A Tale of Two Hotels, In Two Cities, Part 1:

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Many readers know that I’m a loyal Starwood customer; at last count, I will have spent 67 nights in 2014 at a Starwood hotel, and that is just through September of the year.  That said, I recently joined the Marriott Rewards program, for a couple of reasons.  First, it’s not always possible to stay at a Starwood for reasons of cost or availability, so it’s good to have an alternative option and one where you earn points.  Second, Marriott has a fair amount of geographic coverage worldwide, particularly in the places to which I travel, and some nice upper end properties like the Ritz Carlton brand that you can book with points for free nights.

With that background, last week on a trip to London I booked a room at the Marriott Grosvenor House in the Mayfair district.  The price was reasonable, and the hotel was convenient to the Tube stations, good eating options, and Hyde Park for getting some fresh air and exercise.  The room was small but comfortable, and quiet at night.  No view to speak of – I think it was across from a courtyard with an air shaft – but the property dates from the early 1900s and was renovated in 2008, and done well with clean, well maintained guest rooms.

The problem, however, is the service quality was pretty abysmal at the hotel.  With several hundred rooms, the concierge desk and the reception desk were woefully understaffed during my 5-day stay.  At checkout, the line was six guests deep with only one person working the reception area, and very little interest by the hotel in doing more, even when staffers were asked.  Getting directions, either from the concierge or the bellmen/door staff was another problematic area – on two occasions, I was misdirected as to where to go when my destination was only a few blocks away.   Plus there were the constant calls to my room to check on my check-out time – probably best if you don’t make those at 11 pm at night, and even better if you don’t make them the following morning after already having asked at 11 pm the night before.  Housekeeping despite the “do not disturb” sign also entered twice my room on the door.

But the most annoying and frustrating part of the stay was the £15 per day charge for internet in the room – with wifi that was anything but reliable, and slow when connected. It’s one thing to ask guests to pay for wifi – a ridiculous charge by hotels that is directed at nothing more than generating revenue despite the low cost to the property.  It’s another to charge such an outrageous amount for it when the service provided is so poor.  Yes, the wifi is free in the lobby – but only if you hovered in about a 20 x 20 area in the Marriott’s main reception area – and were prepared again for slow speeds.  In the 21st century, there just isn’t any excuse for that.



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