The Rockwell - London, United Kingdom 

We might be Americans--and we sure hope that doesn't color our review--but we'd expect much more of a $360 a night "luxury boutique" property than this. We usually stay at the Royal Garden or St. Martin's Lane in this price range but they were sold out for the Farnborough Air Show. First, the staff--all of whom are new to the area--seemed very reluctant to part with anything. First, they tried to refuse our credit card on check in, saying Diners Club (since 2006 absorbed into Master Card) was not accepted. When we asked for more soap, we were told, "you know, there's a soap in the bathroom area; why can't you use it in the shower as well (more about that later)?" When we asked for more towels, we were told "you know, we don't display all the towels--have you determined you have all we've put in there?" Finally, we asked for a missing corkscrew. "Well, haven't you looked on top of the minibar? [Yes] "Have you looked everywhere else?" [Yes]. Finally, it was delivered with this admonition: "We had to take this from an unoccupied room. You gave us a wrong room number." "No, I didn't." I replied. "Yes, you did," came the answer. Every transaction went like this. We were made to provide a deposit for a second room key. We asked for a map of the local area. They gave us an Earl's Court tube station map and said they had nothing else. I asked for help choosing between coach and train transportation to Oxford; the staff couldn't help--because, they admitted, they didn't know where Oxford was--nor Park Lane, the coach pickup location. The accommodation was pretty poor for a three star property. The shower door had been broken; rather than being repaired, this was replaced with a cheap curtain that let water run onto the floor. There was a fire door in the room that kept the bed from being accessed from one side. Our room, the only one (we were told) that accommodated three people, was on the lower ground level--basically, the basement. The overall look and appointment tf the rooms was of a mid level business hotel--not remarkable; we could have stayed at the Marriott down the street and gotten Marriott points. There was no desk lamp or clock. There were some plusses. I hope hope he doesn't remain anonymous, but our bellman Gabriel, who works from 3-11PM, was great; not only did he give us clear and concise local directions, he offered to walk us to our destinations. The garden cafe staff was terrific; we hosted a small drinks party one evening and all our guests were directed to us and we got all our messages from the day. I was allowed to use the hotel conference room for a call I needed to make. We know that the dollar's crap, but we aren't. So net/net this is a 185GBP property. As our long European holiday unfolds, we hope this is an aberration and not a harbinger of what we can expect as we move onto the continent. Sorry to report an negative.

I booked this hotel the same day because of a recommendation from Frommers. I'm sorry, but this hotel is just plain not competitive versus other hotels in London. For 160 pounds and the description in the travel guide I was expecting luxury. I was very disappointed. The staff is young and very inexperienced. The rooms are very small, of poor condition, furnished with ikea quality furnishings (felt much like accomodations for a university student). I went through a bit of a hassle but was able to reverse the reservation without penalty (good thing). The Soho hotel was available for 90 pounds additional and met/exceeded my 5 star expectations.