Raffles

A friend of mine is staying there tonight and I am going over later for a look around. Will report back! Other FT'ers are also there at present for the mega-London DO so we can expect some full reports in the next day or so.

schofs

Indeed they were...

Mrs Schofs and I checked in at around 6pm on Saturday night. As expected, there were no upgrades available due to the suites not having been finished yet. Also there is no club lounge yet either.

The lady checking us in was very pleasant, and showed us the restaurant etc. before taking us to our room.

We really liked the room, considering it was a standard one. We had a courtyard view, which we were quite happy with since there's no road noise at all, and meant we could have the windows open at night.

The whole room & bathroom were very stylish, nice BOSE sound system and plat panel TV. The fridge was loaded, although the champagne was one white and one rose Pommery POP - ok for a mid eve drink, but would have preferred LP.

The staff were brilliant, and they couldn't do enough to help.

In the morning, however, the water was only luke warm to start, and then ran cold, which ruled out showers (although we would be home later that morning so not the end of the world).

As we went downstairs to check out, we mentioned this to one of the staff downstairs who asked how our stay was. He said he was terribly sorry, and that the night's stay would be on them. As we had a free minibar, this meant nothing to pay, for what was otherwise a lovely stay.

So ^ to the hotel, and ^ ^ to the staff!

Shuttle-Bored

Nice one! Sounds as if they're giving a bit of flexibility to handle teething problems during the soft launch phase. ^

Raffles

OK, I'm back from checking my friend into the IC (I've booked his room on points in my name, to get him RA benefits). Here are my thoughts / notes:

Only 38 (yes, 38) rooms are currently open!
The cafe is not yet open so there is no buffet breakfast. A la carte breakfast is being served on the sofas in the lounge area.
Theo Randall is open and looks great. Serving lunch from next week, currently open for dinner.
RA amenity is a glass jar of humbugs! Also got a bottle of water and some apples.
Rooms look good but are hamstrung by their size - about 30 sq metres. This means NO separate shower, only one sink, no partitoned off loo etc.
Decoration is traditional but still impressive. The flat screen Bose TV and hi-fi look very good.
The view from the Royal Park room was impressive. The IC is only 8 stories tall but that is still taller than most of south west London.
The bar is tucked in a corner of the lobby, so you basically drinking in the lobby. Didn't look too impressive.
In general, the public space is quite limited compared to Claridge or the Ritz.
No noise from the ongoing building work in the room.
Late check-out is not guaranteed at present due to the very small number of rooms being sold.

Here's the interesting thing, though. When I asked if the mini-bar is free on reward stays, the front desk said yes - but only for 'in room consumption'. What this seems to mean, although I didn't probe, is that if you empty it out and there are not a corresponding number of empty bottles in the bin, they reserve the right to charge you. Snacks do not appear to be free.

And I can confirm that club access will be £80 + VAT per day, since there is a tick box on the check-in form that says 'I agree to pay £80 + VAT per day for club access'! I hope this is not a sign of sneaky upselling to come, when guests are asked if they want to use the club but are not told the cost until they get the bill and are then shown a copy of the check-in form where they have 'agreed' to pay the fee by signing it.

Shuttle-Bored

Well, looks like suites will be available by the end of December - my award booking is now showing as upgraded from a Royal Park Executive to a Studio Suite ^

KRS

Ditto for mid-January. ^

uk1

My paid for December booking for an Innercourt Room has changed to a Mayfair room - whatever that is!

refluxboy

I think this is the same as the Innercourt Room but looking outwards.

My Royal Park Executive Room in December has also updated to a Studio Suite.

uk1

I must admit I'm genuinely lost to understand how best to deal with this.

The RA programme has a set of contractual obligations and therefore expectations and I guess any booking accepted from an RA carries an upgrade to either a suite or a Club room, nether of which they'll apparently be offering to me on this trip. They know that but they've not bothered telling me that, I guess they'll just leave this until I'm there on their mat. They are clearly opening their hotel before the have fully reached the IC quality criteria.

Not really certain how best to deal with it.

Raffles

They only have 38 rooms open as of today, including ZERO suites. They can't offer you what they haven't got! However, as an RA you should get the Royal Park room (unless they are all already gone - I reckon there are only about 7-8 of these currently open).

NickW

The hotel doesn't have any suites. They really can't upgrade you to what they don't have. And your guaranteed upgrade isn't to a Club room - it's to an 'executive' room.

What would you expect to happen if you checked into a sold-out hotel? That they'd downgrade a paying guest out to upgrade you? Common sense should tell you that any upgrade is ultimately limited by what rooms are available for allocation at the time you make your booking.

I guess you could just keep schtum and then raise merry hell at checkin, even though you did know in advance and try to squeeze some compensation points out of them. My experience with the IC London is that they don't really give a hoot about your status (or, in some cases, the actual rules of the rate plan on which you're staying) so I wouldn't get my hopes up.

uk1

Thanks Nick,

I promise I have the common sense and can grasp the obvious ie you can't have a room that they don't have, even dumb old me can understand things that are that obvious, but it isn't the point I intended.

The issue is one of how it hasn't managed things. The hotel has contractual obligations to the brand which it is purposefully ignoring. I have no doubt that the contract says at least two things. One is that you don't open the hotel to guests before it is completed and the second is that it provides the facilities that the brand has contracted with it's customers. And before you say "common sense" again I promise I understand the pragmatics of the situation, particularly the pressure the hotel must be to get some revenue in against the background of the contractor problems it has had and the time it has lost.

My issue is pure and simple. Most of the customers that are visiting are not FT'ers and won't have the benefit of people's reports of what is happening. Many also have bookings made for them by people that work for them. Many will not know that the hotel may have building works going on around them. They might not know there isn't a Club floor or Exec rooms. They may not know that there is no chance of the expected level of upgrade.

My point is that they could have taken a bit more care with how it handles bookings where it can predict that it isn't going to supply the service customers are reasonably expecting by making contact with them and explaining things, and perhaps even promising something a bit better on a subsequent visit. I'm simply puzzled by it's simply a lack of thoughtful management of heading of problems before they happen.

melvin the mole

I have today booked a room at the IC London for a weekend in May 2007 (In Mrs Mole's name as she is an RA) - I booked the room via Ambassador Customer Services and was told the RA upgrade was to an executive room or suite depending on which room you booked. I then asked what was the specific upgrade relating to a Royal Park View Room for the weekend we wanted. The helpful young lady contacted the hotel and was told by Peter in reservations that the upgrade was to a 1 bedroom suite ^ - I think the first suite is a studio suite. As a result I booked the Royal Park View Room at the best flexible rate of £199 per night and have a one bed room suite for which the best flexible rate is £499 per night - our valued stay will improve as we will be using a free night certificate.

JimmyTheJock

OK here we go!

SWMBO & I stayed at the London IC for a few nights last week and thoroughly enjoyed the experience despite the current lack of some ‘more common’ facilities.

The staff were superb in every respect, almost falling over themselves to be helpful and welcoming; the small number of available rooms might of course have had something to do with this but I felt genuine friendliness being exuded by everyone to whom I spoke.

Raffles has already commented on the furnishings etc. and Schofs on the problem with water temperature; we also felt the water temperature was low and questioning members of staff were told it is set at a maximum of 38C. We later established that pulling a small knob at the side of the temperature selector permits the lever to be rotated further (past its stop) producing a significantly warmer flow at both bath and shower.

A free bar was available 1830 – 2000hr on the Monday & Tuesday evenings (but not at weekends); needless to say this was taken full advantage of to SWMBO’s obvious dismay and displeasure . A jazz band played in the lobby some nights, where they were on others I know not.

The Theo Randall restaurant is open and food is currently being discounted by 50% to the menu price; sadly this did not apply to the wine list which is extensive albeit with a number of apparently reasonable value offerings. The ½-bottle of Californian Zinfandel at £37 is exquisite…a beautiful accompaniment to the lamb. In two separate visits a number of dishes were sampled; all were superbly cooked and presented, the mixtures of flavours judged outstanding, just leave room for a sweet, especially the lemon tart! Budget for around £75 a head at current prices (including a decent wine).

Breakfast as has already been stated by others is presently being served in the Lounge until the new ‘Cookbook Café’ opens in a few weeks; the hotel itself will not be fully functional until March 2007. Despite the rather informal surroundings the quality of the breakfast could not be faulted; my only complaint might be the number of staff who came and asked if we were enjoying it!

I did have to ask for our mini-bar to be refilled on one occasion; as an RA these things are important . Personally I would have liked to have seen white & red wine provided rather than (or perhaps as well as) the champagne but greedy beggars can’t be choosers! A jar of humbugs hardly compares to some gifts we have received and the pears in the fruit bowl were distinctly hard, but these are minor grumbles.

All in all a very pleasant stay and an hotel which is without doubt going to set standards which others will have to work hard to better. So I'm giving it ^ ^ ^ .

MIABarry

I have a reservation for 12/15 and am at the Ambassador level. How have Ambassadors been treated since the opening. Can I expect anything other than a room?