South Place Hotel — Hotel in London

My friend hosted her birthday brunch yesterday for about 20 people with a time a lot of 2:45-4:45.

My one star is just because my chilled pea soup and sweet potato rosti main was very good. I also had a fab time with my friend and her friends despite the foul ups.

The problems with the staff started almost from the very beginning.

I would say most people were seated by around 3:10pm but at this time the prosecco bottles for the bottomless mimosas still hadn’t arrived. My friend’s friends had to start inquiring and bottles were finally placed on the table about 3:30. At this point, for those who had ordered, STILL hadn’t gotten our appetizers. Waiters told us “it’s coming, it’s coming.” At this point the restaurant wasn’t even that crowded so I’m flabbergasted as to what the holdup was and can only attribute to incompetence.

The staff also did.not.seem.to.understand the basic instructions on getting multiple carafes of water for our side of the table; rather they kept refilling the same carafe which obviously went quickly among six women on my side of the table!!! Rather we kept getting carafes of juice, which of course cost something. Cheeky eh?

When our mains arrived, about 4:15pm or so there were also issues. My rosti was lukewarm and the woman across from me had a burnt burger bun and her burger was cold, as was the friend across from her. I saw a waiter take it away and make a scowling face in the back with his other colleagues (a tall,blond guy) which is outrageous considering YOUR kitchen is messing up!

With the delayed start, one of the waiters had the audacity to try to stop the bottomless aspect right at 4:45 but thankfully some friends explained and the bottomless brunch continued.

However, with all these delays, my friend lost her rooftop bar reservation slot. This is just another indicator of the rubbish (I would say much stronger words here if I could) “service” this establishment offers as my friend was penalized for the restaurant screwups.

Desserts also arrived much later. My friend had a surprise birthday cake.

When it came to pay, a sweet but what I can only think of as an incompetent young woman (brunette, slim, ponytail and accent) gave my friend the bill, which was quite confusing. My friend gritted her teeth and explained she had given the restaurant a spreadsheet with everyone’s costs broken down and could she please use that. The dim server seemed very confused. In the end, my friend somehow ended up paying £80 or so worth of service charge when she should have paid far less for the appalling service.

South Hotel, shame on you. This is another reminder to me, as a US expat, how AWFUL service can be in this country and you get away with it. Manager should have come over to apologize profusely to us at some point and given significant discounts off the bill.

I’m going to make sure to post this all over so that more people don’t make the mistake my friend did. I very rarely write reviews this terrible but this is...

I had an extremely disappointing experience during my stay at the South Place Hotel in London, which is advertised as a luxurious five-star establishment. My experience was far from the expectations associated with such a rating.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, we were taken aback when we were asked to pay a deposit of 125 euros. This was surprising because I had already paid for our room using my Amex card through their online booking system. However, to our dismay, when it came time to place the deposit, we were informed that they did not accept Amex. This was frustrating, but what made matters worse was the receptionist's insensitive comment. The gentleman, who had a receding hairline, condescendingly remarked, "You do realize you need to enter the correct code." This comment was not only unhelpful but also humiliating.

Our experience continued to deteriorate throughout our stay. The hotel was hosting a wedding event at the same time, which led to several disruptions. Throughout the night, boisterous wedding guests repeatedly banged on our door, making it impossible to get a good night's sleep. While I understand that weddings can be festive affairs, this level of disturbance was unacceptable for a purportedly upscale hotel.

The following morning, due to our sleep-deprived state, I called the reception to request a late check-out, asking for an extension until 12:30 instead of the standard 12:00. This request was reasonable given the circumstances, but it was met with reluctance and a lack of understanding from the hotel staff.

The most distressing incident occurred upon check-out. We had left our seven bags in the hotel's storage area while we explored the city. However, when we returned later in the afternoon, eager to catch a train, we were handed only six of our bags. It took me a moment to realize the missing bag was my briefcase, which contained sensitive documents and my laptop. When we initially entrusted our bags to the hotel, I had explicitly emphasized the importance of handling the briefcase with utmost care. To my shock and dismay, the same receptionist who had taken and returned our bags asserted, "Sir, I can assure you that we did not receive a briefcase from you." This statement sent me into a panic, as the briefcase was vital for my work. In my state of distress, which must have been evident, I implored her to recheck. Reluctantly, she walked towards the storage room, and after an agonizing wait, she reemerged with my briefcase. This entire episode left me feeling highly anxious and frustrated.

In light of these numerous disappointments and inconveniences, I firmly believe that I deserve a refund of approximately £350 as compensation for the subpar service and the anxiety I experienced during my stay at the South Place Hotel. This level of service is not in line with the standards expected of a five-star hotel, and I hope that my feedback will prompt improvements...

We stayed here twice, and this captures both experiences.||Bathroom:||- Had shampoo, conditioner, and liquid body wash, but no liquid hand soap.|- Nicely finished bathroom.|- Heated mirror and towel rack (and maybe floor), but couldn't turn any of this off so the bathroom was always quite warm.|- Extremely poor separation of the wet/dry areas -- water would spray everywhere.|- No storage areas and minimal usable surfaces.||Blackout curtains:||- Powered retractable vinyl roller shade, controlled by a bedside switch.|- Blocked most of the light but let some light in around the edges because the shade was broken (frayed and fell out of the light-blocking track on the side of the window). This was a problem in both rooms we stayed in.||Climate control:||- Generally ineffective. Blackout curtains had to be closed and bathroom door had to be shut (see above for note on heat) in order for the room to cool down, and even then it never dropped below 70 ºF/21 ºC.|- Ventilation was reasonable.||Technology:||- Wi-Fi was slow and unreliable. The hotel allowed us to connect to a separate Wi-Fi network that was also slow and unreliable. We ended up using a mobile hotspot most of the time instead.|- No wired Internet/Ethernet connection in the room.||Staff:||- Very prompt, responsive, and helpful.||Housekeeping:||- Thorough, reliable, available when we needed them.||Room:||- Aesthetically pleasing, comfortable room.|- Not enough luggage surfaces (we had open suitcases on the ground).|- Comfortable desk, but outlets were hard to use because of the covering slat (power bricks wouldn't fit).|- Mini-bar snacks were mediocre.|- No microwave.|- In-room coffee machine was useful. No herbal tea options though.|- Lighting control was granular but bedside buttons stayed illuminated making it hard to fully black out the room.|- Bedside light/shade controls were touch-sensitive rather than physical switches and were at times finicky to operate.||Bed:||- They had a menu of pillow options (including memory foam) available on request. This came in handy.|- Bed was comfortable.|- Extra bedding was delivered promptly on request.||Hotel amenities:||- Room service food was acceptable: a variety of options, but execution left a little to be desired.|- In a pinch, the lobby bar serves as a reasonable place to get work done. Wi-Fi coverage is decent and coffee/snacks are available.||Gym:||- Limited selection of dumbbells and machines, but enough to...