Flying Lawyer

I do not need this - I am pretty well aware of what I am entitled to.

MikeFromTokyo

saaveraward

and now the full review of the HIX.... I mean "flagship" IC Park Lane

- checked in early as Spire and given first available room. upgraded pre-arrival to deluxe, paid difference in cash rate to exec (but with a view of windows across the street staring back at me). Safe doesn't work, stains on drapes, massive stains all over sofa, tub doesn't drain. Didn't say anything about it.

- hotel texted my phone under my name and another guest's name, so double the texts. When I texted back to stop texting me as a random guest who is not me, they apologized via text. Next day, kept getting texts for someone else.

- On day two construction noise started. Very loud, multiple hammers. Called downstairs. Duty manager claims via phone that with a massive, multi-million pound construction project, they have no clue what areas of the hotel will be worked on with any given day. Huh? No one from construction consults with the front office on what rooms to block? It's just complete roulette?

- Said I was going to attempt to take a brief nap despite the noise and please don't call my room and leave a message in the message center. 15 minutes later they call the room.

- Bellperson came up with new key to switch rooms. Walked in and it's two beds, no sofa any more. Room is so tight you can't get by the bed to sit in the one chair in the room. Called down and spoke with same person and asked him how he did not consider this a downgrade? Only other offer was to move to a one bedroom suite. Am I back in the construction zone? "I don't know." I exclaimed, "It's your hotel and you know more than I do. If you were a guest here where would you stay?" The response was "I guess I would keep the two bed room because I don't know if the other room will have construction." Told them to waive the upsell since they downgraded me. That was agreed to.

- Only after did water and shortbread cookies show up as an amenity. No recognition letter or property benefits listed throughout the stay.

- Came back around midnight on night two and pulled the duvet off of one of the bed. Multiple fresh blood spots and streaky stains throughout. Pillows too. Went to the other bed. Same. Texted photos. Called housekeeping who came at 00:30 and replaced linens on one of the beds, the other left bare. Tub doesn't drain again. Stains on the drapes in this room too.

- Went down the morning of day three to guest services and said I would like housekeeping at precisely 17:00 so I may be there to ensure clean sheets. This was agreed upon. There was no misunderstanding. At 17:20, with no one appearing, I went down to guest services and asked to be booked at another hotel since they were incapable of even providing clean sheets or doing anything that would signify a luxury hotel that is run correctly. Told guest services after the blood fiasco, I would have expected a note of apology from the GM under my door in the morning with their card and was insulted they blew off the housekeeping appointment. I asked to speak with the general manager. No one was produced and it was if that position did not exist. I agreed to let the guest services person come up to the room and they brought a housekeeping manager who viewed the photos. As linens were stripped away, they removed the pillowcases which had no pillow protectors and they were stained bright yellow from sweat (I had not noticed this the previous night). It was horrifying and disgusting. The runner of one bed had a very long, old blood stain. An hour later, and now late for a reservation, I at least had clean sheets.

- On day four I went down to the lobby for breakfast and ordered eggs benedict and toast for GBP 27. The eggs were nearly hard boiled. The english muffin was stone cold and was just taken out of the bag. The orange juice is from a jug. To add to this lovely experience, the restaurant manager decided to conduct his staff meeting in full view of the guests at 10:30. Considering I could hear every word of the meeting, I can tell you how much the lobby restaurant took in for food the following day, how much the till was rung for drinks, what the specials were and I can now correctly answer the staff quiz about what's in the bacon old fashioned. Oh, and of course, "Have a great day of hospitality!" I now feel appropriately trained to work at the IC Park Lane because about 15 minutes is all it takes.

- Later that day, when I got to the bottom of the tissue box in the bathroom, there were several pubic hairs in the box. I texted this photo and again demanded to speak with the GM. Of course, no reply from management. My only presumption is, this hotel is so cheap, they stuff tissue paper in to existing boxes thereby saving them 2P.

- On multiple occasions (and this is a recurring theme on previous stays), when I made eye contact with several door people and said "Good morning" or "Good afternoon" I'm met with a completely blank stare and no response whatsoever.

- From day three to five, I was harrangued by guest services with them calling the room every day to "check in." I told them I had given up and I was tired of telling them how to run a hotel and yet every day, instead of a note under the door or something non-invasive, a regular phone call, again waking me from my nap. "I called you several times but you were out." Then leave a message!

- Upon check out one of the upsell nights remained on the bill. Three people behind the desk were privy to this conversation and agreed it's not supposed to be there. I was not presented with a bill for the upsell. I did not sign for the upsell. Sure enough, when I reviewed my credit card statement at home, they charged me.

- E-mailed the hotel and of course they have no idea what I'm talking about but agreed to remove the charge. In the process of removing the charge, they charged an ADDITIONAL 100 GBP on my card. They then said this was "human error." The authorization remains on my card to this day.

In summary, if you like blood, sweat, public hairs, stains and a hotel without a single senior manager who you can talk to for five days (after four requests), this is the hotel for you.

In disclosure, I received the equivalent of one night of points refunded and an additional 20k from corporate when I opened a case file due to the ongoing issue post-stay. I did not ask for compensation throughout and said "all I want is clean sheets and to talk to a senior manager." I couldn't even manage that.

Score 2/10

Land-of-Miles

dk9

This review doesn't really surprise me. It's also unfair to call this hotel HIX. I have generally been very happy with my stays at HIXs around the world..

MikeFromTokyo

dk9

The problem with this hotel is the inconsistency..

I am also not sure about the good value for money when a classic room of 18 sqm is £500+ and they have those awful bathrooms. There is nothing luxurious about this. If you want luxury you stay at the nearby Four Seasons and if you want value you get a very large suite at the nearby Holiday Inn for half the money of a 18sqm classic room at the IC!

tangey

The aformentioned pictures would add context to the story, but it does sound a really REALLY poor stay experience.

saaveraward

I assure you all were texted back to "guest experience." I blocked their number and deleted the thread after they kept spam texting me, calling my by a different guest's name.

I had no desire to keep those gross images on my phone.

MikeFromTokyo

Land-of-Miles

That £500 a night for a Classic room is an anomaly, those same rooms go for as little as £160 and on average run to circa £300. Of course at peak times prices will be higher but when prices rise above around £300 they are typically sold for then what is actually happening is that they are sold out of classic rooms and are selling more expensive inventory and pushing upgrades for the deserving.

The Classic rooms are not large but neither are those at the Hilton Park Lane across the road and the internal condition is generally better at the IC.

If you don't think the IC is good value there are lots of other options available to you. I don't think it is the best London hotel by any means but for the location and with RA it definitely can be great overall value as both redemption or paid stay (at the right rate).

The rooms layouts and sizes and elite recognition is not a closely held secret it is clear and easily discovered in the public domain. I probably wouldn't stay there if I wasn't a RA personally as other nearby properties where I also have Elite Status would probably give me a better overall experience but that's not to say it is a bad property. When I hear people .....ing about the quality of rooms costing £500 per night though the one thing that chimes for me is that there is no way the complainant has actually paid that amount.

dk9

I don't disagree with what you say. But the property is indeed only worth it if you are a RA and partially due to their excellent lounge. If you look at the reviews of this place, their target customers are middle eastern guests and RAs. If that's their target group, well good for them but I truly believe that if you are not in that category you will not receive good treatment at the hotel.

Regarding the pricing, I have never seen classic rooms advertised at £160!! I would love to see when these are available.. As I have been staying quite regularly in London the minimum price I saw them was £260 around Winter time and for the whole summer they are north of £400.

MikeFromTokyo

saaveraward

I expect to be treated as well as any other guest regardless of how I paid, my loyalty status or category of room. My last three stays there were bodyguards stationed outside various rooms on my floor. I guarantee that guest doesn't have blood all over their sheets and pubic hair in their tissue box. And if they did and asked to speak with a manager, I'm darn sure one would appear to apologize.

It's not psychological. They treat different classes of guests differently. Otherwise, how would they keep the doors open? A group is not spending eight figures on a prolonged stay to be treated like that. Of course I could be completely wrong. Maybe they get orange juice from a jug and the kitchen can't execute a soft egg for them either.

There is no denying this hotel is improperly and poorly managed in my opinion. I've given plenty of hotels on FT 10/10 and my standards and judgment are the same regardless of how much I paid or what my status was.

The only thing keeping me at IHG at the moment is the excellent stays I'm having at Kimptons. I wish the footprint was bigger. Which is why I will not renew ambassador and drop to platinum.

MultiFlyer

Does anybody know why the renovated Mayfair rooms are only bookable till 16.9.2019 and not available later?