W Leicester Square, London, United Kingdom [Master Thread]
Mar 13, 2016, 6:47 am
#196
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
Spice Market to Close
Hi
Just a heads up to anyone visiting W London that later this month Spice Market will be closed for good. The space occupied by Spice Market will then be leased our to the "Burger & Lobster" chain who will take a few months to convert the area before reopening.
Once it does breakfast will be contracted to "Burger & Lobster" and in the meantime it will be served in the 2nd floor "Studios" or meeting rooms if you prefer the non W term. Not sure what this will mean about the offering for Plats either short term or long term.
It does mean however that W London will no longer have a restaurant it has any real link to and historically Burger & Lobster does not do reservations and its a queuing system. Maybe they will offer hotel guests a queue jump option?
Either way though it seems to be a general downgrade of the property and cheapening of the brand, specially here in Europe where when W London was launched it was considered a flagship property (I will leave it to others to decide the rights or wrongs of that). It does however leave the hotel essentially without its own restaurant and while the W Lounge is a great space for a drink it is certainly far from ideal to try and eat anything substantial in.
Hopefully however Spice Market will try to find another space to open up a London restaurant!
Just a heads up to anyone visiting W London that later this month Spice Market will be closed for good. The space occupied by Spice Market will then be leased our to the "Burger & Lobster" chain who will take a few months to convert the area before reopening.
Once it does breakfast will be contracted to "Burger & Lobster" and in the meantime it will be served in the 2nd floor "Studios" or meeting rooms if you prefer the non W term. Not sure what this will mean about the offering for Plats either short term or long term.
It does mean however that W London will no longer have a restaurant it has any real link to and historically Burger & Lobster does not do reservations and its a queuing system. Maybe they will offer hotel guests a queue jump option?
Either way though it seems to be a general downgrade of the property and cheapening of the brand, specially here in Europe where when W London was launched it was considered a flagship property (I will leave it to others to decide the rights or wrongs of that). It does however leave the hotel essentially without its own restaurant and while the W Lounge is a great space for a drink it is certainly far from ideal to try and eat anything substantial in.
Hopefully however Spice Market will try to find another space to open up a London restaurant!
Mar 13, 2016, 9:27 am
#197
Join Date: Sep 2013
Location: London
Programs: BA Gold, IHG Platinum, Hilton Gold, Marriott Platinum. Aspiring flyer with both feet on the ground.
Posts: 318
I don't get it... Spice Market was exceptional in both its cuisine as well as its service. Burger & Lobster is just another chain... Makes no sense..
Mar 13, 2016, 11:41 am
#198
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
Spice struggled to pickup any lunchtime traffic but had to open for lunch and thus didn't make money! It is to me a huge loss and will make me look at other hotels as I do not think any hotel that positions itself as a 5 star hotel should simply have a chain offering. I can see the commercial sense, but do wonder if its a short term fix that long term has negative impacts on the hotel and also the W brand.
If Spice had to close I do feel they should have aimed higher than Burger & Lobster, they cannot even offer hotel guests a restaurant to make a reservation in now!
)
Mar 20, 2016, 7:24 am
#201
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: LGA/JFK/EWR
Programs: UA 1K1.75MM, Hyatt Globalist, abandoned Marriott LTT (RIP SPG), Hertz PC
Posts: 21,171
Mar 20, 2016, 7:44 pm
#202
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 371
thanks for the tip
heres what you get when you're trying to book w on spg.com
Temporary Breakfast Relocation
Beginning March 23, 2016, breakfast will be served on the 2nd floor from 7am to 11am on weekdays, and 8am to 11:30am on weekends. Please contact the hotel for further information.
Last edited by bizum; Mar 21, 2016 at 3:16 pm
May 25, 2016, 3:04 pm
#205
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
May 27, 2016, 9:57 am
#206
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: ECP
Programs: DL Diamond
Posts: 1,658
May 28, 2016, 1:46 am
#207
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
I think they must sell any rooms they have left for weekends somewhere as I often see open availability go to zero availability overnight from a Thursday to Friday for the weekend!
Maybe try again a bit later.
Jun 24, 2016, 4:21 am
#208
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
'Enhanced' Breakfast Times
I thought it best to give everyone a heads up that I have just had it confirmed that once Burger and Lobster opens the breakfast times will be changing and I for one do not believe they are for the better!
They do start earlier, but certainly finish a lot earlier and I have to say for the type of hotel and music / party atmosphere it has I find it amazing they finish breakfast early.
Mon – Fri: 6:30am – 10am
Sat & Sun: 7am – 10:30am
It is clearly in the deal to get Burger and Lobster in and get more rent rather than to benefit guests of the hotel! The old time at a weekend was 11:30, much better if you had partied the night before!
They do start earlier, but certainly finish a lot earlier and I have to say for the type of hotel and music / party atmosphere it has I find it amazing they finish breakfast early.
Mon – Fri: 6:30am – 10am
Sat & Sun: 7am – 10:30am
It is clearly in the deal to get Burger and Lobster in and get more rent rather than to benefit guests of the hotel! The old time at a weekend was 11:30, much better if you had partied the night before!
Feb 8, 2017, 9:58 pm
#210
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: Kuwait (KW)
Programs: Qatar Airways, Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, IHG
Posts: 2,712
No big deal - aside from the open floor plan that some may find lacking in privacy, there's plenty of space to spread out in the standard rooms.
khabah