broadwayboy

Halothane,
What kind of upgrade did you receive?


[QUOTE=halothane;10862746]Not my experience at all. I just returned from a 3 night FFN stay at Churchill. Was upgraded on the FFN stay as well. The front desk, housekeeping, concierge, and the rest of the staff were excellent. Nadeever had to wait for anything or ask twice. Would definitely go back to this property again.

joanek

it was so-so. For the first time in about 10 stays as a diamond I wasn't upgraded. Said the club floor was sold out. I asked for access to the club, and was told it was full. At that point I did ask to speak with a manager...and had the good fortune to meet the asst. rooms mgr. Who took control, apologized for the fact that they could accommodate me for the entire stay, and said things cleared out a bit after the weekend, and I could be upgraded then. I said I'd be happy to have club access for the second half of the stay, but didn't really see a reason to change rooms. He did root a round a bit and clicked some keys, so I believe I wound up with a nicer room than the one pre-assigned. I was also offered a day room so I could take a shower and clean up after the overnight flight. In about 45 minutes, they rang the temp room and said my "real" room was ready.
The room itself was fine, it was a front one, facing the park, so I could watch tennis each morning.

But, for the first time in all those stays, I had incredibly noisy neighbors on both sides. Noisy voice-wise, and noisy tv-wise.

Once in my room, I wanted to take a little power nap, to make up for not sleeping on the flight over. Just an hour or so. I set my alarm, but didn't need it. 15 minutes after closing my eyes, the folks next door arrived home and stood outside my room for a few minutes arguing about who had the key. I don't think it was the one with the shrill voice who was whining " I really really REALLY, I mean REALLY need to use the toilet NOW."
After letting the door slam shut, one of the pair, the one with the less shrill but still piercing voice was talking loudly on the phone about dinner plans, shopping, and the theatre, and then relaying it other person (who may have still been in the bathroom behind a closed door. That, or stone deaf, as the words were clear as day to me), then relaying their response to the person on the phone. (I didn't agree with their theatre reviews, and was tempted to slip a note under the door saying so.)
Over the next two days I learned that one of this pair had a hard time remembering to bring the map, but no problem standing outside the closed door and yelling "I forget the map".

The next morning the problem was on the other side: two shrieking children playing football/soccer against our shared wall, with one parent screaming at the other---starting at 730 am saturday. I gave up, went out for a walk at about 830 and then to breakfast. With a quick stop at the front desk to ask if either of those rooms were checking out that day. Neither was. I have a feeling the screaming family might have already had a complaint called in as the person on the desk looked at the screen, looked at me, looked at the screen again, and then said to not hesitate to call if the problem continued.

All was quiet when I came back at about 1045, but ball- against-wall started up again at about 11, now with addition of one parent screaming on the phone about business and a television blaring---it was enough that the person I was speaking to on the phone asked if I was at the airport. At that point, I gave up, called downstairs, and complained.
Someone came up to speak with them, the match ended, and I got a call from the office saying the folks were sorry and would be going out soon. The yelling was still going on when i left at 1145.

I had the experience of breakfast in the hotel dining room for the first time, and don't ever want to repeat that on a weekend. The first day I arrived downstairs to sea of people milling around. My cert may have allowed me to jump the line ---I was seated fairly quickly. After watching people pick through the buffet (and by pick through, i mean actually picking up items, sniffing them and putting them down again) I opted to order off the menu. Bad mistake on my part: I sat there for 20 minutes before my server came over to take the order, waited another 25 for the food, and found a hair in the eggs. Not on top, cooked into. As it's an open kitchen, i could seem them all looking at the eggs, and then at me...probably comparing hair color....it wasn't the same. I could also see the prep on the second plate, which took very little time to arrive.

It was equally crowded the second day, but my meal was faster and not half as stressful.

And as much as I was put out over being excluded from the club the first half of my stay, I do understand why they try to limit the number of people in there. I had a hard time finding a place to sit during breakfast the two days i was in there, and it was equally busy in the evening. One morning, I got up to get a glass of water, and returned to find someone had moved my (still full)plate and was reading my newspaper. He didn't even have the decency to apologize when I came back to the table, grunting "she told me to sit here." No "she's" working in the club that day, btw.

There were also severe elevator problems, so bad they directed us to the freight elevators on two days. Two of the three are in operation, but you'd see one of the cars travel a floor or two, and then sit for 10 minutes. And people were quite rude about pushing in front of those who'd been waiting for the elevator. I noticed a staffer standing and staring at the elevators each time I came through the lobby Sunday, so I'm sure there were complaints.

There was also a bit of excitement Monday evening ---a little protest out front regarding a "London Living Wage" for hotel workers, not the first time Hyatt has been picketed over this. Andaz was hit earlier this year.l (Hilton, and several other national hotel chains are already paying this minimum wage/benefits...you can find out more with a google)


All that said, it was an ok stay. The staff is always helpful, and the location is great for me.

IncyWincy

joanek - not too a stay!

Was there some major event going on?

The Churchill is often the favourite of Middle Eastern families in the summer.

What about in December?

joanek

I asked about major events....no one could think of any "big do," but the weekend did include the annual Saturday that Oxford and Regent Streets are closed to vehicles, giving pedestrians a bit more walking room during shopping hours. And I think it was a holiday weekend in Spain, which probably accounted for some of the overflow. But there did not appear to be a big wedding, or conference. And no big office Xmas parties, either.
I've always noticed a large number of Middle Eastern visitors in December, too---and they seem to stay through the week, not just weekends.
But there were also a fair number of Americans, and I spoke with a few Canadian travelers, too.

I also noticed that the Selfridge Hotel was shut down for renovation....they used to do shopping/hotel promos, and Hyatt could have picked up a few of those guests.

I won't categorize this stay as "bad," it just wasn't as glitch free as some I've had at the hotel ---including a few Priceline stays when it was an Intercontinental. The two big issues, noise and my "breakfast bonus", were addressed as soon as the words were out of my mouth. The club access is always space available, and while I was annoyed not to make the cut the first few days, my little heart wasn't broken.

BTW, the day room I had was a high floor, courtyard one. I scanned for wifi, and was able to pick up a very strong signal from BT Openzone, (or whatever they call the bt neighborhood network hub) and a bit of investigation showed that daypasses were just 5 pounds---the signal didn't appear when i was in a streetside room.

RichardInSF

I am now up to approximately 5 stays at this hotel where points weren't posted without calling Hyatt. This is a major hassle, this hotel appears to ignore the program as nearly as I can tell.

On my last visit, I mentioned it to the folks at the RC desk and they said it was all automatic, it was supposed to happen without any effort. Well...the points for the stay at the PH Milan posted (along with the bonus that I forgot to ask for, those folks really have their act together), but not for either of the two stays, one before, one after Milan, at the Churchill.

Is anyone else having this problem?

broadwayboy

Points from this hotel have always posted immediately for me, usually within 2 days of check out. However, for my most recent stay (mid Feb check out), the points only posted TODAY.

Points from PH Vendome (right before Churchill stay) have not even posted yet and they usually post within the same 48 hour time frame.

rfrost

I think I've had 1 stay in the last 15 that posted without intervention!

CopperSteve

I've stayed there about a dozen times and I can't recall a single instance where I haven't had to call to get the points. In fact, several times, I've had to call again because incorrect points were credited.

bananacake

We love this hotel and have stayed loads. But there are some bones to pick:

1 rooms all pretty much the same on whatever floor, club floor gets you molton brown amenities but otherwise usually the same room as the other floors. Ive not seen the suites.
The club lounge tends to be TOO crowded. 3 times we havent been able to find a seat.
breakfast is continental and very limited
snacks throughout the day are.... biscuits
Wi Fi costs even in the lounge (surely this should be comp?!)
evening meals change every night and are pleasant cold cuts and veg/salad. Fine but ive had better, if you want a full meal it is abit limited although nice nibbles (peanuts but tasty ones!)
Drinks available throughout but Juce only at mealtimes.
Usually kids running around which isnt ideal
BUT weve found staff brilliant, really personal and caring on the club floor. This, the location, the consistently good rooms keep us coming back. the club lounge is a nice bonus but until they offer free wi fi, thsi wouldnt keep us coming back, its just a nice added bonus!

bsb21

I am booked on the Club Floor in June. Do they at least have free computer workstations in the lounge?

Non-NonRev

My understanding is that a secret code is provided to Club-level guests for free use.

When I was there last year, my room was on floor 7 and I could pick up a strong signal that was completely different from the paid-access site. Upon opening a browser page, the prompt appeared for the entry of the code (I confess that I did try to guess the code, to no avail)

For paid access, the initial page that appeared was the one where you select one-hour access for GBP 5 or 24-hours of access for GBP 15.

broadwayboy

No, they do not.

They have computers for use in the Lobby Level - not sure about the charges.

Non-NonRev

I assume you are speaking of the computers in the small business center, located just to the right of the main elevator access area. Last October, IIRC, there was a sign stating a rate GBP 6 per hour (I went in because I thought that I might need to print a document, but it turned out that I did not need to do so).

jamiegutz

I had two stays at the Hyatt in Jan 09 (both 2X 3 nights). I love this hotel and allways stay here when in London. On both stays i was in a suite (paid for on the first stay, and then upgraded using GP points on an FFN!!).

Couple of things i really dont like though:

THe club floor gets far too busy and i find the service levels very erratic from one guest to another. For example, when i asked for another bottle of water from one of the staff (who shall remain nameless) he looked at me like i had grown two heads and had disturbed him. He then went over to a table of middle eastern guests, broke straight into arabic, started laughing and joking with them, and went and bought them more food.

Also the lack of free internet in the Club Lounge is very dissappointing. To be honest if you are here on a business trip there is very little enhancement to your business dealings by staying on the club floor. The staff at the front desk of the lounge wont even print any documents for you (best thing to do is to email to the conceirge downstairs and they will do it for free and send it to your room.

Most of the time the staff were pretty good, excellent in fact , and one german lady in particular was very helpful in arranging my GP upgrade on my FFN. Cant remember her name.

Other than that the hotel is excellent, breakfast downstairs is good (but a bit pricey, but thats london i suppose!), and if you get the chance Locanda Locatillis is one of the best restaurants i have been to.

And a quick tip - if you have booked a suite you can almost allways get an upgrade to an executive suite (if they are available) by enforcing your right to a guaranteed non smoking room (if you have platinum or Diamond Status). All of the Junior Suites are on one floor and is a designated smoking floor. Both myself and my wife are asthmatic and realy do suffer if there is any lingering smoke around, and they have allways accomodated this reqest for me/us.

PhillyPhlyer40

Thats NOT my experience. I BOOKED a suite-paid with points-and got 2 rooms connected last summer. The mis-management at this hotel is unbelievable!! (I did end up with a LARGE cash sum-and a boat load of points, but still no suite.)

I will NEVER EVER stay back at this hotel. This hotel has caused a loss of ~50 nights/yr from me. No need to gain points when my 10 year will NEVER stay at a Hyatt again!