London Day 7 - The Rathbone Hotel in London Sucks

Monday, April 07, 2008

Categories: Diary • 2008 London Trip • Product Reviews • Products

Day 7 - the Rathbone Hotel in London

Now, faithful readers of my diary know that I don’t give bad reviews lightly, so it may come as a surprise to read the occasional one, but I’m going to talk a little about the place I’ve stayed in London: the Rathbone Hotel.

After my pleasant but exhausting international flight and my rustic sojourn to Yorkshire, I was excited to settle into London. I disembarked from the train last Wednesday and was met by a congenial representative from the festival, who delivered me to the Rathbone.

It is a nine storey building tucked among a few pubs and shops on a side street of the city proper, near enough to walk to lots of cool things like the theatre district and Oxford Circus. I was checking in as a guest of the well-oiled machine that is the LILGFF, which went smoothly. Aside from a weird affect from the international staff, which left them appearing to be stifling annoyance at the colossal inconvenience of dealing with me by smiling very firmly, all seemed to be well. I would encounter this “barely concealed annoyance” many times in the days to come, however much I tried to chalk it up to a cultural misunderstanding.

The room was nice by European standards, with plenty of space. I began putting away my papers and things, and noticed that I was listed as “Mr. Calpernia Addams”, which I chuckled at with only a tiny whiff of annoyance. I knew that during the booking of my reservation, they had nothing to go on but a name, so it couldn’t have been anything but a misunderstanding. Still, I would have liked them to have corrected it upon seeing me, something which never happened even after several imteractions and a room change.

In the first day of my stay, I learned the Internet access cost about $30.00 a day. As there are signs all over London advertising “unlimited wireless access” for 20£ a month, I was more than a little annoyed at being so harshly gouged on something so vital to modern business travellers.

When my three days of festival-sponsored hotel stay were up, I still had two days in London, so I went to the front desk to extend my stay.  You would have thought I had asked the front desk if they’d mind giving me nude photos of their mother to sell on the Internet, so tight were their smiles, so annoyed were their eyes.

To make a long story short, they extended my stay and then called my room the next morning and flat out lied to me by saying that I had to leave so that “something in my bathroom” could be repaired. The no- frills toilet-and-shower bathroom which had functioned perfectly thus far. I was told I’d move right next door, so I assumed my original room had been booked, so they were moving me. I went for a walk on their suggestion (in the freezing snow) and upon my return I was told I’d been moved to a third room on the top floor. All of this by the unfailingly smiling but terribly annoyed staff, who kept looking around and throwing their hands up as if they were barely clinging to decorum in the face of my annoyingness. In all the changes of information in their computer system, my designation as “Mr.” stayed the same.

I go up to the new room, and upon opening the door I am confronted with the staggering stench of cigarettes and acrid cheap cologne. The room is tiny, to boot, and on one of the coldest April days in London since 1989, the heating won’t come on.

I try to endure the stench, but after an hour I decide I can’t, and with great dread I go to ask to be moved. You can imagine my reception. After much hemming and hawing, and dealing with three separate staff members, they agree only to place a dubious “oxygen machine” in my room for an hour, requiring another sojourn into frozen London, where I sat depresed in a pub and drank a pint of beer, seething at the money I was being gouged and the time which was being wasted.

Upon my return, the room indeed smelled only faintly of a trailer park ashtray, and strongly of something like sour milk. I didn’t feel like going out at all by this point, so I went to bed.

By the time I woke up this morning, the cigarette smell was back in full force. I decided to escape to the dining room and at least try to enjoy the free continental breakfast. After a leisurely munch on a few small croissants and fruit with coffee, I went to leave and was presented with a bill for what will end up being about $26.00 in American money. Apparently, my new ash tray room doesn’t come with the free continental breakfast.

I hate the Rathbone Hotel, it sucks and I strongly advise against anyone stating here.

** CLICK “READ MORE” BELOW FOR AN UPDATE!

Day 7 - Rathbone Update

IMPORTANT NOTE: The staff of the London Int’l Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, and my experiences with the festival, have been exceptionally professional and pleasurable. My experiences with the Rathbone Hotel should not reflect on the festival in any way.

I’ve decided to check out early and stay at the airport until time to fly out. Upon checking out, the Rathbone front desk staff were already in conversation on the phone with one of the incredibly efficient LILGFF staffers, whose call was apparently causing quite a stir at the front desk. Nonetheless, the front desk girl looked at me with unconcealed exasperation and said, “Can I ask you something? Why didn’t you tell us last night that the oxygen machine had not removed the smell to your satisfaction?”

“Well, after having so obviously put everyone out by requesting a clean room, and dealing with so much resistance to the idea of getting moved to a clean room, I decided to try to deal with the somewhat improved smell instead of facing more exasperation at the front desk.  Unfortunately, the smell resurged during the night. But the last straw for me was the $26 croissant and coffee breakfast.”

She then began to go on about how I should have done something else, so I cut her off by putting my card onto the counter in front of her and saying, “I’d like to check out, please.”

Among the staff alternating between shooting glassy-eyed frowns my way and talking animatedly among themselves was a higher level manager, who came forward to remind me that although cancellations usually require 24 hours, she was going to generously waive this and allow me to check out after having paid only 1 night’s fees. I could have sworn she also said my haute cuisine continental breakfast (free all the other days) would be removed from the bill as well, but when my old friend the front desk girl gave me my bill to pay, it was still there.  “Didn’t she just say that this breakfast was going to be removed?” I asked.

“No, we’ve done quite a lot for you already.”

I signed the bill. “Yes, everything but provide me a clean room and friendly service.”

------------------------

Lessons learned:
Don’t stay at the Rathbone.

What could have saved this situation:
I know service industry jobs are difficult, and I’m sure there were some cultural differences at play that may have made me seem as much the “ugly American” in their eyes (though I never raised my voice, always said “please” and “thank you” and apologized with my requests) as they seemed unhelpful in mine.

But what could have been done to satisfy me?

1. They could have stopped behaving as if my requests for a clean room and clearly explained terms of room rental were putting them out so terribly.
2. They could have kept me in my original room, as was the understanding when I requested the extension. If it was booked, they could have been honest rather than calling me the next morning to say that my perfectly functional bathroom needed repairs.
3. Finally, they could have moved me to a clean room that did not reek of cigarettes and cheap cologne. As a non-smoking hotel, this should have been high priority. If they could not accomodate my request for
an extension of my stay in a clean room, they should have told me so, and I would have looked for another hotel.

And why am I blogging this? Why should my readers care? Mostly because I want my experience out there for inclusion in any search results if someone is researching this hotel as an option to stay. Caveat emptor!