A nice London hotel masquerading as luxury--and with service issues

1   Not Recommended
Executive Suite
May 16, 2017 by EXPERT

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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The Park Tower Knightsbridge, A Luxury Collection Hotel
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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Executive Suite

Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
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Executive Suite

My husband and I stayed at the Park Tower Knighsbridge in October 2016 for 2 nights. (Sorry for the delay in posting!)

We stayed here over the final weekend of a European trip --after stays at the Gritti Palace (4 nights) in Venice and the Excelsior Gallia (3 nights) in Milan. The Park Tower Knightsbridge suffered horribly by comparison. The PTK simply isn't nearly as luxurious as its counterparts as those or others in the Luxury Collection--at least, not to my mind. To me, the PTK is one of thel least impressive hotels in the Luxury Collection portfolio.

The lobby and bar are up to luxury standard, but the room decor is not. 
We liked the location...but likely would not stay here again. It is a good value...but we can do better.

Check In

Check in was less than seamless. We had been confirmed for an Executive Suite upgrade in advance, but asked for an upgraded Panoramic Suite (better view). After checking, the agent indicated we could get one but that it would take about an hour. We indicated we'd be having lunch in the restaurant. After an hour, we returned to the front desk...only to have the same agent indicate that the Panoramic Suite was assigned to someone else. I was PISSED.

We then got the keys to the Executive Suite that we originally had been assigned, having waited an hour for no reason. A bad start, indeed.

Room

The Executive Suite (and Panoramic Suite) is basically two adjoining rooms, with the connecting door "somewhat" open between them. One room is the living room, and the other is the bedroom. Each room has its own largely identical bathroom.

The bedroom:

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The bathroom off the entry hallways to the bedroom:

 

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The bath products left little to be desired. Though they were Moulton branded products, the packaging was so small as to feel very cheap. They were the same size as you'd see in any regular Sheraton hotel. They were far less impressive than anything we'd had at other Luxury Collection hotels.

The connecting doors between the rooms were absolute hazards that would not open entirely on EITHER side:

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I was stunned by how badly those doors were arranged/allowed to continue being so hazardous. There was NOTHING luxurious about almost walking into the doors when using EITHER door to the suite, or when returning to bed in the middle of the night. We both hit the darn doors many times. The doors absolutely should have been removed entirely...or at least ONE of them!

i complained to the maintenance engineer and manager who helped resolve the air con issue in the room. Nothing could be done, and both seems resigned to the doors and were surprised I complained. Really?

The living room:

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The view wasn't too exciting. But the Panoramic Suites are on the other side of the hotel and offer much nicer views onto Hyde Park.

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The air con stopped working twice during our first evening, but the engineer and manager finally had it resolved by the time we returned from dinner our first evening.

The hotel suite was spacious, but the decor was quite traditional and felt dated.

Together witht the ugly exterior concrete shell, it felt more like we were at a very nice Sheraton Grand than a real luxury property. Certainly, there was nothing even remotely reminiscent of the luxury we'd experienced at the two previous Luxury Collection hotels.
 


 

Service

Service was an issue in 3 arenas:

(1) Check in was a disaster. Promising us an upgraded Panoramic Suite, making us wait an hour for it, and then giving it to someone else was the height of bad service.

(2) The air con went out a few times in our suite. I made sure to confirm before booking that the bedroom could hold 19 C. It took 2 calls and 2 visits by the engineer, and finally the manager and an engineer, to fix it. But it shouldn't have taken so long in the first place!

(3) On our final morning having breakfast, the restaurant manager could not have been more arrogant and recalcitrant. He refused me the 6 poached egg dish I ordered as part of my Platinum breakfast benefit (I always eat a lot of eggs!)--even though I'd just had the same thing the morning before. I complained...and eventually was brought the dish. But  neither he nor anyone else ever came over to apologize, even though he remained working the other tables. It was ridiculous. Horrible service.

Ultimately, those 3 poor service experiences left a horrible taste in my mouth. Sadly, it wiped out the wonderful service we experienced on our first afternoon lunch while waiting for our Suite.

Dining

Dining was actually quite good. The restaurant is quite beautiful:

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The first lunch was very tasty:

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Breakfast, aside from the service miscue described earlier, was quite good, as well. 
 

Location

We love the location. It's an easy tube ride from Heathrow along the Piccadilly line. It's across the street from the Mandarin Oriental, pretty much.  It's a block or two from Harrod's. It doesn't get much better. 

Overall

Overall, the Park Tower offers a value expereince for the luxury and location. But it suffers by comparison with any other European Luxury Collection hotel, in my opinion. It just isn't nearly as luxurious as others at which we've stayed. I would not choose to return.

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