Dukes London — Hotel in London

I had an awful experience at Dukes London this week. I had booked the hotel for 1 night through my work travel agent. When I arrived they had no record of the booking. After standing at reception for 20 minutes and providing my booking confirmation via email they eventually checked me into a room. The next morning when checking out I was told to wait as a manager needed to speak to me. A man then came out and told me abruptly and loudly that they still had no record of my booking, that the price I had on my booking was far too low, that it was likely a scam and that they had tried to charge the travel agent credit card they had on file, strange how they had that and yet no booking, but it had not gone through. He was talking at me, accusatory, I could barely respond as he wouldn’t let me speak. I told him I would call my travel agent. This was all happening in front of people at reception and he made me feel very uncomfortable. I spoke to my agent on the phone and the hotel manager kept speaking at me whilst I was trying to speak to her, repeating the same things over and over, making it very difficult to talk to her. The travel agent said that the hotel had tried to charge the card multiple times so it had blocked it but she could provide a new card for them to take payment. The man refused to take this over the phone insisting that they email. He kept saying they could be anyone using any card, obviously convinced of some scam. At this point he was becoming increasingly irate and was making me feel attacked, like I was a criminal. I was also panicked as I was becoming increasingly late for a work meeting I was in London for. I felt so uncomfortable I started to cry and asked if we could continue the conversation more privately as I was embarrassed. He took me to another room which still had other guests in but was slightly more private. I was still on the phone to the agent and she was trying to email over the card details. Strangely the emails wouldn’t come through to the hotel, probably some security block or just them being slow. This infuriated the manager who was now shouting that he could send an email from his personal phone and it came through straight away, as if this had anything to do with me. The travel agent was brilliant and reassuring me whilst he was getting frustrated at me and suggested he email her a payment link to provide the payment. He did this and she was able to pay for the room at the agreed rate. Even after the payment was made the man continued ranting at me, despite the fact I had gone to great lengths to resolve this. By this time I was very late for my work meeting, upset, and embarrassed. This whole saga took about an hour and a half. He kept talking and so I interrupted and just said please can I leave now. He demanded I give him the number I used to call the travel agent, which by the way was the same number he already had on the booking confirmation but he clearly didn’t believe me. I was made to feel like a criminal, like I was being held hostage and at times unsafe as a solo disabled female traveller. I told him I found the way he spoke to me unpleasant and at times aggressive. For anyone wondering my work travel agent is absolutely not a scam, I have booked through them many times and they are a large corporate travel agent. Just google Clarity Business Travel. It may have been some sort of glitch, but there was nothing untoward going on. Also the hotel tried to charge my AMEX not just the £50 hold/deposit but an additional £70ish without telling me. The whole time they also had the number of the travel agent on the booking confirmation document I provided so could have contacted them themselves and saved me a lot of distress. Clearly they provide good service if they believe you are the “right” sort of person but the way I was treated was horrible. I left feeling shaken up. I would never recommend this hotel to anyone, but especially not solo female travelers or minorities. They clearly make assumptions about you. Oh and to the manager, by the way, my title isn’t...

My three girlfriends and I went to Dukes Bar on Friday 6th April (2018). I'd been a couple of years before and had a great experience so wanted to show them what the fuss was about. I am rather embarrassed to say that it ended up being a bit of a disappointing experience all round.

The website says you can’t reserve a table in the bar area (even though about 70% of the tables had ‘reserved’ written on them when we got there). One of the waiters asked the Manager, Alessandro, if we could be seated somewhere and I must say that he didn’t seem to be in a particularly good mood! But we were seated and waited for our other two friends. When our third friend arrived, Alessandro (with some hostility) told her to move her chair to make way for the large group of businessmen who were going to sit next to us and started shuffling her over. He then told us to put our bags away behind us or next to our chairs! We asked about putting our coats in a cloakroom but he rather dismissively said “whatever makes you feel more comfortable” without actually doing anything about it and walked away! We just found him to be rude from the outset and somewhat annoyed that we were even there.

The businessmen next to us were chatting and catching up with somewhat raised voices (which is normal for a bar area!), however, as the evening progressed Alessandro walked passed us to attend to someone else and made a gesture with his hands to shut up one of our friends! We couldn’t quite believe it. Firstly, we have been to many a smart bar and know exactly how to behave and, secondly, we all felt a little victimized by his approach. We were not being any louder than anyone else, and were certainly more quiet than the men next to us. My friend went to speak with him to find out what the issue was and what he meant by his gesture, and he told her that two tables had left because of us and the noise we were making. Such nonsense! I almost feel like he had his wires crossed or had picked the wrong table! He then asked what she thought she was going to “get out of this” as if she, or our whole party, were looking for free drinks!! I also walked over to try and defuse the situation but found him to be very aggressive and extremely dismissive of us. There were people around him staring at us which was extremely uncomfortable. I was disgusted and also embarrassed as it was my idea to go to Dukes in the first place.

I’m not quite sure what Alessandro’s problem is but he needs to be made aware that he isn’t working in a members bar. All people from ALL walks of life are ALLOWED to enter the bar and enjoy drinks. They must get hundreds of tourists coming through wanting to have a ‘James Bond martini’. Do they get this treatment also?? I have a feeling that his hostility was against four women who were quite happily saying goodbye to the working week and ABLE to pay for their own (slightly overpriced) drinks. We don’t need our Dad telling us to be quiet when we were perfectly well behaved. I’d imagine he’s been there for quite some time but he needs to move with the times and not stay stuck in the 1940s. We don’t need permission from our husband’s to go out and have a good time these days.

I shall not be returning to Dukes Bar and I certainly won’t recommend it to anyone. There are thousands of other very smart and lovely bars in London with much kinder and more appreciative staff. Save your money and...

The antithesis of good service

From the website: “Drinks at DUKES Bar is something of an occasion….So whether you’re relaxing after a meeting or getting together with friends for special drinks, the intimate and timeless surroundings, coupled with the bartender’s knowledge, make it an unforgettable experience”. A TREMENDOUSLY HORRIFIC EXPERIENCE WHICH I CERTAINLY WILL NOT FORGET IN A HURRY.

I visited early Friday evening with three girlfriends for some special drinks. On arrival at 5.30pm, we found that nearly every table was reserved, although it states on the website that “we regret that we are unable to reserve tables”. The waitress took us to a table but did not offer to take our coats. Our first experience of Alessandro was him rudely asking one of us to move our chair so we could make way for a large group of businessmen, which we did without hesitation. When we asked what we should do with our coats and belongings he was incredibly dismissive and suggested we places them behind us or on the floor surrounding our table. Not what you expect from a supposed 5* establishment. But we overlooked this as after a long week in highly stressful jobs, we just wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves.

We had some very delicious martinis (the only decent thing about Dukes) whilst catching up. Next to us was an incredibly loud group of businessmen (but it is a BAR so understandable they are talking!), so naturally we had to speak a little louder than a whisper to hear each other. Alessandro then gesticulated at me to keep the noise down. If you have watched the episode of friends where Ross does his quiet down act, it was exactly like this. For a man with at least 30 years in the hospitality business, I would expect him to have a little more respect. If we were in fact being too loud (which we were not) then I would expect him to have a discreet word. I approached Alessandro to say how offended I was by his condescending gesture to which his response was that two tables had left because of our behavior. If this was true then I would expect him to have come over earlier and ask for us to be a little quieter. He then proceeded to ask me “what I expected to get out of this”. This is what actually upset and embarrassed me in front of an entire bar of people. Is it impossible for Alessandro to believe that four women can independently go to a bar and pay for themselves? I was mortified and insulted and at which point just wanted to pay the bill and leave, which we did.

I have never met a more egotistical and supercilious man. A man that should not be working in the hospitality industry in 2018.

If you wish to go to a bar and actually have a conversation, I would suggest...