Doesn't seem to be a dedicated review thread, so I'll use this one to discuss a recent stay.
We just had a two-night stay. I used free night vouchers from the U.S. credit card. The stay was ok -- good, not great. As gold, we got a standard room. At check in the clerk didn't seem to understand the concept of a free night, and we were made to wait while he called a supervisor to explain why our rate was showing as zero (she had to explain that it was a free night.) The room was fine. Pretty large -- but just basically a big square with a credenza with a tv by the door and a nice bathroom. The closet was in the bathroom. We received two free drink vouchers -- we used them at the bar and they were pretty generous about what they would let us order. House drinks or specialty cocktails. I think maybe we got two free drinks because we had two separate reservations, so we got lucky there even though the two separate reservations caused some other annoyances.
The service was average. There were hotel employees everywhere -- like four manning the concierge desk and several doormen, but I think it was mostly for show. Upon check in we asked for them to remove some items from the mini-bar so we could use it to keep milk cold without getting charged by the automatic system, and it took nearly an hour for someone to come up. The concierge was misinformed about using Oyster to Gatwick, and our wake up call on departure day was 10 minutes late. One did help key me back up to my room when I did not have my key, so that was my main exposure to the hotel service.
Credit card authorization for charges was by far the most cumbersome I can remember at any U.K. hotel. Since we used two night certificates, it was in the system as two separate reservations, and while they let us keep the same room, it was not seemless to say the least. We had to complete two separate check ins, and for each, they took a 100 pound credit card charge. It wasn't just an authorization, but a full charge, which meant we had to stop back by the desk at check out, so they could process a refund. (My credit card shows the two separate 100 pound charges, but no refund yet, so I may need to chase that down.) Check in took about 10 to 15 minutes, and check out was a bit annoying, because not only did I need to produce the card so they could process the refund, but they actually offered the refund in converted dollars, which is totally lame and presumably would have cost me quite a bit in the dynamic conversion. We needed to get to Victoria to get to the airport, so the check out process seemed a bit unnecessary. Plus, because it was two separate reservations, of course, my key stopped working on the first day and we had to explain the situation and get a new key cut.
These are all minor annoyances, I suppose, but we had moved over from the Conrad, and the experiences were night and day.
The location is good, though May Fair is not exactly my cup of tea, and it was tough finding much interesting right around the hotel in the evening without walking quite a bit. Bed was firm but comfortable. Heavy manual curtains kept the light out in the morning, and there was plenty of room for our stuff. Shower was nice, but the gel and shampoo attached to the wall was tacky. Breakfast was 30 pounds per person, so we decided against it -- they offered at check in to prepay for all in our party for both days for 22.50 per person per day, but we decided against that too. Had a snack in the bar with our free drinks -- it was expensive but very tasty.
They put out a nice tower of little candies and mints each evening, which was a nice touch and seemed to be a big hit with the kids.
Probably a little less than gracious to complain about two free nights in a 300 pound per night hotel, but if I were paying cash I can't imagine this would be a top choice.