Thoroughly Unimpressed

1   Not Recommended
Superior King
July 24, 2022 by

 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended
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Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel
 Map | 2 Reviews | 50% Recommended

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First, let me state that I have Ambassador Elite status with Marriott and I am Lifetime Platinum.  Prior to the pandemic, I visited London regularly for both work and pleasure, so I’m very familiar with many of Marriott-affiliated hotels in London.

That said, this was only our second stay at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House.  Our first stay was in December 2019, but was just a short one-night stay with an early check-out.  That stay was fine, although admittedly, due to the brevity of the stay, we didn’t get to experience much about the hotel.

This trip was a six-night stay in early July.  Our anniversary was taking place during our stay, so I wanted something a little special, even though our 15-year-old son was travelling with us.  As an Ambassador Elite, I contacted Marriott’s Ambassador team in advance to make some requests.  First and foremost, I mentioned to them our anniversary, and asked if they could do something special for it.  Additionally, since we were travelling with my son, I asked them to make sure we’d have a rollaway bed for him, and to make sure we’d have a room big enough to accommodate the rollaway (just FYI, we did make sure that we booked the room for three people and booked a room that could accommodate a rollaway—even paying extra for this).  I also requested a 1:00pm check-in.

We arrived at the hotel around 1:00pm and waited at the front desk to check in.  No early check-in available, as the hotel was very busy.  OK, not a big deal, as I know early check-in is not guaranteed, even for Ambassadors.  At this time, I reiterated that we needed a rollaway for my son, and a room big enough to accommodate it.  Noted by the front desk clerk.  The clerk took my phone number and said someone would call once the room was ready.  We head out to get some lunch.

 

A couple hours later, still no call.  I checked the Bonvoy app, and noticed that we had been assigned a room.  We head back to the hotel.  Another wait at the front desk, but after a bit we get our room.  It’s a room on the first floor.  We get to the room.  Looking out the window, the view is of a black tar roof.  Lovely.  But more concerning, the room isn’t really big enough for a rollaway.  It wasn’t there yet, but it was obvious that if it were in the room, one would essentially have to crawl over the rollaway in order to get from the king bed to the bathroom and door.  Headed back down to the front desk, again waiting.  Noted my concerns (both the terrible view and the lack of space for a rollaway), and he found a new room for us.  “Of course we wouldn’t want an Ambassador guest to have a view of a roof.  I think you’re going to like this new room.

Get to the new room, now on the second floor.  At least it’s big enough to accommodate the rollaway, but the view has got to be one of the worst views I’ve ever had at a hotel, looking directly at some kind of HVAC units (or something like that) and an antenna.  We were exhausted from the trip and just gave up and settled in.

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To be clear, I don’t expect a whole lot out of the Marriott Bonvoy program these days in the way of upgrades, even as an Ambassador Elite.  And I realize that we were staying at a time when the hotel was near capacity.  So, I wasn’t surprised to not get upgraded to a higher-category room.  But goodness, the very least I’d hope for is not to be put into what must have been one of the worst rooms in the hotel for the category that I booked. 

After a while of waiting for the rollaway bed to be brought up, we call the service line and ask once again for the rollaway.  We head out for dinner.  Upon our arrival, the rollaway is still not there.  It’s getting late in the evening, and my son is tired.  So I head down to the front desk (since housekeeping isn’t apparently doing anything about it), wait once again, and request the rollaway for the third time.  Finally, it comes about a half hour later.  But it took three times requesting it for it to arrive.  This, despite the fact that we requested it in advanced and it was confirmed by our Ambassador.

So, so far, total crap room, and had to make numerous requests for something we confirmed in advance.

Next day, breakfast.  Even for Ambassador Elites, breakfast is only in the Executive Lounge.  No option for breakfast in the restaurant.  As I previously mentioned, I’ve stayed numerous times at several other Marriott properties in London (not to mention around Europe).  This is the only Marriott property I’ve stayed in London where Platinum Elites and above were not offered a full breakfast in the restaurant, even if the hotel has a club lounge.

Every morning we were there, the Executive Lounge was pure chaos.  A struggle to find somewhere to sit, furniture that’s more conducive to lounging than eating a meal, coffee machines that were either not functioning or needing to be refilled, cutlery not being available, empty serving dishes that needed replenishing.  And a selection of food that leaves a bit to be desired.

Housekeeping was also a problem.  Throughout the stay, housekeeping would take away used items like bathmats and washcloths (flannels or face cloths for the Brits) and not replace them.  One evening, we were in the room when someone came around to do turndown.  We asked her if we could get replacements for the items that had been taken.  Nope, she can’t help us (I’m not sure she even understood English very well).  So, again called the service like to ask for these items to be replaced.  They brought hand towels instead of washcloths.  And, after complaining about this, the next day the missing items were properly replaced.  Until the day after that, when the same problem started all over again.  It got to the point where we would just hide our used washcloth in a drawer so that we’d have something to use for the next shower.

The second-to-last night of our stay was our Anniversary.  Remember, I had made a request from the Ambassador team for “something special” that day.  Well, the day came and went and nothing… nothing at all from the hotel.

After our stay, the Ambassador through whom I made the requests contacted me to see how things went.  I let her know that absolutely none of the requests were fulfilled by the hotel.  She was flabbergasted.  She confirmed with me that we should have been greeted upon arrival with recognition of our anniversary, and that on the day of our anniversary, we should have received a personalized handwritten anniversary card along with a bottle of champagne and a fruit plate to go with it.  And she confirmed that the hotel had accepted those requests from her, meaning that they agreed to perform those services.  And yet, the day came and went without a single one of those things happening.  Fortunately, we were able to celebrate our anniversary with a lovely dinner that night (although, to be sure, not dinner at the hotel).

JW Marriott is supposed to be a luxury brand—a full-service five-star hotel.  And during our stay, the hotel was charging rates equivalent to about $950/night for a standard room.  Granted, we paid with points.  But the amount of points we used was certainly at a premium as well.  Yet, at every step of the way during our stay service was severely lacking, even below what I’d expect at an average Sheraton.  Always a wait at the front desk, poor housekeeping/turndown service, messy and chaotic Executive Lounge, a concierge who seemed to know less about the local area than I did.

And if you have status with Marriott, don’t expect any recognition beyond the absolute minimum that they’re required to provide.  In short, it’s quite obvious that this hotel doesn’t give a toss about your Bonvoy status, even at the highest levels.

In the future, I would actively avoid staying at this hotel.  Especially when there’s the Sheraton Grand Park Lane nearby—a much nicer hotel that actually cares about their Elites—and at a lower price.

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