The Dilly — Hotel in London

Firstly, certain members of staff, the location, spa/ gym were excellent. The room service was also good. There ARE issues such as the lifts having really large queues and the rooms being shabby but it’s tolerable, if not ideal. However I am rating them 1 star due to the INCREDIBLE rudeness of the doorman AND another female member of staff. No one wants to be accosted or harassed. The doorman- “Where do you live? Whereabouts? Whereabouts? Whereabouts?” Seriously do you need my postcode? No need to badger and pester for a more precise location. “Really? Why did you decide to buy a house THERE?”. He also asked “How much money have you got?” and when I stared dumbfounded by the rudeness, he persisted and asked me again “No really, how much do you have?”. And this was all asked under the guise of giving me recommendations for restaurants- that I’d never asked for. It’s clear he likes to ask IF and exactly where people own property and what they have, to determine their financial status and when I was evasive, because frankly I am not going to tell a stranger where, what & why, he gave up fishing and just bluntly asked how much money I have. We were asked how many properties we owned, how many cars/ which cars we have etc. We are two ladies just trying to have a nice weekend and neither of us drive anyway, so just leave us alone?! My mother who is heavily disabled with two walking sticks was also approached by a female member of staff demanding to see her room key and when she was struggling (due to being disabled) to immediately retrieve it from her bag, was sharply told “Well you’re just going to have to get your daughter down here to bring HER key instead.” My mother actually had her key but as I say she couldn’t produce it within 10 seconds on demand. There was an air of hostility and general contempt by this member of staff towards my mother and absolutely no kindness or compassion for someone elderly and visibly disabled. The staff member observed her from a short distance, gave her really dirty looks and then rudely approached her- FOR NO REASON. For the rest of our trip, the doorman who knew he had offended me by asking how much money I have didn’t say anything to us (which I didn’t have a problem with), he would open the door and turn his head the other way. BUT when we were leaving the hotel, I was concerned as my car was arriving first and I had to leave my mother, so I gave him a £20 tip as I wanted to make sure she wouldn’t be mistreated in my absence. Btw I tipped all of the staff who helped us during our stay and of course paid my hotel bill in full- I’m really sad that I feel the need to even clarify that! As I’m hugging and saying a heartfelt goodbye to my mother, who I won’t see again for a while, he’s INTERRUPTING “Are you going back to [ insert location] now? There are plenty of places you can invest in!” What on Earth? I’m trying to say goodbye to my mother, it’s none of your business where I’m going? I never said I was wanting to invest in anything nor did I ask you for your investment advice! No sooner had I left, he turned to my mother and asked where she lived- the usual. When she answered, it was AGAIN the onslaught of “Whereabouts, whereabouts, whereabouts?” and then he started asking questions about ME and do I own or have this or that etc. He’s incredibly overbearing and intrusive. So my point is this, especially if you are disabled, don’t expect good manners or tolerance from the staff all around and don’t expect to have a peaceful day because at some point one of them might take it upon themself to harass you and treat you with disdain. They are CLEARLY assessing guests all the time to see who is worthy and who is not. Why does it matter as long as we are paying? Would like to say though that Denis was really good at handling my complaint regarding the treatment of my mother and I wouldn’t have left a bad review were it not for the fact the doorman ALSO bothered my mother at the end when I wasn’t around, which I think is why he waited until I’d left to resume the inquisition....

The overcrowded location, unclean rooms, dated old furniture & fixtures, & lack of customer service make this hotel extremely overpriced for the $800 per night I paid to stay here for New Years weekend. The housekeeping team also needs a complete overhaul. Our horrible experience started as soon as we checked in & walked up to our room. I reserved a 1 king bed room with a view & when we got to the room there were 2 beds. I tried calling down to the front desk to let them know & the phone did not work; this should have been a sign of what’s to come. After a 10-hour flight I walked down & let the lady know this wasn’t the kind of room I reserved & she said no problem I’ll send housekeeping up to put the beds together & put new sheets on the bed so there wasn’t a crack down the middle & I was perfectly happy with that solution. The housekeeping lady came, I explained that we wanted one bed & she said she would send someone back to make up the bed after we had some time to refresh & make our way out to walk around. We came back from dinner & the bed was simply pushed together with the crack down in the center. While we were out maintenance had brought us a working phone so I called down to the front desk & explained that the bed wasn’t made up to be 1 bed so they said they would send someone to fix it. A few minutes later a kid comes up & hands me a flat sheet to make the bed myself. The original housekeeping lady said she would have a duvet put over the crack so that we wouldn’t slip through, so I explained this to the kid & he just shrugged his shoulders. I walked back down to the front desk & told them what just happened & ask them to please just make the bed up like housekeeping told us they would because we were exhausted & we are assured it would be taken care while we were out getting dinner. Surprise, we get back & absolutely nothing had been done. The flat sheet was still sitting on the bed folded, no one even came to the room. I walked back down to the front desk & ran into a manager who after 3 other attempts, multiple employees, & 9 hours later (after a 10 hour flight) finally got our bed made. The entire situation was ridiculous, exhausting, & unnecessary considering I paid $800 per night for this room on New Years weekend! You also need to know this hotel does not have individual temperature controls for the room, it’s whatever temperature the hotel chooses throughout the hotel & it was blistering hot in our room in the winter. I will never stay here again, if you need something taken care the employees lie to you over & over again so don’t count on getting good service...

If I were to summarize it in five words: The worst five stars of my life.

So, a few words about myself. I'm an experienced traveler, having visited 12 countries and stayed in over 30 hotels this year alone. This was my first visit to London, and perhaps I'm greatly mistaken and it's just the way things are done here, but let me explain in order... Travelers usually fall into two categories: those who rate everything always and those who feel compelled to write only in two scenarios: the first, when they are at least 110% satisfied and want to describe their ecstasy, and the second, when they write only when they’ve had a really bad experience... And so, I belong to the latter category, and I’ve had such an experience!

The Dilly, 21 Piccadilly, is the worst five-star hotel I've ever stayed in. To be honest, if it were in Dubai, it would hardly get 3 stars, but this is London, and it's not for me to judge... But let me go through the points:

Logistics: At check-in (and even after 3 days of staying) out of three elevators, only two were working. They were not synchronized, so you could wait endlessly for the first while the second would be idle just a floor above. Upon arrival, there was a queue for the elevator, and we waited for over 10 minutes.

The windows in the room did not open.

On the second day, the room service arrived at 7 in the evening, by which time, due to jet lag, we were ready to sleep. We, therefore, declined the service.

On the third day, room service came at 11 AM. We asked them to return in exactly 10 minutes, quickly got ready, and left. However, when we returned after 5 hours, the room had not been cleaned. I tried to call the front desk four times, but no one answered. They came to clean at 4 PM. When I expressed my frustration, I was informed that they were very busy.

Now about the hotel's major problems. To put it mildly, the hotel is 'Tired'. Creaky floors. Sewage smell in the bathroom. Paper-thin walls. Our room (813) had a connecting door with room 812. We could hear people whispering in that room. Not to mention that between 9.00 and 11.00 their front door slammed over 30 times!!! Besides the door with room 812, we also had a door with room 814, where the neighbors were also noisy, but that’s not their problem, as one might say.

Nearly $3000 paid for 5 nights. But again, this is central London, so maybe that’s the going rate...

And the minor issues typical of a 5-star hotel. No hairdryer or 'usual' hygiene items in the room. Umbrella for 2 pounds for 48 hours. I bought Nespresso capsules in a...