Ritz Hotel - London, United Kingdom 

We came from the Four Seasons in Paris so this was a little disappointing. I think it has to do with the attitude of the traveler who enters- if you expect to love it, you will. It is lovely and the rooms are good sized with wonderful beds and pillows. But I have several pet peeves in hotels- first, the bathroom opens into the bedroom directly so if you get up at night, you must shine bright light (no night lights in the bath) into the face of your significant other. Also, there was MOLD in the bathroom around the tub and soap dish. There is no excuse for mold to grow in a 5 star bathroom! Housekeeping left the sprayer on in the tub, so when water was turned on for the first time, it sprayed the entire bathroom! Also, at check in, NO ONE came to the curb to help us. We waited about 5 minutes on the curb (having walked from the tube) and no door man was there. We finally walked into the hotel and had to ask for help. They were apologetic, but well, it was a bad start. The young woman who checked us in at the front desk said we didn't get breakfast in our plan, though it said so on our sheet, so we couldn't ask again until the next day AFTER breakfast was over as to why we didn't get it- and the next day the other clerk said, oh yes- you DO. SO they made about 60 pounds off of us by denying us breakfast the first day. The bed was very comfortable, but we were out of sorts from travelling and having things go wrong. So, be sure you bring a nightlight or small flashlight if you get up in the night and don't want to disturb your partner, and ask for a different clerk if you think yours is wrong. We should have asked for our 60 pounds (the price of breakfast for 2) refund. Also, I agree with the commenter who said they were stuffy- I agree that in this day and age, it is silly for the staff to be standoffish to the customer. One can be professional and still be friendly. The staff at the Four Seasons in Paris proves that. Maybe they think you expect this as part of the British experience? But, it is still the Ritz. So if you want to say you were there, you'll at least get a great bed!

My partner and i stayed at the Ritz for one evening last night with our friends. Having stayed in the best hotels in Dubai, London,New York etc, we feel able to make a fair comparison and i have to say we wont be returning to The Ritz. The hotel itself is beautiful, as expected. The room was well maintained and comfortable with fruit and champagne, all the usual comforts. The staff are very friendly and polite, serving staff are impectable with food and drink being of excellant quality. However we have had some dificulties during our stay. We had pre-arrange for our rooms to be ready at 12 o'clock when we arrived. We were on time however our rooms weren't ready. We hadnt taken photo ID for the Casino which is required. We were informed by the conceige when we arrived that it wasnt a problem, we just needed to have photocopies faxed to the hotel. We called a freind who went to considerable trouble to provide faxes of our passports.He also e-mailed the same. Reasurred that all was in hand we thought no more of it and spent a lovely afternoon in London. We had booked dinner for 8pm however our time was changed to 7pm which was a little too early for us. On returning to the hotel we arranged with our friends to meet in the hotel bar for a pre-dinner cocktail only to be told that we should have booked a table in the bar and that it was full so we wouldnt be allowed in. We told them that we were not advised that we needed to do thisbut we were not offered an alternative. We then decided to try the casino before dinner only to be told that photocopies were after all not allowed and we weren't allowed in there either. We explained that we had followed the instructions given by the staff and that had we been given the correct information our passports could have been sent to the hotel within plenty of time. Again no real apology,alternative or compensation was offered. By this time we were annoyed by the attitude and politely complained. We were shown to the bar and a table was found but we were asked how long we intended to sit at it! The evening dinner and dance was lovely, as was breakfast. Check out was simple and we were able to leave our car at the hotel whilst we went out for lunch. However on our return to collect our car we were stopped from using the hotel toilets as we were no longer guests. Quite embarrasing. The overall feeling we were left with was not one of a weekend of luxury, rather that we have spent the last two days in an institution. We are patient and un-demanding people generally but it did try us. Obviously to maintain standards there needs to be rules, however if the hotel has made the oversites you would expect remorse. Bed side manner was definatly lacking. All in all we feel our money could have been better spent elsewhere.