UA-NYC

Had a fantastic 3 day stay last month. Really no faults whatsoever. YMMV.

ryandc99

Sure:

1. Before checkin, after I landed I tried to call the hotel to see if my room was ready. The operator refused to put me through to the front desk, saying they were "too busy." I called back 20 mins later and was given the same line, and that it didn't matter if i was a globalist, they don't take calls. I was dumbfounded. I was just trying to see if I could head there before doing something else.
2. The suite next to mine smoked daily and it was coming into my room. I addressed with the front desk who said it was allowed in balcony suites, and if it was bothering other guests they promised to address it. maybe they did? the smoking did not stop lol.
3. People running up and down the halls at all hours. This was odd to me because in my previous stay that was not the case.
4. At breakfast, I was given a table. I went to the buffet and when i came back the table was given to someone else. I then went to the front area to complain and it was as if I was bothering them to let them know this. They wanted me to get back in line to talk to them, which I refused.


On a positive note, the breakfast quality both in the lounge and restaurant was great. The suite itself is quite nice, great bed, great pillows. I am not one to complain, It was just one thing after another here and I won't be back. This could be totally out of character for this hotel.

EuropeanPete

I think you might have been a bit unlucky there. I can well imagine most of those issues happening, knowing the hotel reasonably well:

• They do have one slightly strange person who sometimes handles the operator number. I'd almost forgotten about some odd conversations I had last year
• The other guests are not always the most considerate. While I've never heard anything in the hallways or had issues with smoking myself, neither would especially surprise me (you were a bit unlucky). I've returned rooms twice because of odour issues
• I've lost my table at breakfast a couple of times now. I find it quite irritating

Probably not much of a consolation to say that you'd have probably had much worse at any other London option under $1,200 that you could have gone for.

ryandc99

That is totally fair, just not a good experience for me and won't be back. I typically stay at the Great Northern (Marriott) which I much prefer given the great location proximity to the Piccadilly line. While not comparable from a service perspective, It still has a great breakfast and no shenanigans.

EuropeanPete

The Great Northern is an extremely under-rated hotel, and probably about half the rate of the Churchill. It used to be my preferred choice in London until I'd had enough of the Bonvoy programme not working in general.

ryandc99

Cannot agree more. I diverged from GN one time to get my hyatt nights in and what a mistake! LOL.

To me I GN has a nice breakfast and don't care about an upgrade.

robsterny

Does anybody know if any of the Regency Suite Balcony rooms are refurbished? Globalist here staying in early May. The balcony with a view of Portman Square sounded nice! But worried about the trade off of having an old room versus a new one.

PortlySpartacus

When I stayed on the 9th floor suite last August the room was not refurbished. It was still fine. One thing to be aware of is the balcony takes up square footage from the inside living space.

Boraxo

That's very distressing, as I found similar issues at the Marriott Grosvenor Square in Sept 2022, which is my other preferred hotel in the area. I'm guessing the properties have so much business from the Middle East (judging from clientele) that they just don't care anymore, even about elites.

The smoke from adjacent rooms would be a definite deal killer for me.

m0hamed

These are all unsatisfactory, but it's seems to be standard to not transfer calls to front desk anymore. That said, the Operator should be able to tell you if your room is ready or not. Otherwise, the app, but it's not always utilised properly by the property.

For an early morning flight, I always prebook the night before. Nothing worse than flying 24 hours to not get straight into a room. If paying cash, booking Prive can guarantee you a 9AM checkin.

I believe the hotel is owned by a Qatari company and attracts large groups of Gulf Arabs. I doubt the hotel would intervene with many of these guests for issues like smoking or loud children.

Sophoclefr

Just stayed 4 weeks in a balcony suite (9th floor) followed by 10 days in a garden view room (6th floor) and apart from the bathroom couldn't tell if one or the other was more recently refurbished (same bed/carpet/furniture/decoration). Top floor much quieter though (obviously further from the street but also less noise from guests as mainly suites).
I will be back to a 9th floor balcony suite tonight and let you know if this one is different.

ElevatorEnthusiast

I mean, I have spent time in the Gulf and haven't had issues like this. If the hotel is going to allow smoking or not prevent it, then they should invest in solutions to prevent smoke from getting into other rooms, such as door seals and air filters, etc.

I was just at the Ritz in Istanbul, which had smoking rooms as well as a smoking bar next to the restaurant. Despite not being a smoker and being pretty sensitive, I was never bothered except for when the staff took me to the smoking bar for Turkish coffee.

m0hamed

I could be wrong, but thought it’s illegal to smoke in hotels in the UK.

Curiously, on all major third party booking sites the property has selected that it is 100% smoke free (they input this information), but I can’t find any reference on the Hyatt website.

Sophoclefr

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dingo

Our balcony suite certainly had an ash tray outside. Perhaps the smokers left their balcony door open?