The Cura Hotel Kensington, London, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel — Hotel in London

UPDATE #2 Oct 2021

On our arrival our first thoughts were, wow! A well presented, modern hotel, with a red carpet leading up to the front door. A member of staff by the door offered to help us with our bags up the steps.

The staff were professional and friendly. The foyer was tastefully decorated with a nice jazz piano soundtrack playing softly in the background.

We had lunch at the Indian Resturant in the hotel. The staff were very attentive, with one gentleman offering to take a photo of both of us without being prompted. The food was very fresh and tasty. The portion sizes were perfect, not too much.

This trip was a second attempt after we booked a trip last year, but had a few issues. As a result of our feedback, we were offered a further stay at a discounted rate, with a room upgrade and free breakfast. We noticed that the staff went above and beyond to make our stay wonderful.

On our arrival in our room, there was a complimentary bottle of wine and a box of chocolates. There was also a card welcoming us for our stay. It's these little touches that made our stay extra special.

The breakfast provided was tasty & fresh, and there was ample choice of foods.

Our only slight issue with the stay was that the WiFi did not work. We logged on as instructed, and it stated that we were connected to the network, but were were unable to view anything online. We ended up using our mobile data for the entire stay.

The room was serviced to a high standard. The bed was huge and very comfortable. There were ample amenities provided within the room including a microwave, a mini fridge and plenty of toiletries.

On our departure the staff were lovely and professional, and even offered us a bottle of water for our journey.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay at the Park Grand Kensington, and we would happily recommend it to others.

UPDATE # 1 Nov 2020:

We had a very apologetic telephone call from the manager who was most helpful. He apologised for the service provided, supplied an explanation, and offered a discounted rate for a future stay with a room upgrade and other extras added on.

I was most impressed by the efficient and courteous service received from the manager. Thank you for making the effort and taking the time to rectify the situation. We look forward to planning our next stay here!

ORIGINAL REVIEW:

We booked this hotel way in advance for a nice weekend away for some down time and a bit of sight seeing. We rung up 4 days prior to check in to confirm the booking. That's when we were told that the hotel was currently under going deep cleaning due to the pandemic and that it was likely that it wouldn't be ready for our stay in 4 days time. They said they would move us to their Paddington Hotel. We appreciate that in a pandemic it is vital to maintain a high level of cleanliness, therefore the deep clean of the hotel was not the issue. We were both left very angry when our plans were thrown up in the air. We picked the hotel because of it's close location to many of the sights we wanted to see. If we had known that the Park Grand Kensington would be unavailable for that weekend then we would have booked a different hotel nearby. Our main issue was that had we not phoned up to confirm 4 days prior to check in, we never would have known that we could not stay there. When we questioned the staff on this, they stated that they had planned to let the guests for the weekend know that they could not stay 2 DAYS prior to booking in. That is unacceptable. To find other accommodation in Kensington with 2 DAYS notice is very expensive and an uneccessary stress. It's such a shame, as we were looking forward to our stay, but now we shall avoid this hotel for our next London stay. We have cancelled our reservation with Park Grand Kensington, and have chosen a more suitable hotel nearby. We are very...

Mixed, but sadly won't be back! Arrived for the weekend and were greeted at reception with strangely awkward female staff, one who was standing pouting the entire time we were checking in. The room was very small (club double room) but suffice. We had petals, chocolates, balloons, and a loveheart on the bed, which was a very nice touch as I'd mentioned an anniversary. The beds were 2 single put together and mattresses that were old and had zero support and lumpy. Also gave me terrible backache.

There was mould around the windows and when we moved furniture to look for the remote for the television that wasn't in the room, we found odd bits/items from previous guests. We called reception for a remote and sat waiting for over half an hour. My fiance then went down to reception and they seemed to not be aware we'd called to ask. Man arrived 10mins later with a remote. What we didn't expect to find in our room was a pair of female underwear hanging over the shower! We didn't spot this right away untill we went for a shower and at first glance, I thought it was a cleaners dusting cloth accidentally left behind, nope! Yellow pants hanging over the shower screen. We questioned at this stage whether the room had even been cleaned prior to our arrival. We informed reception, who wasn't apologetic and instead sent up housekeeping. The man arrived and took the pants away (without cleaning the shower afterwards) and just said "sorry" and left. We didn't get a great night's sleep as you can hear neighbouring doors slamming and the mattresses were old. We had breakfast in the morning, which was fine but not worth the price. It sadly gave us an uncomfortable stomach and cramps. We asked to speak to management in the morning regarding our surprise underwear, and the gentleman we spoke to was very apologetic and seemed genuinely embarrassed. When we arrived back in the room, we had a small bottle of wine and a lovely apology letter. We asked the room to be cleaned, and when housekeeping arrived, we decided to go out again to allow proper cleaning of the room. We came back over an hour later, and the room was just being cleaned. So we waited downstairs for around 20 minutes. The room had just finished being cleaned as we got back upstairs. Fresh towels, sheets, etc, so all good! Head of housekeeping came to the room later on in the day to ask if everything was OK and apologise again. I thanked her for checking in on us and let her know we were fine and could we swap the small bottle of red wine with something else as we didn't drink red wine. She agreed, however, did say she is unsure of how there was underwear in the shower as she personally checks the club rooms after cleaning, and she didn't see them. Very much sounded as though she was passing blame on us, or accusing us? (weird attitude/thing to say.) I said it was disappointing and we didn't expect to find these in the room and that you couldn't miss them if the shower was cleaned earlier - (bright yellow pants!) She apologised again and said she'd send someone with champagne instead of the wine for us.

House keeping arrived the following day and rang the bell but started walking in without our consent. I got them at the door just as they opened it to walk in and told them we were fine. She asked if everything was OK. Appreciated the friendly housekeeping staff even though they didn't wait for us to answer to the door. When packing up the night before leaving I gathered my clothes and pulled out a small bag that was on the same shelf as my things and you won't believe what was inside the bag...a pair of black pants! Genuinely thought it was a stitch up! I didn't even mention this to reception as I was too stunned, mortified and horrified at our previous mystery pants guest! They were binned! Won't...

A few weeks ago, I bought a combined voucher for afternoon tea and spa services on wowcher application. 2weeks in advance I reached out to both hotels to redeem the voucher, and I also sent them a copy of the voucher. I received confirmation emails from both hotels in response. Unfortunately, our experience turned into a nightmare when my friend and I showed up for our afternoon tea reservation.Upon being seated, a team member requested our voucher, then returned to inform us that we only had a voucher for a spa, not for afternoon tea. This news came as a shock to us. Shortly after, another gentleman, who identified himself as the restaurant manager, approached us and repeated the information given by his colleague. He appeared visibly irritated and impatient with having to handle the situation, which left both my friend and I feeling even more frustrated. Having worked in hospitality for a long time, I understand that unfortune situations can happen. However, it is the responsibility of management to assist guests in resolving any issues and finding a solution. In our situation, this unfortunate didnt happened. However the manager tried to call someone for assistance but afterwards he simply ignored us and insisted that it was not his responsibility that we did not receive the second voucher. Meanwhile, he mentioned that he would charge us again for the afternoon tea, as he said "will not pay our afternoon tea from his pocket" I was speechless! When I returned to my friend, we discussed whether she would be willing to pay extra for our prepaid and carefully planned afternoon tea. However, while we were talking, I overheard the manager repeatedly telling his staff member that it isnt his problem that we never received the second voucher. He was speaking so loudly and carelessly that other guests could easily hear him. The entire situation was incredibly embarrassing!In less than a minute, our afternoon tea arrived, however I had not agreed to pay extra for it. When I returned the treat, the manager came to our table again. I expressed my frustration, explaining that I had sent an email with the voucher and code over a week ago, received a confirmation email, and assumed everything was set. He tried to justify by saying they usually just send confirmation emails and collect vouchers on the day. So, whose responsibility is it if a 4-star hotel management doesn't read emails properly, check attachments,but sends confirmation emails to all guests? Unfortunately, mistakes can happen, but the way we were treated was extremely unprofessional, embarrassing, and rude! Our entire day was ruined when my friend and I made the decision to leave. As we were walking towards the exit, the so-called restaurant manager completely ignored us once again. It was absolutely shocking and disappointing. One more thing to add, If your hotel decided to deal with Wowcher company then your responsibility to resorve issues and find solution with your guests instead of blaming everyone else...