offerendum

KatW

jp-mco

I wanted to update the thread and let people know about the follow-up and the outcome. As I said earlier I wrote to the GM, Director of Guest Relations, Guest Relations Manager and the reservations department the day after we checked out. I highlighted all of the accommodation maintenance issues and the service related issues we had encountered. To his credit, the GM came back to me within around 12 hours - apologised profusely and refunded our entire stay without quibble. He then asked to catch up with me either in person or by phone when he was back in the country. We spoke on the phone and I think he was genuinely sorry about all the issues we had encountered and was determined that they would not happen to another guest. He had already sent some senior staff to walk through the suites with all the points I raised and they confirmed them. He is meeting with them later today to discuss what they are going to do. He was also going to go up himself and look at them and he couldn't understand how key maintenance points had been missed. He also told me that they are working to secure vital capital investment in the property and have a lot of maintenance planned but this will not take place until 2020. We agreed to keep in touch regarding future stays at any Dorchester Collection property.

I'm happy with the outcome and I feel like Dorchester Collection have made suitable amends. I will say this, I always think that the true measure of a company is how well they deal with things when they go wrong and for that I can't really fault Dorchester Collection. They messed up but they held their hands up and put it right. I did feedback to the GM that the one good aspect of our stay was a particular member of staff and had it not been for her I would have just walked out.

Do I think the Dorchester is a luxury hotel? Not right now. There's a lot of things they need to sort out before I would consider staying again but I would give it another chance if I could be assured things had been put right.

Aventine

That's a better ending to one horrendous stay.

jp-mco

I agree. Also, someone asked on the thread whether this was a stay organised through a TA and did they advise me that I shouldn't stay at the Dorchester. Yes, it was through a travel agent and they didn't say anything but I guess I have a slightly different relationship with my travel agent than some people do. I don't really expect them to 'advise' me so to speak and I don't blame them at all for what happened. They were just reserving what I had asked them to which is generally how we work together and I'm happy for the relationship to continue in that way. I'm always happy to deal with issues if and when they arise which is very few and far between and I'm pretty easy to please. I won't put up with a shoddy hard product though!

gegarrenton

I feel that this is a pretty good ending. Not mitigating the issues, but commitment to the customer and a vision for where they need to go.

jp-mco

Aventine

That's the way it should be. Sometimes, it is harder to see from an outside perspective in hotels. Maybe no one complained before or thought of anything about the shabby conditions. I remember bringing up a similarly dilapidated suite at PH Tokyo and being dismissive as it was matter of fact. Their lips said sorry but not really sorry.

offerendum

While the stay was Horror the response is absulutely 5 star. So there is hope

Nicoolio

I'm surprised the GM was not aware of the wear and tear. I would have thought that it is standard procedure for the housekeeping manager to note and report any wear and tear when they release the room for new guests. Waiting for a guest to complain to find out about it sounds pretty sad, in terms of attention to detail.

clubeurope

The Ritz is living off being a tourist attraction and nothing much more. It's restaurant, I would have to say is considerably good, but not the rest of the hotel.

Interestingly, I was quite delighted during my stay at the Dorchester, though it felt a lot like a playground for Arab Royals

clubeurope

I agree, I am quite surprised to be reading of such a stay, especially at a hotel of this calibre.

That said, I recalled speaking to an Aman manager who specifically mentioned that the rooms/suites are touched upped and are cleared of any wear and tear every time a guest checks out. Unfortunately, not a lot of hotels does this.

offerendum

Depending on the type of wear and tear I´m not so sure.

Nicoolio

I would think while not every nick can be repaired ASAP and some hotels clearly haven't budgeted the funding to keep things up to snuff, the GM would surely know about the shortcomings and not be surprised.

offerendum

That´s my opinion too. Especially if it´s not something which occured in a short period (wine on the carpet, broken furniture etc.)