Dreadful Service - And They Don’t Seem To Care
On arrival at reception there was only one member of staff on duty. He was dealing with another guest which is fair enough, but I was ignored - not even “I’ll be with you in a second” gesture. Customer awareness - zero. I had to get to a meeting, so left my luggage and said I would check-in later.
When I returned, I checked-in and asked for my suitcase. I was told it would be sent up to my room. I was heading into the West End so needed my case. 15 minutes passed by, 30 minutes, 45 minutes… no suitcase. I had to chase reception. Concierge service - zero.
The room was okay. A good view out over Kensington Gardens. However there was what looked like a cigarette burn on the base of the desk lamp, a slightly limescale clogged shower head and some of the TV services didn’t work. Room - 2 out of 5.
In the evening I ordered some room service - a club sandwich which was dry and tasteless. Room service food - zero.
When I went to check-out, there was only one member of staff on reception - it was the same guy - as in check-in attempt #1. Again he was dealing with another guest, again I was initially ignored so I waited, and waited. Waited and ignored that is until I asked if he could call for assistance. He dived into the back office. I waited again and again… he dived into the back office again, someone came out went to his computer terminal but did absolutely nothing to assist. During this time, there was what looked like several management types / senior members of staff standing around in the lobby doing exactly the same - nothing. It was only when I started to kick up a fuss (which shouldn’t have had to be the case and asked reception guy if the Royal Garden Hotel was really a five star hotel) did the duty manager (AT) appear.
To his credit, the duty manager listened to my issues, organised my check-out and comped my room service. He gave me his card and said that if I did decide to stay at the hotel again, to let him know.
The day after, RGH sent me a feedback survey, asking me about my stay which I completed detailing the issues I had experienced. A few days later, I received a reply from the assistant reception manager (JT) who apologised for the issues I experienced and, much like the duty manager, said “We hope to welcome you back to experience a much warmer and complete stay. If you do decide to stay with us please contact me… and I will ensure that you are looked after”.
I will be in Kensington High Street in early September, so on 13 August I emailed the assistant reception manager, who only 3 months ago wanted to … “… welcome [me] back to experience a much warmer and complete stay”. It’s now 18 August, and no reply has been received. The email account was active as no ‘message failure’ notification was received.
Given the lack of response, on 14 August I sent the Duty manager who gave me his card an email. The following day (15 August), I received an ‘Out of Office Reply’ (which seemed strange given they are usually instantaneous and don’t take 24 hours to arrive) saying that he would be back in the office on Saturday 18 August. Saturday came and went and I still have had no reply.
The Royal Garden Hotel is not a “Luxury 5 Star Hotel” - far from it in my experience - as it lacks the finer detail and the management and leadership that comes with it.
When things go wrong and the management offer to make amends - it appears to be nothing more than a lie. Why should you expect your staff to go the extra mile, if you couldn’t care less about it yourself.
If it wasn’t for the views overlooking Kensington Gardens - and that’s just some of the rooms on the upper floors at the back - I’d say it would be on par with a glorified Premier Inn.
2 maj 2024
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