Originally Posted by saaveraward

and now the full review of the HIX.... I mean "flagship" IC Park Lane

- checked in early as Spire and given first available room. upgraded pre-arrival to deluxe (but with a view of windows across the street staring back at me), paid difference in cash rate to exec. Safe doesn't work, stains on drapes, massive stains all over sofa, tub doesn't drain. Didn't say anything about it.

- hotel texted my phone under my name and another guest's name, so double the texts. When I texted back to stop texting me as a random guest who is not me, they apologized via text. Next day, kept getting texts for someone else.

- On day two construction noise started. Very loud, multiple hammers. Called downstairs. Duty manager claims via phone that with a massive, multi-million pound construction project, they have no clue what areas of the hotel will be worked on with any given day. Huh? No one from construction consults with the front office on what rooms to block? It's just complete roulette?

- Said I was going to attempt to take a brief nap despite the noise and please don't call my room and leave a message in the message center. 15 minutes later they call the room.

- Bellperson came up with new key to switch rooms. Walked in and it's two beds, no sofa any more. Room is so tight you can't get by the bed to sit in the one chair in the room. Called down and spoke with same person and asked him how he did not consider this a downgrade? Only other offer was to move to a one bedroom suite. Am I back in the construction zone? "I don't know." I exclaimed, "It's your hotel and you know more than I do. If you were a guest here where would you stay?" The response was "I guess I would keep the two bed room because I don't know if the other room will have construction." Told them to waive the upsell since they downgraded me. That was agreed to.

- Only after did water and shortbread cookies show up as an amenity. No recognition letter or property benefits listed throughout the stay.

- Came back around midnight on night two and pulled the duvet off of one of the bed. Multiple fresh blood spots and streaky stains throughout. Pillows too. Went to the other bed. Same. Texted photos. Called housekeeping who came at 00:30 and replaced linens on one of the beds, the other left bare. Tub doesn't drain again. Stains on the drapes in this room too.

- Went down the morning of day three to guest services and said I would like housekeeping at precisely 17:00 so I may be there to ensure clean sheets. This was agreed upon. There was no misunderstanding. At 17:20, with no one appearing, I went down to guest services and asked to be booked at another hotel since they were incapable of even providing clean sheets or doing anything that would signify a luxury hotel that is run correctly. Told guest services after the blood fiasco, I would have expected a note of apology from the GM under my door in the morning with their card and was insulted they blew off the housekeeping appointment. I asked to speak with the general manager. No one was produced and it was if that position did not exist. I agreed to let the guest services person come up to the room and they brought a housekeeping manager who viewed the photos. As linens were stripped away, they removed the pillowcases which had no pillow protectors and they were stained bright yellow from sweat (I had not noticed this the previous night). It was horrifying and disgusting. The runner of one bed had a very long, old blood stain. An hour later, and now late for a reservation, I at least had clean sheets.

- On day four I went down to the lobby for breakfast and ordered eggs benedict and toast for GBP 27. The eggs were nearly hard boiled. The english muffin was stone cold and was just taken out of the bag. The orange juice is from a jug. To add to this lovely experience, the restaurant manager decided to conduct his staff meeting in full view of the guests at 10:30. Considering I could hear every word of the meeting, I can tell you how much the lobby restaurant took in for food the following day, how much the till was rung for drinks, what the specials were and I can now correctly answer the staff quiz about what's in the bacon old fashioned. Oh, and of course, "Have a great day of hospitality!" I now feel appropriately trained to work at the IC Park Lane because about 15 minutes is all it takes.

- Later that day, when I got to the bottom of the tissue box in the bathroom, there were several pubic hairs in the box. I texted this photo and again demanded to speak with the GM. Of course, no reply from management. My only presumption is, this hotel is so cheap, they stuff tissue paper in to existing boxes thereby saving them 2P.

- On multiple occasions (and this is a recurring theme on previous stays), when I made eye contact with several door people and said "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" I'm met with a completely blank stare and no response whatsoever.

- From day three to five, I was harrangued by guest services with them calling the room every day to "check in." I told them I had given up and I was tired of telling them how to run a hotel and yet every day, instead of a note under the door or something non-invasive, a regular phone call, again waking me from my nap. "I called you several times but you were out." Then leave a message!

- Upon check out one of the upsell nights remained on the bill. Three people behind the desk were privy to this conversation and agreed it's not supposed to be there. I was not presented with a bill for the upsell. I did not sign for the upsell. Sure enough, when I reviewed my credit card statement at home, they charged me.

- E-mailed the hotel and of course they have no idea what I'm talking about but agreed to remove the charge. In the process of removing the charge, they charged an ADDITIONAL 100 GBP on my card. They then said this was "human error." The authorization remains on my card to this day.

In summary, if you like blood, sweat, public hairs, stains and a hotel without a single senior manager who you can talk to for five days (after four requests), this is the hotel for you.

In disclosure, I received the equivalent of one night of points refunded and an additional 20k from corporate when I opened a case file due to the ongoing issue post-syat. I did not ask for compensation throughout and said "all I want is clean sheets and to talk to a senior manager." I couldn't even manage that.

Score 2/10