schofs

Woohoo! Just booked a room (only cheap ones available) for the FT London do on the 11th November! £135+vat... and hopefully a nice RA upgrade

schofs

Dear Mr. Schofs,

Greetings from the InterContinental London Park Lane.

During the time that you wish to stay we are advising our guests that we will continue our refurbishment work in some of the rooms and areas around the building. Furthermore the InterContinental Club Lounge and our Spa will not operate until March 2007 where our grand reopening is planned.

Due to the fact that the hotel is opening with a limited inventory, we will not be able to guarantee an upgrade to Royal Ambassadors. Please be advised that as soon as our inventory permits us our upgrade policy for Royal Ambassadors will be as follows:

Room Type booked ---> Upgrade
Inner Court ---> Royal Park Executive
Mayfair ---> Royal Park Executive
Royal Park Executive ---> Studio Suite
Studio Suite ---> One Bedroom Suite including Club InterContinental Lounge access

We will not upgrade Royal Ambassador Members to access the Club InterContinental Lounge unless a suite rate is booked.

Since we will no longer have a dedicated floor with club rooms, all the guests will be able to access the Lounge for a daily supplement charge of £80 exclusive of 17.50% VAT.

Guests who book suite rates will enjoy complimentary membership of the stunning Club InterContinental Lounge with its breathtaking views over London and superlative Club offerings. (Our InterContinental Club Lounge will be available as of March 2007.)

I trust this information is of assistance. Should you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact me directly.

I look forward to welcome you on Park Lane.

Kind regards,


Reservations Manager

Raffles

£95 for lounge access?! Do they have Krug on draft?!

Interestingly, I never got this email when I made by reward booking on Monday.

On the positive side, no-one can say that they are not being clear about what you can expect as an RA in terms of upgrade.

uk1

I never got this either - so they clearly are not being clear about what to expect and it's a bit suprising they haven't e-mailed this to RA's when they have confirmed bookings from the web site under current RA T's&C's. Looks like you might get a better deal from the CP St James.

schofs

The letter was in reply to one from me asking about what rooms were available etc..., so while it's probably a stock email, it's provoked

uk1

It's a shame. If they open, irrespective of the enventory they should comply with their side of the IC's T's&C's.

DoubleJ

Then I guess I can expect the lounge as well as increased upgrade inventory to be available by summer (when I intend to make a planned trip).

PremExecSNA

I got the same email from IC London re: the upgrades. Unless I am missing something here, it looks like RA's will be receiving a one room class upgrade, with no suite unless you book a studio suite. With basic rooms going for 199-219GBP at the "opening rates" I can only imagine what it will cost to get in upgrade range for a full suite.

Also, they advised a room with breakfast would be 219GPP during November, as opposed to the 199 rate without breakfast.

uk1

From recollection, I think the London IC expects more RA's than most other group properties.

If so, then it doesn't bode well for the management of this property that they only manage the expectations of those that make contact as RA's to ask about upgrades and ignore all existing booked customers. This in effect means that they will be avoidably upsetting a large number of RA's who arrive (I think at least two a day was suggested) - and let's not forget about Ambassadors who also have a set of expectations - who will instead of being forewarned will only told at the reception desk on arrival that they will not be receiving the normal quality of services that they should and are entitled to expect.

The London IC therefore have made a commercial decision NOT to write to all Ambassadors and RA's who have current bookings warning them of the changes, in case this causes a drop in bookings and instead will purposefully dissapoint the major group asset - ie it's most prolific and loyal customers.

Not a good start back in London.

Shuttle-Bored

I guess to an extent they're following the letter of the law - IIRC, doesn't the T&C state that upgrades will be to an executive room or a suite?

As far as the interim "we're not fully up and running" situation - in the same vein of following the letter of the law, I rather hope they're doing something to compensate for the "unable to guarantee an upgrade to Royal Ambassadors". Maybe that's what the open bar which JimmyTheJock referred to earlier - or is that in lieu of Club rooms?

Raffles

Just went past the hotel in a cab and it is FAR from finished! I can only hope that they are working from front to back and that the north facing rooms are all done, because the rooms overlooking Hyde Park Corner are nowhere near ready.

KRS

I just booked an award night at this property for the middle of January. I thought I had snagged a good deal as my room appeared to come with club access:
Maybe its my English but I read into this that access to the Intercontinental Club was included but a "London View" room would be extra. Some punctuation would have helped. I guess it does not matter if the lounge is not even open

NickW

Glad I moved my reservation for the London DO to the Mandarin Oriental, by the sounds of it.

JAT74L

£95 for lounge access? ...!!

I see a Royal Park rooms are available for 30k points - wonder if they'll include club access/upgrade - I doubt it with the anti RA attitude demonstrated.

Regards

John

dromedaan

Dropped in to look around, two drinks at the bar weighed in at a wopping £29, needless to say chose to move on, after all Trader Vics next door at the Hilton offers superior drinks and environment at half the price .