wizla

The lounge closes at 9pm sharp , last night we and a few others was pretty much told to leave when the time came, politely but firmly.
My friend and I went for a walk along the Thames and I’ve got to mention there is a great Christmas food market a short walk west ( I recommend the truffle burger ).
I slept reasonably well , bed comfy but pillows are very soft , went to the lounge just now ( 7-45 ) to grab a takeaway coffee and it was empty, I also noticed no honey nut granola!.....I’m hoping there is some in restaurant at breakfast this morning.
I’m thinking maybe I was a little harsh with my comments about the lounge last night, I just find it irritating when one cannot relax, it was nothing really bad to be honest, I will just put it down to bad luck.

This morning I’m thinking a quick swim before breakfast........will report back!

Winniesbestfriend

Shame you didn’t enjoy yourself last night Wizla, but I think we have all forgotten how much we used to complain about busy/noisy/badly behaved people on Friday and Saturday nights 😂
I still remember the long queues for drinks and food in Canary Wharf at 6pm weekends, feeding time at the zoo 😀
Hope you enjoyed breakfast!!

wizla

Thanks and yes you are quite right, we can’t have perfection all the time, sometimes it just doesn’t happen.

Pool was quieter this morning, had a nice swim , gym was empty although I didn’t indulge……always plenty of spare towels in the changing rooms too….nice.

BREAKFAST - no issues with diamonds taking breakfast in restaurant as posted before , was shown to a table swiftly…… it was busy but not uncomfortable, usual Bankside spread but it did seem a little cut back but more importantly the famous honey nut granola was not there!!!…..instead they have the Quaker Oats brand ( I know this as I have this at home ) , it’s ok but definitely not luxurious, I also didn’t see the yogurts too.
On the positive note the hot food was tasty especially the Cumberland sausages.
Finished with a cappuccino in the executive lounge, this was empty and peaceful…… nice cappuccino that doesn’t need an extra shot.

We checked out at 10-30am , I requested a taxi and the concierge simply hailed me one from the street outside.

CONCLUSION - it’s a great hotel!, a few issues but mainly other people and not the hotel itself, I’m disappointed it’s no longer self pour at happy hour and no granola too but the hard product is still very good, the bed very comfortable, spotless room and helpful concierge.
I still prefer the Waldorf and park lane to here but I get that some would not agree, I would definitely return.

ROOM NO- 320

NEXT PLANNED STAY - Hilton East Midlands Airport. (29 / 11 / 21)

diamond club freeloader

I'm outraged about the granola, on your behalf, wizla !!

😱

wizla

I was so looking forward to it and seriously bigged it up to my friend on the way to the hotel yesterday ….. so disappointed and I’m fairly sure the luxury pots of yogurt have gone too…… just a big silver dish of Greek yogurt instead.

pauleeepaul

Pity i missed you mate, i was in London earlier this month myself for the first time in 18 months (although Park Lane and Paddo vs Bankside.) Spent a few nights knocking around Carnaby and Soho with local friends. My takeaway was compared to NY in London it felt like covid never happened, the pubs and restaurants were heaving and nary a mask in sight. It was refreshing honestly, if not a bit disconcerting as well. Lets see what the next couple of weeks bring. Absent a deterioration in the pandemic I expect to be back in January.

andimilk

Thanks to wizla for the live reporting - the initial comments made me a bit worried about my stay but I still checked in to Bankside for my 4th stay there this year on Sunday and have some interesting comparisons with Wizla's busy Friday night.

Firstly though, a quick note about check-in. For the first time in 15+ stays at Bankside, i had not been upgraded on the App prior to check-in opening. I thought this was odd for a Sunday night booking, which tends to be the least busy and certainly all room categories were still showing for sale 5 mins before I physically checked in at 14:00 - one hour before official check-in opens. The desk agent (reception team leader) said that no upgrades were available and I said that the next 2 room categories were available for booking multiple rooms online still. It was explained to me that in order to be able to facilitate my potential early check-in as a Diamond member, they had allocated me a room with no upgrade that morning to ensure the room was ready. So essentially in order to benefit from one Diamond, I'd have to forego the other.

It then transpired that they had been very busy on Saturday evening with a private wedding etc and many of the guests had checked out late, hence why no rooms were ready at 14:00 in the categories above mine. On some business trips, I would happily take a no-upgrade (especially at this hotel, where I rate the base level rooms anyway) as the early check-in is often more useful. However, this was a hybrid trip and I had no need for the room immediately. I had some time to kill between meals with friends and I asked if a room would be available if I were to wait. I sat in the Executive Lounge for a while watching the football and eventually got a text about 15:45 saying my room was ready.

I had been upgraded to what I was told was an executive room but was actually a mini-suite (with a real door between the sitting area and the bedroom). I have stayed before in both their junior suites and their one bedroom suites and this room was actually better than either in terms of space and set-up. The one bedroom suite did have an extra toilet in the living area and a larger main bathroom but otherwise was very similar in terms of room space. So now I'm very confused as to what level I was actually upgraded to. I will wait until it posts on the website to see if I can make more sense of it! I have certainly not stayed in this configuration here before so that was nice.

The stay overall - weird 'upgrade logic' aside - was very good. The lounge was considerably less busy than it sounded like it was for Wizla during happy hour and it was help yourself to everything except bubbly, which the waiters were pouring. The food selection wasn't huge but what I did have was good quality. Drinks options were as per Wizla. There were no queues. The atmosphere was still quite loud but jovial rather than rowdy. No kids running round on a Sunday night which is nice! I'm not 'anti-kids' - I have two young kids myself and we do take them into the lounge but sit them down with some colouring or a book, usually after having exhausted them in the pool! Talking of the pool, I had it to myself to fit in a few quick lengths this morning.

Conclusion - the lesson here could be seen as 'visit this hotel on Sunday' to get the best experience. Unless of course you want an upgrade! It's certainly worth noting that the service style of the exec lounge appears to change when it is busy. Ultimately it's nice just to see it open again (this is my first visit since it re-opened).

hugolover

Check the App, it will show the type there

wizla

Very interesting reading your review and thanks for coming back and telling us, I enjoy reading all reviews on here.
Sounds like a good stay , upgrade sounds good, I guess it’s always a bit of a gamble staying at weekends when folk are going out to party, the part I don’t understand is hotels are generally expensive at weekends and cheaper during the week ...... it used to be the other way around but now business travel is much reduced it seems to have swapped around.
I’m glad it went well and you enjoyed your stay,

pazza2000

Possibly down here for a night next week, what’s the situation re. breakfast for Diamonds now? I prefer to have it in the restaurant if it’s an option however I had seen a suggestion above that it must be taken in the lounge however adt. items can be brought to you from the restaurant?

wizla

Last Saturday morning I was welcomed into the restaurant at breakfast as a diamond and shown to a table no questions asked.

pazza2000

Good to know, thanks.

andimilk

I walked straight into the restaurant, said my room number and was shown to a table with no queries.

So this is the interesting thing - the App hadn't updated. I think this might be to do with me actually being allocated 2 rooms as I had the digital keys available for my originally-allocated room and my upgraded one. Points posted today and it was indeed a One Bedroom Suite, albeit in a very different configuration to the one I'd previously stayed in. No second washroom but otherwise I think a better layout. P.S. I hope no-one was allocated my previous room in the end as I had the digital key available for my entire stay!


One bedroom suite in this configurate is the X54 on the 5th, 6th and 7th floors only.

One Bedroom Suite Living Room (with sofa-bed)

One Bedroom Suite - Wardrobes and bathroom entrance.

One Bedroom Suite Bedroom (same size as an Executive Room)

They did indeed have the decorations up - gingerbread village included. I love the way they change the Bankside sign outside to match the season. Different nearly every time I've been!

nexusCFX

Checked in today, not first time here. Had asked about diamond upgrades via app when chat opened, pushed on that again at the front desk, but the best they would do is a king deluxe which is effectively just the standard room, despite having exec rooms and suites for sale.

I have a couple bookings here for next year locked in at a good enough rate to keep them, but I let their front office manager know that I probably won't be returning beyond that. Happy for the folks here that get good diamond recognition here but I certainly have not, and going forward the rates aren't any lower than my corp rate at the JW, etc.

S_W_S

Your experience pretty much matches exactly what I experienced back in May, I didn't really understand the hype, and as such have no desire to rush back. I'm at the Hilton Malta tight now and the diamond recognition is night and day compared to bankside.