Here's the shocker. Long post ahead!
Property: Canopy by Hilton London City
Nights: 3
Status: Diamond
Room booked: queen
Room received: king premium
Rate: GBP 692 total
Date: late July
So this is one of those times where nearly everything will go wrong. As I've booked a semi flexible rate, I kept updating the rate as it got cheaper and everywhere settled on the above rate. A couple of days before arrival, I saw that in the app, my room type has changed as well as the rate. It became 950 something. I thought something was up, and so I googled. Turns out it's an error caused by lack of staff training in processing upgrades.
On the day of arrival, I messaged the hotel asking what time did room service finish because we would be arriving late. They said no hot food after 10.30pm.
So we arrived at 10pm. At check in, there's diamond recognition, but that's the end of it. Didn't tell me where to have breakfast and the time. I confirmed with the agent about the room service time. On signing the registration form, I queried the 900 rate printed there and I said that's not correct. She then reviewed the booking history and saw the lower rate. Got her manager involved and in their conversation, she kind of admitted that she changed the rate when processing the upgrade. They typed away for a while and assured me that it's fixed. Immediately I saw a charge on my card for the lower amount.
Got to the room, saw a menu with a few items on a single sheet of paper. Made my selection and called to order. Call went to front desk which then transferred me to the bar or restaurant, at which time I was told that menu was for the restaurant and not room service. Told to look at the menu on the TV. Turned on the TV and didn't see any room service menus. Couldn't be that hard to find right?
Called front desk again, initially she tried to say that hot food was finished and then later said there's a technical issue and the menu wasn't available on the TV. The agent actually told my partner to go downstairs to get the menu. What the? At that time it's already 10.20pm. Got downstairs, the agent had to look for another couple of minutes before she could locate and print it. And then we had to walk over to the bar to order. If they knew the menu wasn't available on the TV, they should have given me the menu when I asked about it initially at check in. Talk about first impressions!
The redeeming features of this stay were the room and the hotel being close to the tube station. It's still quite new and comfortable. Room service was pretty average though. One day it's missing a glass, another day was having the bathroom amenities randomly dumped on the tray and not neatly arranged. One of the bathrobes was missing the tie and those robes kept pilling, so there were bits of cotton everywhere.
On checkout day, we had to leave very early to catch Eurostar. At the front desk, was told there's a balance remaining. Wtf??? I told this agent about the mistake that was made and that it should have been fixed. I even showed her the credit transaction that was actually processed and no longer pending. She printed out the transaction history and it turned out that at check in, they did process the right amount to my card but the higher room rate was still there on the debit side! I was getting anxious and eventually the manager was involved who could see the booking history of the lower rate and he said he would fix it and we could go. The email receipt showed the right amount.
And the evening prior to check out, we asked to get a taxi as we were putting some luggage to a friend's place. Apparently the computer to order the taxi is like 20 metres away from the main desk and the guy had to walk back and forth to check on the status, and without providing any updates to us. Ended up waiting for 20 to 30 mins for a taxi. This hotel doesn't have a driveway, so there's no easy place for cars to stop.
And to top it off, one evening when we came back to the hotel, ppl were standing around the lifts. Apparently the fire alarm had gone off and the lifts had gone into fireman mode and needed to be reset. The staff there basically just walked between the lifts and the front desk with some walkie-talkies trying to work out why the lifts weren't back to normal mode. Would have preferred if one member of staff remained there to reassure the guests that things were OK.
Breakfast was full buffet. Diamond members can order an omelette. No complaints here.
Overall, this place suffers from a lack of staff training and I would not recommend staying there until things improve dramatically.
