London Maida Vale slipping every year

1   Not Recommended
January 5, 2016 by EXPERT

 Map | 1 Review | 0% Recommended
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Marriott London Maida Vale
 Map | 1 Review | 0% Recommended

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Liked:
Location
Service
Food
Amenities
Room
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The first problem occurred at check-in. The front desk could not find the reservation. when I pulled up on my phone, the only comment was " ohspelled your name wrong." No smile,no pleasantries, nothing.

Room

The room was a deluxe king, and was pleasant and spotless. However, several problems occurred that not only were not corrected, but were not even acknowledged or addressed for several days.

• The pay-TV never worked. They kept sending the concierge up to try to fix it, but to my knowledge no one from engineering or maintenance ever looked at the set or the controls. Not a huge deal but we had to keep asking various staff if anyone had come up to address the problem.

• The room was kept clean, but we asked for linens to be changed every day and had to make the request every day at the front desk and with housekeeping. The linens were occasionally changed but sometimes sheets and no pillowcases, sometimes pillowcases without sheets, and we were often shorted a towel or two.

• the main problem was that the drain in the shower backed up for even a short shower or rinse. this started a comedy of errors with the front desk, maintenance, and housekeeping with the overall result that nothing was done. Although I was promised that maintenance would address the issue, it took three days for it to them to even acknowledge the request and send someone up. He said there was nothing he could do, but I could've unscrewed the hair catcher and probably unplugged the drain myself. The whole time the front desk kept saying "sorry, we'll attend to it, sorry, we'll attend to it, sorry, we'll attend to it" ad nauseam.

Service

The staff are truly pleasant but absolutely hapless. There wasn't one request we asked for, from a car service to a bathmat to some extra towels that was attended to without several trips or calls to the front desk.

Dining

We didn't eat in the restaurant or the bar, but we have before and they're quite good and relatively reasonably priced. We did try to order a cappuccino one morning from the bar, which is the only place you can get just a coffee in the morning, and it took literally 15 minutes. I really don't know what the problem was – the bar keeper seem to know how to make a cappuccino but was very involved talking with his friends outside the bar.

Location

We like the location quite a bit, which is why we keep coming back despite the fact that service and amenities have diminished over time. They say Maida Vale, but it's actually Kilburn, which is a mixed diverse area which at this point is primarily Arab and Muslim. Not a problem for us, and we've enjoyed the diversity quite a bit as we live in a relatively mixed neighborhood in San Francisco. There's easy bus to Hyde Park, Camden town, and tube service to everywhere so we really enjoyed that aspect of our stays.

Overall

We stayed here every other year for the past six or seven, and every year brings a diminished attention to detail. I've informed them this is likely our last stay there, as I've always emailed before our stay, been in touch with the GM or his assistant, and requested a quiet room with things that work. This last room just was the last straw – not any major major issues, but if you can't unclog a drain after four days I don't want to stay there.

Staff are pleasant but not empowered to do anything - not even out of the ordinary but anything that you request.

Gym

We stayed from Christmas and New Year's, and while we've usedthe gym and pool on past stays, keeping track of the hours over the holiday was just too much of a headache As they were often closed.As many others have mentioned the gym is not in the hotel itself but involves walking around the corner to the health club.

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