Kobi

Has anyone stayed here and if so do you get the full starpoints for your stay. Also how is the gym at this hotel? How far is this hotel from the Sheraton park Lane? Which hotel is better?

vincom

I hate the Park Lane, I'd bet any 4pts is better than the Park Lane... (the only thing it has going is its location).

-Vincent

jchand

Stayed at Le Meridien and the Park Lane last year. To Be Fair SPG Plat against a price Line stay. I though Le Meridien was a bit of a dump to be honest.

Nothing wrong with the Park lane. I bit of a bargin by London Standards.

ijgordon

I had a very nice stay in an Executive Room (a tad on the small side though), which was the rate I paid for. Will be staying again this summer. Location is great, just steps from Piccadilly Circus and the tube station, so I think a bit more convenient than the Park Lane. Walking distance to West End, and some of the Soho nightlife if you're interested.
BTW the "free night" special offers (e.g., buy 3 get 4 nights) are pretty good deals if you're staying over a weekend. Valid at all of the London properties I think (ex-Lanesborough of course).

dingo

I've got a reservation at the Trafalgar Hilton already, but am looking at this property as well. Are there recent experiences with treatment of Plats here on an award stay? I love the location of this hotel and would love to be treated with the Plat treatment.

Any recent experiences would be very much apprecaited.

Scott218

As a Platinum, I got upgraded to a junior suite at the Le Meridien Piccadilly last May. The hotel has one of the best hotel gyms in central London.

JFKLAX321

I will be staying in Le Meridien Piccadilly at the beginning of next year. Does anyone know what to expect? How is their treatment of Golds?

Anything you know would be great

AdrianVanzulli

My fiance and I will be staying there for part of our trip to Europe next year as well and from everything that I've read on the boards, it seems like a good enough spot. The location is key for us, which makes it even more desireable. No St. Regis in terms of lux, but it should do.

Cheers,

Adrian

sdflyer04

I recently took my family on a long-awaited European vacation. Our last stop was the Le Meridian Piccadilly in London. We arrived at Waterloo station after taking the Chunnel and took a short cab ride to the Piccadilly. I was surprised at how roomy the cabs were in London, but I was really surprised when we were able to put all of our bags and 6 of us into one cab with zero grumbling from the very pleasant cabby. We took cabs several days during our stay after we learned that 6 could fit easily making them an economical way to tour.

We arrived at the Piccadilly around noon. Our rooms were pre assigned. They weren't connecting, but they were adjacent to one another. I pushed a bit to see if I could get a suite or other upgrade or connecting rooms, but there were none to be had. The rooms weren't available. So, we went to lunch and when we returned both rooms were clean so we went on up.

Simply put, our first two rooms were awful. They were very old in every way, including furnishings. They were small, particularly the tiny bathrooms. The king bed in one room was so "smushy" that I woke up with a terrible back ache and a determination to find better accommodations. The other room had two queen beds that I'd used an extra 1500 points per night to book. The beds were equally bad. Overall, if this were where it would have ended, you'd have gotten a horrible review from me. Old, small, terrible beds, old furnishings, no view, no upgrade, nothing.

But, when I went down the next morning, I went back to the woman who had helped us the day before. After much searching, she came up with a suite! Then, after helping me understand that there were no double queen rooms near or connecting to the suite, she said that I could have an adjacent room with two twins. I asked to look at the room. It was still in the older portion of the hotel (I learned that some floors in the hotel have been remodeled and are much nicer-although I never saw those floors). But, the suite was huge. It had a pull out couch queen bed in a huge living room with a dining room table, desk, view, etc. An old, but great room. Better yet, the king bed in the bedroom was much, much better than our original bed. I was about to take the rooms when I realized that there was another bedroom behind a second door with two twins that could be combined with the suite turning the whole thing into a 2 bedroom suite with 3 bathrooms!! I explained what I wanted and the woman from checkin made it happen. As a result, our final 4 days were in a huge 2 bedroom suite!!! Better yet, with a family of 6, we had 3 bathrooms!! The rooms (other than the living room which was huge) and baths were still tiny and old. But, the space was amazing. We loved having everyone together. Since I had a marvelous upgrade on my room and a terrific situation, I didn't mind paying 1500 extra for a room with two twins.

We also loved the location. It was mere steps to the tube, across the street from the bus stop, and easy walking distance to shows (we also walked to Westminster Abbey, but that was a bit far).

The pool is very nice and part of a spa. It has a great jacuzzi, steam room, work out room, fruit, locker rooms, etc. My kids loved it. It is huge and was fairly warm. The only funny thing was that the hotel made an employee come out and sit next to the pool whenever we swam. I assume this was because we had children swimming. But, it was a funny thing with two adults in the pool with the children (and some of my children are older-almost 18).

Everything is expensive in London with the exchange rate! But, we found some good restaurants in the Rick Steves book that were good and not outrageous. Our worst food was fish and chips at the Tower of London. Ugh.

We decided to try taking the train to Heathrow when we left because it was Sunday morning. It was fine, but if I had to do it again, I would take another cab because of the walking with bags, particularly after arriving at the airport.

Overall, we loved London.

SDFLYER

Ak17

I stayed at the Meridien Piccadilly in July for about two weeks and agree with some of what you said. The location is absolutely wonderful -- very close to Oxford Circus, Regent Street, etc. My room was also surprisingly large. Given that this was central London, I expected cramped quarters but was surprised to find a sofa, coffee table, small central table, desk, and arm chairs in the room, as well as a king bed. To be fair, the bed and linens could be better quality (but I just stayed at the W in LA and have the same complaint about the linens) but overall the hotel was quite nice, although parts of it do need updating.

My primary complaint was that the service is a bit hit and miss. I was charged for 3 bottles of alcohol from the mini bar (which I didn't consume), room service forgot my breakfast tray on one of the three occasions I actually ordered breakfast in the room, the laundry service was quite rude about picking up my laundry (it took them about 40 minutes to come up to the room and then only after I called them to say that I was leaving and wanted to make the 9 am dropoff time for same-day service), and the glasses/tea packets, etc. were frequently not replaced after I'd used them. In addition, the internet connection is ridiculously expensive (I believe it's 24 pounds for the day), although you can often get around this if you subscribe to certain wireless hotspot services.

That said, the hotel was nice and I would stay there again.

thaliajen

I just got back from a 9 night trip to London and this property was my last stop. The 1st night I was put in one of the upgraded/new rooms. Now, I'm no prude, but I like to have a wall between my bedroom and bathroom! The bed came up to a half-wall, and behind that was the bathroom. The new, sleek look of these rooms is okay, and the wooden tub was so cool, but I was MUCH happier when they were able to find me a suite for the next night.

I took some photos of both rooms and really prefer the older part of the hotel as long as I got the suite. I found the people there very helpful, with a separate check-in for SPG Plats (maybe all SPGs, I didn't notice) and the ONLY area I found them lacking in service was the concierge. Whereas the concierge at the Sheraton Park Tower (My all-time new favorite hotel) picked up a phone and booked me a seat at a musical, the Meridien concierge told me to walk to the theater, and wouldn't write down the directions. "You'll remember, luv," he said. He was a nice guy, but 2 hours later and over 20 pounds spent on a cab, I found the theater but it had no seats for that night. The concierge could've phoned so easily and saved me that trouble.

I did find that the Meridien had something the other hotels didn't- a line of crazed Harry Potter fans at the Waterstones across the street. I was there on July 20th and 21st- and the book was released on the 21st at midnight. I actually went over to the bookstore earlier that day and when I came out, I got caught in the crowd, and later saw myself trying to get out of the mass of people on BBC! It was too funny. But people were lined up around the blocks- they had been there 3 days to be the 1st to get copies. A few were even staying at the hotel, though they were sleeping in turns on the sidewalk in line.

I think the location was great, and the suite was a nice upgrade, but I'm glad I only stayed 2 nights. I spent most of the trip at Sheraton Belgravia, and then 2 GLORIOUS nights at Park Tower. It's easy for me to say that I would definitely choose Park Tower if I went back, but as all my money was spent in London (DAMN! What a terrible exchange rate for Americans!) I doubt I'll go back anytime soon.

This was only the 3rd Meridien I've been to but I stay at Meridien Cancun about 2 weeks a year, if not more, and I found the older building kind of lacking for that particular chain. It wasn't a bad place, just not the best. But I did have a ball watching the Harry Potter chaos, and I even went the next morning to pick up the UK versions (there are 2 different covers there) for all my family back in the states. And I got my own from the infamous Waterstones where most of the Pottermania took place, LOL!

Okay hotel- nice people, but I'd stay at the Park Tower if I went back.

ElkeNorEast

I've stayed at the LM Piccadilly many times. The first time I stayed there it was as Priceline and they put us in one of the crap old rooms - having spent much of my professional life working in upscale hotels, I knew how to handle that :-) Went straight back down to the front desk, very politely told them that the room was quite a disappointment, was there any way I could perhaps have something a bit nicer? Lovely lady took us on a room tour, and after much to-and-froing we were happily ensconced in a gorgeous -44 room with walk-in closet, huge bathroom and extremely high ceilings... it was for a week over Christmas so the extra space was a godsend for all our shopping and festive merry-making on Christmas day itself.

The concierge was a git, though! It's a great location and I go back as often as I can, requesting a -44 room each time and paying a bit extra for it but it's very much worth it!

dabbagmm

I stayed at Le Meridian Piccadilly for six nights during mid Nov 07. I paid about GBP 350 for a room and got all sort of upgrades as I'm a Platinum SPG.

The hotel is totally run down and thus is a low value for money even at the cheapest rate. I changed room twice and all of them were the same. Renovation is way over due, carpet and furniture is worn out. Staff is enthusiastic but lacks experience. Frankly the only advantage of this property is the location.

Keep away!!

jamesn00

Have to agree - the room I was given was very tired. Also, the rooms facing onto Regent Street face Cafe Rouge so you'll have late night noise at weekends.

From NYC

Just back from a stay at Le Meridien Piccadilly. As I was checking in, I inquired about the state of the elevators, all of which had quit for over 12 hours the last time I stayed there. I was told that 2 of three were working, and that the hotel was about to undergo top to bottom renovations that would occur floor by floor while the hotel remained open for business, and should last till the end of the year. I don’t know just how extensive it will all be - air conditioning and heating systems, room redesigns - it was stated that new furniture and carpeting would be going in. All of this is a good thing as the hotel is certainly looking worn and dowdy.

NOTE: I was unsure whether to put this in the main thread for the hotel or start a new thread. The Mods are free to leave here or place in the main thread. I left it as a new thread to be sure it was seen.