joanek

it was so-so. For the first time in about 10 stays as a diamond I wasn't upgraded. Said the club floor was sold out. I asked for access to the club, and was told it was full. At that point I did ask to speak with a manager...and had the good fortune to meet the asst. rooms mgr. Who took control, apologized for the fact that they could accommodate me for the entire stay, and said things cleared out a bit after the weekend, and I could be upgraded then. I said I'd be happy to have club access for the second half of the stay, but didn't really see a reason to change rooms. He did root a round a bit and clicked some keys, so I believe I wound up with a nicer room than the one pre-assigned. I was also offered a day room so I could take a shower and clean up after the overnight flight. In about 45 minutes, they rang the temp room and said my "real" room was ready.
The room itself was fine, it was a front one, facing the park, so I could watch tennis each morning.

But, for the first time in all those stays, I had incredibly noisy neighbors on both sides. Noisy voice-wise, and noisy tv-wise.

Once in my room, I wanted to take a little power nap, to make up for not sleeping on the flight over. Just an hour or so. I set my alarm, but didn't need it. 15 minutes after closing my eyes, the folks next door arrived home and stood outside my room for a few minutes arguing about who had the key. I don't think it was the one with the shrill voice who was whining " I really really REALLY, I mean REALLY need to use the toilet NOW."
After letting the door slam shut, one of the pair, the one with the less shrill but still piercing voice was talking loudly on the phone about dinner plans, shopping, and the theatre, and then relaying it other person (who may have still been in the bathroom behind a closed door. That, or stone deaf, as the words were clear as day to me), then relaying their response to the person on the phone. (I didn't agree with their theatre reviews, and was tempted to slip a note under the door saying so.)
Over the next two days I learned that one of this pair had a hard time remembering to bring the map, but no problem standing outside the closed door and yelling "I forget the map".

The next morning the problem was on the other side: two shrieking children playing football/soccer against our shared wall, with one parent screaming at the other---starting at 730 am saturday. I gave up, went out for a walk at about 830 and then to breakfast. With a quick stop at the front desk to ask if either of those rooms were checking out that day. Neither was. I have a feeling the screaming family might have already had a complaint called in as the person on the desk looked at the screen, looked at me, looked at the screen again, and then said to not hesitate to call if the problem continued.

All was quiet when I came back at about 1045, but ball- against-wall started up again at about 11, now with addition of one parent screaming on the phone about business and a television blaring---it was enough that the person I was speaking to on the phone asked if I was at the airport. At that point, I gave up, called downstairs, and complained.
Someone came up to speak with them, the match ended, and I got a call from the office saying the folks were sorry and would be going out soon. The yelling was still going on when i left at 1145.

I had the experience of breakfast in the hotel dining room for the first time, and don't ever want to repeat that on a weekend. The first day I arrived downstairs to sea of people milling around. My cert may have allowed me to jump the line ---I was seated fairly quickly. After watching people pick through the buffet (and by pick through, i mean actually picking up items, sniffing them and putting them down again) I opted to order off the menu. Bad mistake on my part: I sat there for 20 minutes before my server came over to take the order, waited another 25 for the food, and found a hair in the eggs. Not on top, cooked into. As it's an open kitchen, i could seem them all looking at the eggs, and then at me...probably comparing hair color....it wasn't the same. I could also see the prep on the second plate, which took very little time to arrive.

It was equally crowded the second day, but my meal was faster and not half as stressful.

And as much as I was put out over being excluded from the club the first half of my stay, I do understand why they try to limit the number of people in there. I had a hard time finding a place to sit during breakfast the two days i was in there, and it was equally busy in the evening. One morning, I got up to get a glass of water, and returned to find someone had moved my (still full)plate and was reading my newspaper. He didn't even have the decency to apologize when I came back to the table, grunting "she told me to sit here." No "she's" working in the club that day, btw.

There were also severe elevator problems, so bad they directed us to the freight elevators on two days. Two of the three are in operation, but you'd see one of the cars travel a floor or two, and then sit for 10 minutes. And people were quite rude about pushing in front of those who'd been waiting for the elevator. I noticed a staffer standing and staring at the elevators each time I came through the lobby Sunday, so I'm sure there were complaints.

There was also a bit of excitement Monday evening ---a little protest out front regarding a "London Living Wage" for hotel workers, not the first time Hyatt has been picketed over this. Andaz was hit earlier this year.l (Hilton, and several other national hotel chains are already paying this minimum wage/benefits...you can find out more with a google)


All that said, it was an ok stay. The staff is always helpful, and the location is great for me.