Shantanu

I personally feel the way you were treated was absolutely ridiculous. You should not have to suffer in that way. Did you complain?

I must say though, I don't entirely agree with you about the statement regarding bathrooms. Yes, in Europe, there are some historical buildings used as hotels, many of which have tiny bathrooms, however, I have generally experienced fabulous bathrooms here in Europe, especially in Germany and Spain (such as Westin Valencia & Palace Madrid), not so much in Britain and France.....and not so large ones when in New York, Boston and DC. Though, some historical buildings have amazing bathrooms too. The Trianon Palace in Versailles had some rooms with bathrooms as large as the bedroom itself....but then again, you get bathrooms such as those in LM Barcelona which, in my opinion, are actually cupboards with facilities and not bathrooms at all! It would be fair to say that there is a huge variation in standard and size in Europe.

Most of all though, I feel many chains, especially Starwood, have not controlled the standards of many of the more expensive European properties. Excluding the Lanesborough, Starwood fails to have a decent, quality presence in London, whereas, there are in fact many fine hotels in London.....and many with decent sized bathrooms and good plumbing!

BlissWorld

Totally agree. Even Lanesborough is a little too old for my taste. W London?

DCGuy

One can dream.

wintermom

And here I thought the bathroom at the LM in Barcelona was very
nice! I guess I need to get out more

MikeBOS

I just stayed here for one night, and I have to say I was happy to leave. Relative to the Park Tower, which I have stayed in many times, there is no comparison. The Belgravia is run down, understaffed, and generally feels like it has seen (much) better days. The service is responsive when you can get someone's attention, but they have only one person at the front desk (it is literally a desk), and you can wait for 20 minutes or more to check in or out, which seems unacceptable. I booked 2 rooms, requesting adjoining or connecting rooms, and got one room on the 2nd floor, the other on the 4th floor. I did get upgraded to a full suite for one room (no upgrade for the other), but it was not impressive. Stains on the walls, worn furniture, barely functional TV. The bed was fine though. I requested 4pm checkout for both rooms, and was told it was fine at check in. The next morning, when I went to verify, they told me I had to vacate one room immediately and could only get late checkout on the other one.

Relative to the Park Tower, I'd say the upgrades are better, though I'd prefer a standard room at the Park Tower over a suite at the Belgravia. Service is marginal at both places, but the rooms are much, much nicer at the Park Tower. I don't expect that I will be staying at the Belgravia again.

genoval

I know it is very expensive, but how much is it ? Can you pay with starpoints? If not, what is the best option for breakfast outside the hotel.

luxe

Continental buffet breakfast is GBP18.00 - fruit, yogurt, cold cuts, cheese, toast.
For extra GBP3.00 you can upgrade the above buffet to either English or American breakfast. These prices include taxes but not service.
Last time I stayed, I simply ordered incredible eggs benedict, I believe, from their a la carte menu. Nothing immediately outside the hotel, unless you walk to King's Road, I think.

vandalby

Just walk down Pont or Beauchamp toward Brompton (and up / down Brompton). Plenty of cafes for a nice breakfast.

luxe

Yes, you can arrange to pay for the breakfast with starpoints through the front desk, upon arrival.

luxe

Checked Beauchamp Place on Google for my next stay. It looks like a nice street: http://tinyurl.com/beauchamp-pl

GlobalTrotterette

DCGuy, you jest - and yet the SPG 2Q09 presentation shows a new W hotel to be built in Leicester Square.

You can load up the report yourself at:
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/corpor...relations.html

On an additional nerdy analytical note, in the May 2009 investor analysis you can also say that SPG has some interesting growth targets set - 95,000 more rooms in the next few years, vs. 294,000 existing, about 32% growth! With a supposed 80-100 more hotels opening in 2009 alone (and aimed at the 'upper luxury' segments that I enjoy), I feel like my SPG points and status get to be better and better travel value every year...

Not that management consultants always do analysis like this just for fun

fljbrs

I just found that information when I was trying to book a room for next January. There was no availability, which seemed quite strange, so I checked the "special conditions" ant it's there...it will leave the Starwood system in January 2010.

Very bad news for all of us who love that hotel and the excellent treatment they usually give to Platinum guests. It has been my first option in London for several years now, and I'm really sorry for this. Two of my favourites hotels (Sheraton Bilbao and Sheraton Belgravia), where I used to stay quiet a number of night every year will not be Starwood ones anymore...bad, bad news
Anybody knows the reason for this? And what will happen with the hotel, which brand will take over it?

BobbySteel

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry8700c: BlackBerry9630/4.7.1.42 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

Wow sad. Despite its flaws I always had very good treatment here.

vandalby

What a shame to hear that this property is leaving Starwood. I would say that it was my #3 after the Sheraton Park Tower (location and best rooms) and the Le Meridien Piccadilly (location and vastly improving treatement of Plats.)

I think the major drawback to the Belgravia was the proximity to the Tube - if that was your primary means of getting around London, this property wasn't a great option.

Their Platinum treatment was excellent - I believe I was upgraded on every stay that I ever had here.

luxe

I also liked this hotel very much and will be sorry to see it leave. As far as the reason - I hear that the hotel will be closed on December 31st 2009 for what seems like a massive renovation. When it is all done, I am hoping that the owners will choose to stay with Starwood maybe even under a non-Sheraton brand.