Raffles London at The OWO — Hotel in London

Awful non accommodating disinterested customer service by the manager at the afternoon tea at Raffles OWO London on Boxing Day. We were a group of six booked for a 130pm afternoon tea at the Drawing Room on Thursday 26 December 2024. The bad customer service started the moment we stepped in. Out of the 4 tables sitting 6 people only one is occupied. The manager shows us to the one next to the main open door. I asked to be moved to the one at the other side by the till because we did not want the draught from the opening and closing of the door. Manager refuses because they may have a group of 9 people coming at the table back near the till. So I asked to be moved to the table in the middle of the room and again refuses because they wanted to keep the two tables separate in case they have other customers. I asked if it was booked but no. I asked why not other guests take the table he gave us and he said no - smirking all the way and asking in the same breath what he can do for us. I do not know what annoyed me the most - the smirking or the total refusal to accommodate guests. The guy clearly did not want to be there but the question is why they are paying him to do this job he clearly does not like. The problem here is that there is no oversight - or worst even ,if this person is supposed to oversee, then i can see why the whole team serving afternoon tea was so abominable. By the way we have been to this place twice before and it was never bad. But this is the last one - because the price tag is so expensive one cannot have such customer service. |After sitting us he disappeared and apart from a couple of fleeting visits could not be seen for the rest of our stay. |We stayed till 430pm not because we were mesmerized by the experience - but because food was not being served.| Waitress comes to take orders and asks for allergies and my husband says he is allergic to cheese. She asks why did we not say this before. He responds that the form they sent us did not have an option to tick for cheese but only for dairy and other allergens. Further there was no free text field where we could write that he is allergic to cheese so effectively the hotel did not allow us to tell them that he is allergic to cheese. She begrudgingly says she will tell the kitchen. |Teas come in slow pace. Similar for the sandwiches. At 3pm we ask for a refill. We repeat our choices twice. Food comes but one sandwich is missing from mine and she does not bring any of the order for another person on the table. We have to get up to go to the till at the other side to get another waiter to tell them that they have missed an order. |Then the endless wait for the sweets starts. All staff missing from the floor. The manager nowhere to be seen but now this is the case for the waitress as well!!!! Either the whole hotel is understaffed on Boxing day or the staff is taking the day off because no one is checking them!!!|The table they refused us remains empty all the time we were there. |At 350pm I get up and got to the other side of the room at the till and tell a waiter when the sweets are coming. They bring the sweets after 10mins. We ask where are the scones as they should have come first. She says they will bring them - not answering the question nor apologizing. |Scones come after 10mis - they are cold. We have to quickly eat and go. Majority of sweets were not eaten because of the sequence of the orders and giving scones and sweets in tight succession. |While we were waiting for the sweets I got up twice to grab a staff to ask for water. They come and they go before they serve water to all on the table. i have to get up again to ask them to come back.|It was very upsetting the whole thing because of the insane amount of money spent on this and the fact that THERE WAS NOTHING A CUSTOMER COULD DO to get better service there. Falling short of not paying or refusing to pay the service charge PEOPLE ARE STUCK! |We wanted to hold a reception there but there is no way that we will do because we will be at the mercy of some seriously unwilling unaccommodating staff and managers and there will be nothing we could do to make up for parting with our hard...

I loved this hotel. Making my reservation via the Accor app was easy and I booked a Junior suite. The reception team had upgraded me from my £1,300 a night suite that I had booked to a higher category room because of my Accor Diamond Status and also I suspect that the Hotel is in its launch phase. ||The reception team were very welcoming especially the guest experience manager who hailed originally from Kosovo - she even greeted me in Turkish which made me feel at home and very special.||One further aspect that I had appreciated was that the hotel had emailed me several times checking on my requirements, time of arrival, time of departure etc. During one of these exchanges I had expressed my desire for a corner suite.||At check in they offered to show me a special corner suite - The Clementine Suite - Clementine Churchill was Winston Churchill’s wife. I immediately fell in love with this suite and accepted to pay £950 a night extra because it was so beautiful and this extra was also at a reduced rate than the normal charges. I had a view of the horse guardsmen across the road. The ceilings were very high and the exquisite wood panelling gave the suite an extra feeling of opulence and made my stay very special. Also the suite came with Butler Service. The Butler service was also a welcome addition. ||The staff throughout my stay were courteous and friendly and efficient.||So why not rate this 5 stars:|1). My baggage was not delivered to my room for 30 mins after my check in and I was so keen to have a shower - finally I decided to contact concierge and my bags had been delivered to my original suite but not the Clementine Suite. I would have expected this to occur seamlessly but this is just a small but nevertheless important point.|2). On my second night I was having dinner in the drawing room when I heard one of the other guests shout to the waiter catch it! It was a mouse and that too in a dining room- I pondered whether I should even mention this in my review but finally erred on the side of “ truth in advertising “. For a top establishment this is serious especially in the dining room because my mind wondered about the contact between rodent and the food I was eating.|3). The staff are very proud of the history of the hotel - Churchill had his war cabinet meetings there . So expect your solitude to be disturbed by groups being taken around on tours of the history of the hotel.|4) . Because of it’s historical nature expect to see people popping into the dining room to take a selfie as happened to me without them being stopped by the staff - at several thousand pounds a night I value my peace and solitude.|5). The hotel is very large thus further compromising its peaceful nature.|6). Finally it is not about price but value. For these prices I would rather book a suite at the Dorchester or for cheaper prices even beautiful classy suites or residences at the historic London Langham - especially given the location in Mayfair as opposed to Westminster or White Chapel.||All in all a lovely classy stay but overpriced- my coffee and finger sandwiches and scones were £50 and my room suite was £ 2,300 without...

I had a wonderful visit to The Old War Rooms for afternoon tea yesterday with my wife to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Here's my review of the fantastic tea we sampled during our stay.

"Tea, Spies, and Empire: A Brewed Affair at Raffles OWO."

If walls could talk, the Old War Office in Whitehall would whisper secrets of Churchillian grit, clandestine rendezvous, and the clink of teacups between dispatches. Now reincarnated as Raffles OWO, this bastion of British history offers an afternoon tea that’s less ration book, more regal indulgence — and I had the pleasure of sipping through four of its finest blends.

The Churchill Blend — naturally, one starts with the man himself. Smoky, bold and unapologetically British, this tea is the liquid embodiment of a wartime speech. It’s the kind of brew that demands a straight back and a stiff upper lip with a hint of cigar in the first sip. One imagines Churchill himself swirling it in a porcelain cup while plotting victory over a scone.

The Drawing Room Afternoon Blend — a genteel nod to the golden age of Empire, this blend is as refined as a Foreign Office memo. Light, floral, and impeccably balanced, it’s the sort of tea that would have soothed the nerves of a spy fresh from decrypting enemy codes in the bowels of Whitehall. It pairs beautifully with cucumber sandwiches and a touch of scandal.

Cherry Blossom — a delicate whisper from Japan, this tea is a fragrant reminder of Britain’s far-flung diplomatic entanglements. Soft, sweet, and subtly exotic, it’s the kind of brew that might have been served in a Tokyo embassy garden, under the watchful eye of MI6. A floral interlude in the midst of London’s grey grandeur.

Milky Oolong — from the misty mountains of Taiwan, this tea is a creamy, velvety marvel. It’s espionage in a cup: complex, layered, and slightly mysterious. One sip and you’re transported to a smoky backroom negotiation, where secrets are traded over steaming cups and knowing glances.

Each tea tells a story — of empire, intrigue, and impeccable taste. And where better to sip them than in the very corridors where history was brewed? Raffles OWO doesn’t just serve tea; it serves a narrative, steeped in legacy and poured with panache.

The service was attentive and the advice we received about which teas would work best with the sandwich course and the sweet offer was spot on.

My favourite? Goes without saying, The Churchill Blend.

So, if you find yourself in Whitehall, do pop in. Raise a cup to Churchill, to the many female spies that feature so heavily in the afternoon tea story at The OWO, and to the enduring British art of turning leaves into legend.

Please note, I can't comment on the bedrooms as we didn't stay unfortunately, would have loved to! I can say the drawing room where we took our tea was beautiful, the ambience perfect with a live pianist and the view of Horseguards added to the...