

I do! Soho has a certain 'pink' charm to it, and great restaurants. Charlotte Street and Covent Garden are more about theatre, galleries, restaurants, whereas Haymarket is brutal, with endless tourist buses and crowds of people.

DrivingRain

I've become a devoted Mandarian Oriental London client. It certainly cant compare with the best in New York, Hong Kong, etc., but it has a unique combination of old-world charm & modernity that has become addictive in my relatively infrequent trips to London.

All this being said...
MO London is sold out late next week during my next visit, so I need an alternative. I'd like to try something more modern this time around. One Aldwych seems the likely choice. Does anyone have another suggestion, even if it teeters on the edge of being a luxuty hotel as we regualrs have come to define it in this forum?

I'm thinking maybe the FS Canary Wharf (which is a lux hotel) as I can get in at 175GBP over the weekend portion of the trip....

grumbler

You are more charitable than me - I find all of those locations heaving with tourists.

Driving Rain - if you are unsure about One Aldwych, my backup (as I have stated somewhere above) is Brown's - which also has that combination of old and new. Or (though I haven't yet stayed there) Duke's in St. James's.