Earlier this week, we arrived into London around noon on Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Mumbai. After picking up our bags we headed to the Marriott Hotel Park Lane that is located in central London right on the corner of Oxford Street overlooking Hyde Park.
London Marriott Hotel Park Lane : exterior view
While it is a 19th century building that houses the hotel, this hotel went through a full refurbishment just 3 years ago. The decor and the furniture in the lobby gives it an intimate boutique hotel feel.
London Marriott Hotel Park Lane : Lobby View
There was also a majestic shoeshine chair placed in the lobby. Here shoe polishing service is run by The Jaunty Flaneur.
Shoeshine Chair in the lhotel obby
At check-in we were advised that we had been given a room on the topmost, 5th floor with a view of the city. The room was compact and the interiors was done up in soft shades of white, dove grey and lavender. No real upgrades for being a Marriott Rewards Elite here.
The bathroom was beautifully designed, had Japanese TOTO toilets and marble flooring. I could see Hyde Park across the road from our room window opened on the city side.
View of the bathroom
We had electricity failure in our room late at night and when we advised the hotel reception we were told that electrician will only be available a few hours later at 7 am in the morning. The air conditioning temperature control also did not work properly and the room was very warm during the day.
View of the city from our room window
Ajay is a Marriott Rewards Gold member so we had access to the executive lounge that was located on the lobby level. The lounge was beautiful and resembled an English pub.
The Executive Lounge at the London Marriott Park Lane hotel
Apart from breakfast and evening canapés, the club lounge also had a nice small spread of scones, wraps and sandwiches for afternoon tea between 2 and 4 p.m. The food was good and there was a reasonable selection of hot and cold items to choose from.
Lounge Spread
The hotel has a spa, gym and an indoor heated pool located in the basement.
Spa at the hotel
Although the USP of this place is its location. The hotel is just a stone’s throw from Hyde Park. Also the Marriott Park Lane is walking distance from Oxford Street and other city attractions. Given the beautiful London weather we had a great time strolling in the Hyde Park and walking around in the city.
Main street outside the hotel
On the service side apart from the bell boy who chatted us up during check-in the staff didn’t really care much. It sounded like electrical failures were normal at the hotel and no attempt was made to speed up fixing or service recovery in any form. For 400 GBP/ 520 USD/ 33,000 INR a night, I wouldn’t be happy with just a room in the posh Mayfair district. The hotel needs to do much better on the service level.
Have you stayed at the Marriott Park Lane hotel in London? How has your stay experience been like?
I am lifetime Platinum with Marriott, and this is the only Marriott property I will never return to. I stayed there 3 years ago for a week and I still remember the condescending attitude willingly provided by every staff member I interacted with. I’m happy to hear it isn’t just me.
Disappointed to read about your poor service experience. After our wonderful stay there in May I thought we had found our new favorite London hotel. We got a room upgrade — larger room with a view of the neighboring building wall — so your Hyde Park view with a smaller room wasn’t bad!
This is very bad experience but if there is a scenario like this, won’t the hotel provide any compensation?
Thats London, having stayed in different 4/5 stars hotels in London in the last ten years from time to time I can confirm that this is normal for them. The staff tend to be eastern european mostly devoid of any service culture and even if you get Local staff they dont bother much. Try ordering room service at 3am in 5 star hotel in London and you will observe everyone in the supply chain to that service is reluctant, sleepy and give you a feel that it is unwelcome to order at that time. Hospitality is not a UK thing unfortunately even if you pay for it!