Originally Posted by
corporate-wage-slave
I think the fast revolving door of staffing in London hotels is the problem there, it's easier to get that relationship if the staff stay put! The two London properties that I know are quite good at this are Hilton T4 (which has recently reopened) and Olympia. I think Canary Wharf was also quite good in this respect. West End, yes I have been reasonably pleased by my stays there, here is the thread and there are some photos I took in post 150. The room shown there must have been an upgrade, I tend to book the cheaper rooms.
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel London - West End {GBR}
Breakfast is in a basement area, and I'd prefer some natural light, but the service and food provision is good and they allocate senior staff to Diamonds. I don't stay often enough to know if the staff turnover is low though. I think I'm with you, I don't drink alcohol so lounge provision is something I can take or leave, but having a staff member who remembers you and your preferences can be priceless if handled well. Unfortunately, or possibly fortunately, I think we start from Ground Zero when we get over this pandemic. The trauma to London's hospitality sector is diffficult to overstate, and many, many people won't be coming back to it. But it does give the chance to rebuild business relationships and maybe we won't take human relationships quite as much for granted as before. So while I don't know whether DT West End will meet your needs going forward, I think you probably would find somewhere similar that does.
You make an excellent point! I forgot about that. Very true! My trips to London were usually the same time of year every year. I started staying at this property back in 2010 when it first became the Doubletree and rotated between this property and the Waldorf and Trafalgar simply based upon rate. Over time, I noticed that, if the staff was the same, it would help for room selection, etc. The problem was almost every year after some stays, all of the staff would be gone and I would start over again! My work around was to get to know a variety of people at the hotel - even the General Managers, who also sometimes would be at the property only a year! More recently, 2 of the people I have gotten to know well are the Cluster Manager (who handles multiple properties in London for the owning/managing company) and one of the Duty Managers, who has worked his way up at this property from first being an Intern. I have had drinks with the Cluster Manager a couple of times and been able to offer candid feedback about things great and not so great. Also, when staying for an extended period (most recently 3 weeks), it gave me a starting point of contact to lock in a room rate and possibly get one of my favorite rooms. My one challenge that I have experienced at this property and others is that they no longer have dedicated housekeeping staff. The trend is for a contracted crew to clean the rooms, but not be assigned to any specific rooms/floor. This results in the room being returned to position one every day and no ownership and/or incentive to caring about the room. (For this reason, tipping for excellent service is not an option since it is not the same person each day). Also, I experienced a number of times with all of my towels removed and none replaced. Days with no soap or shampoo and other days when I was left a dozen little bottles! I ended up laughing it off and would simply call to get towels and soap when needed. Thanks for sharing your earlier post about the property. I truly hope that by the time I am allowed to visit London again that the staff I know have retained their jobs and we can be happy to see each other again - even if things are not the same.