St. James's Hotel And Club Mayfair

I visit London on a regular basis and generally stay in the same locations and hotels based on the circumstances of my travels. On this occasion it was a business trip however my meeting location was different from the usual location and I decided to change my usual hotel to be closer to the meeting as I always walk around London. All initial email correspondence between the hotel and myself was not addressed or replied to. On arrival in the early evening and during check-in the experience was exceptionally poor. The individual who did this procedure was less than interested in any sort of welcoming engagement and very different experience from other hotels I usually stay in. The room was clean however any previous request for a room with a walk-in shower and not stepping into a bath for a shower was never addressed or offered. The breakfast was decent with a reasonable selection of items on the menu and on the buffet however once again any “friendly face” and engagement at breakfast was absent. An evening drink before dinner at the bar, was absolutely soulless with the staff again being very uninterested in any sort of engagement. On check-out the same experiences as on check-in and a late (30 minutes) check-out request seemed to be met with an initial blank no and then a change of mind. The hotel is well located especially for tourism but could honestly do with a few more pleasant and friendly faces if it is trying to attract tourists. For me and my purposes, I will be going back to the hotels that I know and have stayed at many times before.

First off let me state that the location and friendliness of staff is excellent. No complains there. However this is not a 5 star level hotel, and certainly not worthy of being part of the “leading hotels of the world” collection. The main problem came with our room’s bathroom. It’s small, but the problem comes with the badly designed shower that splashes everywhere (an easy fix with a bigger glass screen), it wets the whole floor. Second, the toilet handle was broken and I was told it would be fixed, but it took till the next day to do so… (How did cleaning not realize this before we arrived?) Breakfast is fine, and the bar is nice too. Would not return at this price range.