Dec 31, 2013, 7:20 am
Last edit by: starflyergold
This thread is for brief reports on stays by Le Club members at Accor group hotels. For fuller reviews, please search the forum to see whether the hotel already has its own thread. (If if it hasn't, you might consider starting one.)
Please copy and paste the following to format your reply:
- Name of the hotel:
- What is your Le Club status?
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
- How are the rooms?
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
Bad:
- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Please copy and paste the following to format your reply:
- Name of the hotel:
- What is your Le Club status?
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
- How are the rooms?
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
Bad:
- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
The "Please post your Le Club Elite experiences" 2014 master thread
Dec 24, 2014, 10:04 am
#316
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Boston, MA, USA
Programs: FB LTPE, BAEC GGL, EK Blue, SK Gold, Marriott Amb+LTT, IHG Diamond Amb, Accorhotels Silver
Posts: 1,960
Could not agree more. This place is way too dated and is not properly in Miami, but at the airport. Should be called Sofitel Miami Airport to be completely fair.
However, the restaurant is really good. Unfortunately, rooms look more like Hampton Inn than Sofitel.
However, the restaurant is really good. Unfortunately, rooms look more like Hampton Inn than Sofitel.
Dec 31, 2014, 7:51 am
#317
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Paris, France
Programs: AF/KL Flying Blue Platinum for life/Club2000 Ultimate, Accor ALL Diamond
Posts: 21,928
Novotel London Paddington
- Name of the hotel: Novotel London Paddington
- What is your Le Club status?
Platinum
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No - too many problems for this 2 nights stay. This was my 2nd stay in this hotel (the 1st one some years ago was OK).
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior room with queen size bed + sofa (for 3 adults in the room). Technically, I guess (because nothing was said) that we received an upgrade to what they call executive room which is the superior room but with extra amenities (bathrobes, slippers and a Nespresso machine). About this, to Accor people : when a room is booked for 3 adults, it could be good to put 3 bathrobes and 3 pairs of slippers instead of 2. We were later moved to a suite but this was not linked to a Club upgrade (details below).
Drink voucher was given at check-in.
- How are the rooms?
typical European Novotel rooms with their pros & cons. Definitely too small for 3 adults with suitcases (but I'm not blaming them for this)
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- location : walking distance from Paddington station. Nice modern area near a canal with several restaurants at 5 min walking.
- modern style of building/lobby/restaurant
- nice staff in general
- good breakfast
Bad:
So here's the story : checked-in around 9 pm. We went to our room just to drop luggages and we went out almost immediately to have dinner in the area along the canal. We went back to the hotel at around 11pm and were not able to open the room door with any of the 3 keys given at check-in. I then took the lift to go to the reception and in the lift there was the lady we saw at check-in. I explained her the pb and she told me that she would come back in a few minutes with the re-programmed keys. 5 good min later, she came back but again, none of the 3 keys were working (still the red light blinking). She left again (embarrassed of course) and came back 5-10 min later with new keys and her master key. None of them were working (including her master key). So, started a ballet of staff members all trying to open this door without success. Then they said that they would put us in a suite for the night but of course without any of our items (clothes, toiletry, etc) because there is nothing more than can do before the morning as no maintenance staff is on duty at night at this hotel...We were pretty upset (and tired) as you can imagine and you wonder how we would have done if we had to leave the hotel early the following morning (it was not the case fortunately as we were there for 2 nights). So we asked them to try again. Another guy tried with his master key and after about the 10th try, the green light appears magically on the door ! He said logically that we could not stay in this room as the origin of the pb was not identified. He then gave us 3 keys for a suite on another floor. We took all our stuff by ourselves (the guy was already back downstairs), being sure to not have to reopen the door
. After having had to cross several fire-proof doors with luggage (which is not easy) and arrived at the other floor in from of our new room...guess what...none of the 3 keys were working 
Starting to be very tired and mad of this joke (which was lasting for about 45 min), I went down again at the front desk. The guy apologized and gave me immediately another drink voucher 
. I thank him but said that was not what I'm looking for at the moment and so he said "we'll give you another room"....It was this time the same room category we originally booked. As it was on another floor, I took the precaution to ask him to come with me first to try this 3rd room before we move again all our bags. I was inspired to ask this because guess what again...impossible to open the door with the "regular keys" but only with his master key. So we went back to the suite door and he was also able to open it with his master key. So we decided to stay in the suite. But he told us that we would have to change room the next morning as all the suites were booked. I didn't want to argue at midnight with him about this, thinking that I would ask for a firm discussion with the GM the following morning. This guy also said that he would put new room keys under the door in a couple of minutes (which he did). The most incredible thing in this story is that they told us we were the only guests having this problem. And knowing we encountered it with 3 rooms...
So time to go to bed, frankly exhausted.
The following morning, we tried to use the Nespresso machine but it was broken... We then left the room for breakfast and before we left the corridor, I tried the keys put under the door the night before by the front desk attendant. And I let you guess : none worked
After breakfast, I asked to speak to the GM. He was very apologetic as you can imagine (but he was obviously not informed of the problem). He came with us with a maintenance guy promising to solve all those issues (and he also bring a new sets of keys which worked this time) and that they will replace the Nespresso machine. I also asked him if we could stay in this room for the 2nd night and he immediately answered yes of course without any second of hesitation
.
After this, we never had any more problems of room keys and the new coffee machine was working well. But to be complete the story, the 2nd evening, I wanted to use the Bose speaker system for ipods/iphone but I let you guess about the outcome
...broken.
- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
Not applicable
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Probably not
Overall, the kind of catastrophic stay you want to avoid. Good reaction of the GM but much more proactivity would have been expected. OK, we finally had a suite instead of the regular room and this was nice of course but not a special word upon check-out. And too many technical issues outside the keys problem. Not acceptable.
I believe that some extra points could have been also a nice compensation but only the entitled amount have been posted. For fun, I received after the stay the e-mail asking me to post my satisfaction on Trip advisor !!
- What is your Le Club status?
Platinum
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No - too many problems for this 2 nights stay. This was my 2nd stay in this hotel (the 1st one some years ago was OK).
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior room with queen size bed + sofa (for 3 adults in the room). Technically, I guess (because nothing was said) that we received an upgrade to what they call executive room which is the superior room but with extra amenities (bathrobes, slippers and a Nespresso machine). About this, to Accor people : when a room is booked for 3 adults, it could be good to put 3 bathrobes and 3 pairs of slippers instead of 2. We were later moved to a suite but this was not linked to a Club upgrade (details below).
Drink voucher was given at check-in.
- How are the rooms?
typical European Novotel rooms with their pros & cons. Definitely too small for 3 adults with suitcases (but I'm not blaming them for this)
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- location : walking distance from Paddington station. Nice modern area near a canal with several restaurants at 5 min walking.
- modern style of building/lobby/restaurant
- nice staff in general
- good breakfast
Bad:
So here's the story : checked-in around 9 pm. We went to our room just to drop luggages and we went out almost immediately to have dinner in the area along the canal. We went back to the hotel at around 11pm and were not able to open the room door with any of the 3 keys given at check-in. I then took the lift to go to the reception and in the lift there was the lady we saw at check-in. I explained her the pb and she told me that she would come back in a few minutes with the re-programmed keys. 5 good min later, she came back but again, none of the 3 keys were working (still the red light blinking). She left again (embarrassed of course) and came back 5-10 min later with new keys and her master key. None of them were working (including her master key). So, started a ballet of staff members all trying to open this door without success. Then they said that they would put us in a suite for the night but of course without any of our items (clothes, toiletry, etc) because there is nothing more than can do before the morning as no maintenance staff is on duty at night at this hotel...We were pretty upset (and tired) as you can imagine and you wonder how we would have done if we had to leave the hotel early the following morning (it was not the case fortunately as we were there for 2 nights). So we asked them to try again. Another guy tried with his master key and after about the 10th try, the green light appears magically on the door ! He said logically that we could not stay in this room as the origin of the pb was not identified. He then gave us 3 keys for a suite on another floor. We took all our stuff by ourselves (the guy was already back downstairs), being sure to not have to reopen the door
. After having had to cross several fire-proof doors with luggage (which is not easy) and arrived at the other floor in from of our new room...guess what...none of the 3 keys were working Starting to be very tired and mad of this joke (which was lasting for about 45 min), I went down again at the front desk. The guy apologized and gave me immediately another drink voucher . I thank him but said that was not what I'm looking for at the moment and so he said "we'll give you another room"....It was this time the same room category we originally booked. As it was on another floor, I took the precaution to ask him to come with me first to try this 3rd room before we move again all our bags. I was inspired to ask this because guess what again...impossible to open the door with the "regular keys" but only with his master key. So we went back to the suite door and he was also able to open it with his master key. So we decided to stay in the suite. But he told us that we would have to change room the next morning as all the suites were booked. I didn't want to argue at midnight with him about this, thinking that I would ask for a firm discussion with the GM the following morning. This guy also said that he would put new room keys under the door in a couple of minutes (which he did). The most incredible thing in this story is that they told us we were the only guests having this problem. And knowing we encountered it with 3 rooms...So time to go to bed, frankly exhausted.
The following morning, we tried to use the Nespresso machine but it was broken... We then left the room for breakfast and before we left the corridor, I tried the keys put under the door the night before by the front desk attendant. And I let you guess : none worked
After breakfast, I asked to speak to the GM. He was very apologetic as you can imagine (but he was obviously not informed of the problem). He came with us with a maintenance guy promising to solve all those issues (and he also bring a new sets of keys which worked this time) and that they will replace the Nespresso machine. I also asked him if we could stay in this room for the 2nd night and he immediately answered yes of course without any second of hesitation
.After this, we never had any more problems of room keys and the new coffee machine was working well. But to be complete the story, the 2nd evening, I wanted to use the Bose speaker system for ipods/iphone but I let you guess about the outcome
...broken.- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
Not applicable
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Probably not
Overall, the kind of catastrophic stay you want to avoid. Good reaction of the GM but much more proactivity would have been expected. OK, we finally had a suite instead of the regular room and this was nice of course but not a special word upon check-out. And too many technical issues outside the keys problem. Not acceptable.
I believe that some extra points could have been also a nice compensation but only the entitled amount have been posted. For fun, I received after the stay the e-mail asking me to post my satisfaction on Trip advisor !!
Last edited by Goldorak; Dec 31, 2014 at 7:59 am
Dec 31, 2014, 8:42 am
#318
Moderator, Turkish Airlines Miles&Smiles & Accor ALL
Original Poster
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: BRU
Programs: TK*G, Accor ALL Platinum
Posts: 7,590
Goldorak, that sounds like a "fun" stay 
I am surprised they did not refund you the night.
I am surprised they did not refund you the night.
Dec 31, 2014, 9:31 am
#319
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Paris, France
Programs: AF/KL Flying Blue Platinum for life/Club2000 Ultimate, Accor ALL Diamond
Posts: 21,928
Dec 31, 2014, 11:04 am
#320
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Paris, France
Programs: A3*G, Accor ALL Gold
Posts: 597
- Name of the hotel: Novotel London Paddington
- What is your Le Club status?
Platinum
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No - too many problems for this 2 nights stay. This was my 2nd stay in this hotel (the 1st one some years ago was OK).
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior room with queen size bed + sofa (for 3 adults in the room). Technically, I guess (because nothing was said) that we received an upgrade to what they call executive room which is the superior room but with extra amenities (bathrobes, slippers and a Nespresso machine). About this, to Accor people : when a room is booked for 3 adults, it could be good to put 3 bathrobes and 3 pairs of slippers instead of 2. We were later moved to a suite but this was not linked to a Club upgrade (details below).
Drink voucher was given at check-in.
- How are the rooms?
typical European Novotel rooms with their pros & cons. Definitely too small for 3 adults with suitcases (but I'm not blaming them for this)
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- location : walking distance from Paddington station. Nice modern area near a canal with several restaurants at 5 min walking.
- modern style of building/lobby/restaurant
- nice staff in general
- good breakfast
Bad:
So here's the story : checked-in around 9 pm. We went to our room just to drop luggages and we went out almost immediately to have dinner in the area along the canal. We went back to the hotel at around 11pm and were not able to open the room door with any of the 3 keys given at check-in. I then took the lift to go to the reception and in the lift there was the lady we saw at check-in. I explained her the pb and she told me that she would come back in a few minutes with the re-programmed keys. 5 good min later, she came back but again, none of the 3 keys were working (still the red light blinking). She left again (embarrassed of course) and came back 5-10 min later with new keys and her master key. None of them were working (including her master key). So, started a ballet of staff members all trying to open this door without success. Then they said that they would put us in a suite for the night but of course without any of our items (clothes, toiletry, etc) because there is nothing more than can do before the morning as no maintenance staff is on duty at night at this hotel...We were pretty upset (and tired) as you can imagine and you wonder how we would have done if we had to leave the hotel early the following morning (it was not the case fortunately as we were there for 2 nights). So we asked them to try again. Another guy tried with his master key and after about the 10th try, the green light appears magically on the door ! He said logically that we could not stay in this room as the origin of the pb was not identified. He then gave us 3 keys for a suite on another floor. We took all our stuff by ourselves (the guy was already back downstairs), being sure to not have to reopen the door. After having had to cross several fire-proof doors with luggage (which is not easy) and arrived at the other floor in from of our new room...guess what...none of the 3 keys were working Starting to be very tired and mad of this joke (which was lasting for about 45 min), I went down again at the front desk. The guy apologized and gave me immediately another drink voucher . I thank him but said that was not what I'm looking for at the moment and so he said "we'll give you another room"....It was this time the same room category we originally booked. As it was on another floor, I took the precaution to ask him to come with me first to try this 3rd room before we move again all our bags. I was inspired to ask this because guess what again...impossible to open the door with the "regular keys" but only with his master key. So we went back to the suite door and he was also able to open it with his master key. So we decided to stay in the suite. But he told us that we would have to change room the next morning as all the suites were booked. I didn't want to argue at midnight with him about this, thinking that I would ask for a firm discussion with the GM the following morning. This guy also said that he would put new room keys under the door in a couple of minutes (which he did). The most incredible thing in this story is that they told us we were the only guests having this problem. And knowing we encountered it with 3 rooms...
So time to go to bed, frankly exhausted.
The following morning, we tried to use the Nespresso machine but it was broken... We then left the room for breakfast and before we left the corridor, I tried the keys put under the door the night before by the front desk attendant. And I let you guess : none worked
After breakfast, I asked to speak to the GM. He was very apologetic as you can imagine (but he was obviously not informed of the problem). He came with us with a maintenance guy promising to solve all those issues (and he also bring a new sets of keys which worked this time) and that they will replace the Nespresso machine. I also asked him if we could stay in this room for the 2nd night and he immediately answered yes of course without any second of hesitation.
After this, we never had any more problems of room keys and the new coffee machine was working well. But to be complete the story, the 2nd evening, I wanted to use the Bose speaker system for ipods/iphone but I let you guess about the outcome ...broken.
- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
Not applicable
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Probably not
Overall, the kind of catastrophic stay you want to avoid. Good reaction of the GM but much more proactivity would have been expected. OK, we finally had a suite instead of the regular room and this was nice of course but not a special word upon check-out. And too many technical issues outside the keys problem. Not acceptable.
I believe that some extra points could have been also a nice compensation but only the entitled amount have been posted. For fun, I received after the stay the e-mail asking me to post my satisfaction on Trip advisor !!
- What is your Le Club status?
Platinum
- Were you (or for multi-stayers were you generally) happy with the hotel/stay?
No - too many problems for this 2 nights stay. This was my 2nd stay in this hotel (the 1st one some years ago was OK).
- Which room did you book and which upgrade did you receive?
Booked superior room with queen size bed + sofa (for 3 adults in the room). Technically, I guess (because nothing was said) that we received an upgrade to what they call executive room which is the superior room but with extra amenities (bathrobes, slippers and a Nespresso machine). About this, to Accor people : when a room is booked for 3 adults, it could be good to put 3 bathrobes and 3 pairs of slippers instead of 2. We were later moved to a suite but this was not linked to a Club upgrade (details below).
Drink voucher was given at check-in.
- How are the rooms?
typical European Novotel rooms with their pros & cons. Definitely too small for 3 adults with suitcases (but I'm not blaming them for this)
- What was good and what was bad?
Good:
- location : walking distance from Paddington station. Nice modern area near a canal with several restaurants at 5 min walking.
- modern style of building/lobby/restaurant
- nice staff in general
- good breakfast
Bad:
So here's the story : checked-in around 9 pm. We went to our room just to drop luggages and we went out almost immediately to have dinner in the area along the canal. We went back to the hotel at around 11pm and were not able to open the room door with any of the 3 keys given at check-in. I then took the lift to go to the reception and in the lift there was the lady we saw at check-in. I explained her the pb and she told me that she would come back in a few minutes with the re-programmed keys. 5 good min later, she came back but again, none of the 3 keys were working (still the red light blinking). She left again (embarrassed of course) and came back 5-10 min later with new keys and her master key. None of them were working (including her master key). So, started a ballet of staff members all trying to open this door without success. Then they said that they would put us in a suite for the night but of course without any of our items (clothes, toiletry, etc) because there is nothing more than can do before the morning as no maintenance staff is on duty at night at this hotel...We were pretty upset (and tired) as you can imagine and you wonder how we would have done if we had to leave the hotel early the following morning (it was not the case fortunately as we were there for 2 nights). So we asked them to try again. Another guy tried with his master key and after about the 10th try, the green light appears magically on the door ! He said logically that we could not stay in this room as the origin of the pb was not identified. He then gave us 3 keys for a suite on another floor. We took all our stuff by ourselves (the guy was already back downstairs), being sure to not have to reopen the door
. After having had to cross several fire-proof doors with luggage (which is not easy) and arrived at the other floor in from of our new room...guess what...none of the 3 keys were working Starting to be very tired and mad of this joke (which was lasting for about 45 min), I went down again at the front desk. The guy apologized and gave me immediately another drink voucher . I thank him but said that was not what I'm looking for at the moment and so he said "we'll give you another room"....It was this time the same room category we originally booked. As it was on another floor, I took the precaution to ask him to come with me first to try this 3rd room before we move again all our bags. I was inspired to ask this because guess what again...impossible to open the door with the "regular keys" but only with his master key. So we went back to the suite door and he was also able to open it with his master key. So we decided to stay in the suite. But he told us that we would have to change room the next morning as all the suites were booked. I didn't want to argue at midnight with him about this, thinking that I would ask for a firm discussion with the GM the following morning. This guy also said that he would put new room keys under the door in a couple of minutes (which he did). The most incredible thing in this story is that they told us we were the only guests having this problem. And knowing we encountered it with 3 rooms...So time to go to bed, frankly exhausted.
The following morning, we tried to use the Nespresso machine but it was broken... We then left the room for breakfast and before we left the corridor, I tried the keys put under the door the night before by the front desk attendant. And I let you guess : none worked
After breakfast, I asked to speak to the GM. He was very apologetic as you can imagine (but he was obviously not informed of the problem). He came with us with a maintenance guy promising to solve all those issues (and he also bring a new sets of keys which worked this time) and that they will replace the Nespresso machine. I also asked him if we could stay in this room for the 2nd night and he immediately answered yes of course without any second of hesitation
.After this, we never had any more problems of room keys and the new coffee machine was working well. But to be complete the story, the 2nd evening, I wanted to use the Bose speaker system for ipods/iphone but I let you guess about the outcome
...broken.- Did you get club lounge access? How was the lounge?
Not applicable
- Value for $ or Vouchers? Would you return?
Probably not
Overall, the kind of catastrophic stay you want to avoid. Good reaction of the GM but much more proactivity would have been expected. OK, we finally had a suite instead of the regular room and this was nice of course but not a special word upon check-out. And too many technical issues outside the keys problem. Not acceptable.
I believe that some extra points could have been also a nice compensation but only the entitled amount have been posted. For fun, I received after the stay the e-mail asking me to post my satisfaction on Trip advisor !!
don't ask me why they did not give me 2500 or 3000 points though