The plus points of this hotel -
it looks amazing - the staff look amazing - the coffee is great - its 'cool' - if you want to party there is always a party going on in the lobby or downstairs - the design elements of this hotel are great, attention to detail to make it look 'cool' are brilliant, the shop is great,.....
however....
it doesnt offer great service ( the staff are friendly and the front desk were generally nice and helpful, but overall it felt the staff were there to be part of the hispter crowd and not offer any kind of customer service ) , cool far outweighs comfort or service. you have to queue for 30 mis for the hot, hipster staff to make you a very slow coffee in its coffee bar. they wont make a cocktail that isnt on the menu and they dont offer many. the food menu is unusual and interesting for one night in the restaurant, for more than one night it makes you feel like you are going to have a heart attack ( stuffed pigs leg, scotch egg etc ) . The room service menu is VERY limited and they wont let you deviate from it AT ALL. they offer a toasted cheese sandwich, pate, a burger totally covered in cheese, a salad that consisted just of apples and walnuts, a plate of meats....umm i think that was it. i certainly couldnt find anything i wanted to eat on it as a main meal in my room after id eaten the burger. The breakfast also didnt allow you to ask for anything even slightly different from the menu - i was told ' no' when i asked for 2 fried eggs on toast but when i pointed out they offered toast and 2 fried eggs as sides they said i could have those seperatly, but not on the same plate as one order!? . the breakfast in the room was nice but they often got my order wrong. the staff are too busy being cool to offer the expected hotel service ( an di dont even expect that much ) - i am pregnant and still i got to carry my own bags and when asked if i could have a late check out was told ' i dunno'.
Both myself and my husband work in media and enjoy going out and staying in cool places - we arent fussy or partiularly old - but even i would like the front desk to be able to hear me when im trying to check out, but they couldnt over the loud nightclub of a lobby that this place has. they seem very proud that the hotel lobby is used by the hot new 'dot com generation' to come and write there, but when staying in an expensive hotel id like to be able to use its lobby, coffee shop, bar etc without it being totally full the whole time with people nursing a coffee and staring at their laptops with staff who don't want to help you.
My husband was working whilst here and he was driven mad by the people coming back to their rooms at 3am after being in the lobby and carrying the party on and smoking in the hallways. the computer areas on the floor above us didnt work when i tried and the ice machines didnt work on the 2 floors that i tried. i put the do not disturb sign up but the housekeeping would knock anyway and they started so early! then the person to stock the mini bar would knock!
i wanted to love this place, but id like a bit of comfort and service with my hipster experience please...
hotel reviews