corporate-wage-slave

Reopens 1 July, allegedly. But they're not taking bookings yet.

chrism20

Thanks for the update. The last two CW stays we had pre-covid were at the Curio and it was really nice. Apart from the rather sharp practice of charging for a second coffee at breakfast along with Ł4 for an additional sausage!

NoY

I rest my case. Sigh.

SaveECRewards

I’d like to know for certain. I had a booking for Lincoln Plaza cancelled in August which implies to me they’re not opening then. It did seem an odd time to reopen as Canary Wharf is always quiet over the summer, but I thought perhaps they wanted to ramp up gradually.

Last time I was in the Canary Wharf area a few weeks ago I had a walk around the Lincoln Plaza looking through the (very dirty) windows. Inside the building appears to be maintained and there was someone from security sitting at reception. Oddly the tills at Mr Todiwalas Kitchen were switched on, so either they’ve been draining power since March 2020 or they’ve been training people to start up.

The Lincoln Plaza wasn’t just a Curio it also has residential towers and the gym/pool and car park was shared with the hotel and the residential users so I wonder if the pool/gym have been kept open for residents of the apartments.

I wonder if the owner of the hotel (I think same owner as Hilton T5) wants to sell it and doesn’t want to reopen bookings until its future is known.

It seems odd that they’d cancel the booking if they really thought they were going to reopen.

As for the George pillows… there’s an Asda round the corner in Crossharbour. Could it be possible a customer took a liking to the hotel pillows and then bought some cheap replacements from Asda so housekeeping wouldn’t know the pillows had been nicked? Some people will nick anything.

I quite liked the Hilton CW when the lounge was closed. Unlimited drinks from the bar for 2 hours and some food.

Winniesbestfriend

I would speculate somebody brought their own cheap pillows to leave behind because they were probably better for a couple of nights than the hotel’s rubbish.
Or they didn’t like to sleep on shared pillows in Covid times?

wizla

I’ve been reading these comments and wondering what to do, i have a booking here for Monday night although this will probably be cancelled as my trip is very reliant on good weather ( Thames walk ) and the forecast is not good and will be postponed for a couple of weeks.
Half of me wants to stay here as it’s convenient and one of my pre covid favourites , the other half simply cannot justify Ł282 after reading winnesbestfriend’s comments, especially when Doubletree Greenwich is considerably cheaper…….gonna have to give this some thought.
Thanks for the report Winnie….appreciated.

corporate-wage-slave

That's over-priced. Given the Jublilee weekend and school holidays then one would expect high rates to a degree, but that's too much in my view. The rate at the moment is Ł266 and Greenwich is Ł208, which is also somewhat over-priced. DT Docklands is showing Ł168, which strikes me as better value than either and DT Tower of London is Ł187. If you do go for Greenwich you would be best doing it on points (40k. so Ł160 equivalent).

SaveECRewards

On some days the DT Docklands is under Ł100. It’s worth remembering it’s walking distance from Custom House Elizabeth Line (although the DLR is even closer and can be taken one stop from the Elizabeth line). This makes getting to Canary Wharf, Paddington and Central London much easier

corporate-wage-slave

That sounds like DT Excel to me. The naming is a bit odd since that hotel is firmly in the Royal Docks, whereas DT Docklands is some distance from Greenland Dock. This weekend there are aquatic events in the Royal Docks so the Excel DT and the next door Hampton are silly priced.

Winniesbestfriend

That is indeed the Doubletree Excel, but even that is Ł354 per night! London prices are crazy now. And people are prepared to pay them, that’s the sad part.

corporate-wage-slave

There's a date stamp on one of the labels. The pilferer would have no need to do that, ASDA won't have best-by dates on George items, and if they did it would be on the box/bag. But a hotel would want to do that, in order to know when to rotate out the pillow. April 2021 would have been at a time when laundry supply chains had broken down and hotels generally were struggling unless they had an in-house laundry. I noticed that the few hotels that were open at that stage tended to have in-house laundries. So if I had to wager, I suspect someone at Hilton CW got in an emergency supply of pillows from ASDA and they are still in place. It wouldn't make sense to buy externally since I'd be pretty sure that internal pricing for feather pillows would be lower than ASDA given the massive mark-ups on bedding.

lcylocal

Also the nearest supermarket to the hotel is the fairly sizeable ASDA on East Ferry Road.

chrism20

You would think if they were to have bought these Asda pillows someone would have had the common sense to cut the damn labels off.

There is quite a difference between a cheap Asda polyester pillow and the standard Hilton Mainline pillow that it should be obvious to housekeeping which ones would need rotating out without date stamps etc.

hugolover

Buying items from the approved brand list are often far more expensive than what's available on the commercial market because they'd still get a volume discount and the goal of keeping things on brand is to also to secure ongoing revenue for corporate. Alcohol is a good example or that terrible H&G tea. I'm pretty sure the Hilton pillows cost more than some crappy George at Asda polyester one.

I don't buy that excuse of April 2021, not only is it 14 months ago, but occupancy was rock bottom and there were plenty of opportunities to rotate soiled bedding. I didn't think they launder pillows, they just bin them when they're so soiled (probably black) and that's why the date is on them.

wizla

I’ve cancelled my stay here for tomorrow night, firstly because the weather isn’t great for my annual Thames walk and secondly because I’m disappointed by the comments up thread…… I simply cannot justify Ł289 for a double guest room ( I was not preupgraded ), the dodgy pillows and the underwhelming lounge offerings too.
I’ve rebooked at doubletree Greenwich for 27th June instead, I may rebook CW if the price comes down …..it’s not the price it’s the principal.