The Mandrake — Hotel in London

For any members of the public who are reading this review, I'd just like to preface by saying I have not been paid nor am I affiliated with this hotel, after reading this review you're gonna think I'm on someone's payroll, believe me, I wish I was. Myself and a close friend stayed for two nights at The Mandrake, a long overdue catch up was needed and she came across this hotel online. The lobby is in itself a beautiful space, we could've sat there all day, candles were burning, attentive staff were already welcoming us with smiles and through the big windows, we could see Jurema terrace in part of its glory, cascading light into an otherwise beautifully decadent, dark space. CHARLIE was the first to greet us and check us in, he was a pleasure, I WANT TO BE HIS FRIEND. Effortlessly cool but extremely friendly, he was chatty, welcoming and lovely. We knew we'd be in good hands with him and we were right, any little thing we needed, he provided within a second's notice. He is a big part of the reason we would stay again, his service is second to none. Next we went to the room, we stayed in the basic room but for London, it was larger than we expected. The shower was the best shower I have ever cleaned myself in and the room even came with a bluetooth speaker. Bed was comfortable and it was a lovely space to be in. Jurema terrace is a garden of eden, real jasmine falls from the sky and you feel like you're in a different country. Here we met the rest of the staff, I wish I had got everyone's names but they were all wonderful, so friendly and so attentive, well mannered and beautiful. We kept meeting them throughout our stay at times like breakfast and evening drinks and each time they were on point. We also met an amazing man who worked at security called Jay, he made us feel so safe and was a great conversationalist! I don't want to give too much away about what you'd expect at the Mandrake, how it looks and the spiritual wellbeing treatments they offer but believe me, once you stay there, you'll never want to stay anywhere again. We're already thinking of our next jaunt. 10/10 for The Mandrake...

For such a beautiful hotel and venue, what a disappointment. The staff were friendly, but not great. It felt fake. Obviously thought it wasn't important enough to take care of guests who were there just for a show. First off we were refused entry because of a dress code which turned out to not be the case and were eventually let in, had no apology and they obviously disapproved of being told we were allowed inside. Our show was outside in a courtyard on a cold evening and they refused fo switch on any outside heating, however I will give them kudos for providing blankets when we said it was cold. We were told they would close some curtains to warm things up but they didn't until after things had finished.

Drinks were expensive but were 90% single huge ice cube and the bar staff thought it would be funny to prank our waitress by not filling up a teapot with any water so we had to send things back in order to get a warm drink. Were provided with complimentary almonds, but when we asked what they were covered with we just got a "we dont know" and they walked away when we asked but never came back with an answer. We suspected there was meat the vegetarians with us felt too uncomfortable to bring it up again. Bathroom just had a large number of staff hiding in a corner just chatting away in a group, which just felt awkward.

Honestly if I had plans to stay at this hotel in the future, this evening proved that while its beautiful, their service is lackluster and those prices are just for the novelty of some interesting decor. If I had paid to stay for the evening I would be beyond upset at what had happened and if I hadn't been for this show perhaps I would have saved and paid those prices for an unsual night in future, but it definitely isnt worth it if this is the way they treat people. We were incredibly disappointed.

Also you would expect a venue knowing they had a show that evening would provide their performers with a working sound system but it wasnt the case. Luckily the act was incredible, worked around the difficulties and made the most of a terrible situation. She made it worth making the effort to...

What a let down. The strangest and most disorganized hotel I’ve ever stayed at. I’ll start with the positive: the hotel is obviously beautiful and the design is so unique which was the main driver in choosing this hotel for our last leg of a four week European trip.

The check-in was smooth and the girl who took us to our room was lovely. Unfortunately the positive stops there. The first night we were awoken in the morning to a very loud orientation outside of our room. There’s no way they are about to open our room for a guest, right? Wrong. They open our room to present another guest with our room. How does this happen? No clear explanation. Same day we spend the entire day outside walking around and come back around 4:30, housekeeping is still in the room (mind you this is a small hotel) and we have wet sheets on the bed. We ask her to replace them with dry sheets, she puts on a new pair, still wet, changes them a third time.

Housekeeping notes: didn’t replace our coffee cups, continued to leave sparkling complimentary water after asking several times for still water. USB port next to bed didn’t work and magnifying mirror in bathroom broken (they did come to fix all issues). The next day the motion activated bathroom lights came on twice early in the morning waking us up and then we were told they aren’t serving breakfast because of a “technical issue”?? Okay…

But the most confusing part happens the day of checkout. Checkout isn’t until 11am but while we were at breakfast, housekeeping came to our room and undressed the bed, left all cleaning supplies in our room, and sent someone to collect our bags without asking. We literally got pushed out by 9:30am. I’ve never had housekeeping come to our room on the day of checkout and undress the bed. So unprofessional, such a disappointment, and would never book this hotel again. I’d come here for a drink, and...