stc

Paddington (and thus the Churchill) is probably better connected to both LHR and Eurostar. While I personally prefer the Churchill, I suspect the Andaz might deal better with backpacks. Good luck.

RichardInSF

I'm not sure about the Churchill being that much more convenient.

The Hammersmith&City, Metropolitan, and Circle lines all go from Liverpool station (which is right next to the Andaz) to Euston Square, which is a reasonably short walk to the Eurostar terminal, say 5-10 minutes.

There are busses from about a block away from the Churchill that go to Euston station, but in traffic -- though the distance is short -- they can take longer. Taking the tube from Marble Arch or Bond Street requires a transfer.

So I'd say it's about a wash to Eurostar. The Churchill is definitely more convenient to Paddington if that's the way you come in from LHR, but the Andaz can be reached via the tube with one transfer (although it's a significantly longer trip).

cmanc

After my previous post asking for advice from the regulars on what to do when the suite wasn't ready, I wanted to post an update and say that we had a wonderful stay. The suite was great and we had the corner connecting room for the kids. The service was fantastic and the manager apologized for the delay and offered to make up for the delay. Not wanting to take advantage we simply asked for a bottle of champagne. However the next day the manager came over to us when we were in the lounge to see if there was anything else she could do (we declined since frankly the champagne was more than enough). Great service even if the start was a little rocky. Only area for improvement would be the gym is small and not that well equipped and lack of pool/spa is also a miss for such a high quality property. Realize space is always at such a premium for London hotels though.

777 global mile hound

Congratulations on the wonderful stay!
I couldn't agree more that the health club is inadequate in size and variety of equipment.
Glad to see the good folks at the Churchill came through for you ^
How about a little bubbly for your friends here?

VA1379

The health club is poorly equipped if you like to lift weights. The largest dumbbell is only 10 kg (22 lbs). I use 50 lbs for some exercises, so it was a big disappointment.

tripaddict

Deal better with backpacks? Get me back to Califor-ni-ay!

Cheerfulflyer

I recently completed a one night award (22K points) stay here. At best, this is a mediocre property and at worst a rip-off. I won't recommend a friend to stay here.

(1) Arrival:
Took a cab from Paddington. Bell-boy kindly opened the door, took my luggage (one 22" cary-on) but left it in front of the revolving door for departing guests to trip over them. Offered no assistance to take it in nor direct me to the check-in counter. I was dressed in business attire so this is not of my making.

(2) Checkin:
Dedicated platinum/diamond counter but FD agent didn't enforce nor did he ask to verify membership of folks crowding the space. The pa-kettle infront of me, "Oh I don't know if I am member. But I won't mind an upgrade" . The other agent in the non elite counter escorted me to 8th floor for check in.

(3) Regency Club:
Was checked in by the Regency Club manager. She was sweet and nice but not warm enough to overcome the poor first impressions. Showed me to my room and explained various things.

(4) Room:
Smallest room that I have ever stayed at any hotel. This tiny 6th floor room did look over the Park. Not much view at this time of the year and London was (of course) cold, rainy and nasty. Stand in tub shower.

(5) Evening Canapes at RC:
RC manager raved about the infamous canapes. But really the canapes that evening was a joke. Chips and salsa and that too from a can??? I know this is UK and food standards are much lower. But seriously I haven't seen any worse canapes anywhere! Total waste of my time.

(6) Business Center:
Was granted 3 hours of complimentary internet use at the business center. This was indeed nice given that one would normally have to pay up to 10 pounds for this!

(7) Room service for breakfast:
Since I was leaving very early next morning, I was kindly offered room service in lieu of RC breakfast. Ordered fruit and Ful Madamas. The latter was incredibly good!!! Indeed, this extremely tasty dish had me calling room service twice to thank them (and the cook/chef that prepared it).

(8) Check out and some issues:
Checked out early. No newspaper in my room although my neighbor had her's delivered. Room service had ignored my room service request until 3am when I reminded them that the breakfast request tag that I had hung outside my door was still there! No welcome amenity offered; no welcome letter from the management despite diamond status.

Overall not a good use of 22K points.

boar

I found the canapes excellent during my stay there this summer. A whole smoked salmon and plenty of other offerings, far better than the bland offerings in many Hyatts over the pond. I dont mind salsa out of a can/jar - maybe the crisps should be handmade on the premises. If you are looking for a ripoff Hyatt head to the Grand Hyatt in New York - processed food to the hilt, shocking service, 3rd world internet and an attitude to boot.

crystak

Thanks for the review. Regarding the club check in/ etc. in large Hyatt properties where I would expect a manned club check in desk such as this one, I always ask for the bell boy or someone else which floor the club lounge is on or ask them to take me there for my check-in if the normal reception is full so you might want to try that in the future.

Also, regarding the food, perhaps you've just had a 'bad day' since you can see that most people on here, including myself were happy with the canapes (salmon ++)

Surgee

But, you do give some high praise below. Agreed those 22K are better used at PH Tokyo, Sydney, or Zurich. I don't think its a mediocre property, instead I think its not a category 6. Should be Cat 5 at most, which is still at very nice property.

Did you ask for assistance? Thats a tiny carry-on for a big man in a suit. Maybe he didn't want you to feel emasculated ?

As soon as someone realized you were diamond, they sent you to the appropriate check-in. If you'd read here or on the hotel's website you would've known there was check-in on the 8th floor. Still, you do not have DIAMOND printed on your foreheard (though I cannot speak with certainty), and if there was no one in the elite line when the "pa-kettle" folk arrived, it does make sense for that FD attendant to attend to them, rather than stand there blankly.

She probably didn't know who you were. Why didn't you ask DYKWHIA? At least she showed you to her room. What more do you want than sweet and nice and showed you everything and explained various things from someone who probably had no idea you were miffed downstairs. Sounds like she did her job perfectly well?

Its London. But yes, this probably shouldn't be a Cat 6. Its hard pressed compared to other Cat 6s.

Did you have a bad night? Most on this thread think they're pretty good (I know i did!) I'm trying to understand if the anomoly is your personal standards or something related to your night at the hotel?

As diamond, do you not get free internet in room? As someone in business attire, did you not have a computer with you? As someone staying for 1 night on award (presumably not for work?), did you really spend more than 3 hours on the internet? (I know, I know.. FT is addictive!)

Wow! you lucked out! I asked for the same thing and was denied! Thats a pretty nice benefit that I don't believe is standard at this property.

What time was your breakfast ordered for? I'm hard pressed to take this complain seriously as your food wasn't late. Perhaps they collect breakfast orders at 3:01am?

I also got no newspaper. I also had no diamond welcome amenity or letter. I attributed it to them changing my room (for the better) when I checked in, and the welcome things were never brought to my new room. Did you have a similar room change occur? Either way, did you mention anything at the time? It strikes me this could have been easily remedied?

It didn't even occur to me until checkout, so i e-mailed the MGMT after the fact and was promised an upgrade to a suite next time I stay there. Don't know what more I can expect, especially given I didn't mention it during my stay.

Probably should be a lower category, but given the normal room rates, I'm not surprised its 22K.

Cheerfulflyer

I am not sure what the point of commenting on reviews is, especially raising questions that are often nonsensical and begs responses, which in no way would add to (helpful) knowledge of a property that the next traveler can use. For example, how is it useful to speculate whether the bellboy wanted or not to make one feel "emasculated"? So I'll leave such questions aside and only take on those that have some utility:
There is a dedicated elite counter in the lobby for elites. If there are folks queing for this line, then the FD agent would be acting responsibly in directing the pa kettle to the correct line. This is how elite lines are supposed to work.
This is a review of the property and here about the food served in RC, not of my mood. I am vegetarian and found my options to be quite poor. The chips and salsa (that tasted like they came from a can) were just plain bad. If you are indeed dying to know, I had a terrific night in London and it perhaps may have gone better if I had stayed elsewhere. And next time I surely will!
More pointless speculations.
Irrelevant. Room service is 24 hours and when I spoke to them on the phone I was told that my order would be picked up rightaway. 6 hours later my order was still hanging on the door. Irresponsible customer service. And indeed this would have ended up badly if I hadn't myself checked if the order was picked up 30minutes prior to when I wanted to have my breakfast.
No room change.

Again, in my view this is a really mediocre property. I would compare it to a 3 star Holiday Inn. If one is looking for space (I had much much bigger rooms in NYC, Shanghai, Beijing etc), good attentive service and maybe some small luxury, then you would seriously be better off elsewhere. Diamond status in this property gets you bad food in RC and if you are lucky as I was then room service. But do call and make sure someone has remembered to collect your order. Otherwise you won't even get that!

RichardInSF

Have you ever stayed in a UK 3 star Holiday Inn? I haven't but that's because I looked at the rooms first. Not meaning to be sarcastic here, just wondering what other London hotels you are comparing the Churchill to.

Surgee

All of these are important details that were omitted from the original report. When you write a report with such a negative tone towards a property, I think these types of details are important.

--Non-elite folks queuing in an elite line is different from an idle elite line attendant helping one party from the regular line at the moment you arrived.

--Its neither fair nor right to judge a non-vegetarian only club on its offerings without qualifying it with "I only tried the vegetarian items." (Among other things, the salmon was quite good)!

--Good details about calling room service. But still, your food was not late, was it? Are you complaining that the sign on the door bothered you? 24 hour room service is different from 24 hour monitoring of in-room breakfast menu door hangings. They may very likely send someone around to check for those well before they start serving breakfast as can be designated on those door hangings (ordering breakfast food during non-breakfast hours is a different topic).

--Good details on lack of room change, as that is a common reason for no amenity. Seems from this forum that this hotel is not good with this diamond benefit. Still, did you ever ask about it, or did you just wait to see if something would turn up? I don't defend the hotel for not bringing something. They should have. (They didn't for me and it slipped my mind) But I'm just wondering if you said anything to them about it -- and if not, when did it occur to you that there was no amenity/letter?

Cheerfulflyer

No I have not stayed at a 3* property in London nor at Holiday Inn. However, the pictures of those rooms are comparable to the tiny rooms at Hyatt Churchill.
Yes the food was NOT late. However, it surely would have been if I didn't take the initiative to check (at t-30minutes) if Room Service had bothered to collect my order (hanging from my door). I don't expect a 24 hour room monitoring but if Room Service tells me that they will pick up the order rightaway, I don't expect a waiting time of 6 hours. I specifically told them that I would be having a very early breakfast (at a time outside the regular breakfast hours), so there is no excuse for them to wait until 6am to pick up the order when I would have checked out well before that time.
Welcome amenity/letter are not terribly important to me. I didn't complain about these things. However it still is an issue (albeit quite minor) in fulfilling expectations for a diamond stay. My point in this review has been that this property is very ill-disposed and stingy in their treatment of Diamond members. No room upgrades with very little perks that (in my view) have much value. As elites at Hyatt we are wont to a good stay but really the perks of diamond status at Hyatt Churchill London in particular is so weak that I would have rather stayed elsewhere even at properties where I have no status at all.

RichardInSF

I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I just looked at a room photo for the Holiday Inn--Mayfair and the Hyatt Churchill and they sure didn't look the same to me. The Holiday Inn photo starts with an ancient tubed TV and goes on to show a faded carpet, cheap bedspread, etc. And this is their publicity photo!

But if you believe they do look the same, then go for the Holiday Inn in the future as it is undoubtedly cheaper.