The Waldorf Hilton

I booked this hotel using points as I stay at Hilton Hotels extensively and am a diamond member of their rewards program - meaning I spend a lot of money with Hilton. Taking my wife and daughter to take in a west end show we booked 2 rooms. On arrival I was asked if I would like adjoining rooms and as my daughter is 16 we said yes. This turned out to be a mistake. I was handed a "welcome letter" at the front desk - this should have tipped me off as usually such welcome letters are already waiting in your room - meaning someone has put thought into what room(s) you will be assigned to as you are a valued frequent guest. But not here - here's your letter. So we got rooms on the first floor right by an elevator overlooking the very busy Aldwych - a bus stop is right outside. Now usually I would go an get the room changed - but we had been travelling all day and had less than an hour to get ready for the theatre. So we lumped it - the rooms facing the street are very very noisy - basically guaranteeing a bad nights sleep and at the end of the day that is the primary function of a hotel and I would not even give these rooms a 2 star rating for that very reason. These rooms could be sound proofed but a bit of cheesy double glazing in the room and nothing in the bathroom meant noise was constant. The bathroom window was large and that meant it was very cold in the bathroom as well. Glass door from bathroom to bedroom had large openings top and bottom so the noise spilled into the bedroom. Heated towel rail - nice touch - except it didn't work. US 120v outlet for US plugs - nice touch - except it didn't work.

Room designs are weird for London - all tile floor with a small strip of carpet around the bed. The hotel does provide slippers FOC but tile floors in England??? Maybe in the Carribean but England? Needless to say the floor is not exactly comfortable. Oh and by the way - when they decided to change carpet to tile they forgot to consider the bedroom door would now sit proud of the tile allowing noise and light from the corridor to come in - in fact you could push a sunday newspaper under our door. We used a bath towel to block that out. Now, another sign of just a lack of thought by the front desk is the room was also a handicap room - no tub. Insufficient closet space - no mirror in the room - only mirror is the one in the bathroom. Geez even a basic hotel puts a mirror in the room? All these features from a hotel that proclaims "5 Star Luxury" in its sales literature. Very disappointing - actually an insult to put the name Waldorf on this hotel. Hilton Garden Inn is more like it and that is a stretch in some areas.

Now it is not all bad - concierge were helpful and on their game as was the bellman. Executive suite serves a decent free breakfast - can't speak for the evening service as we were running late but the breakfast choice and service were of 4 star quality with polite efficient service - very good. Taxis are easy and plenty of help with bags.

But compare the negatives to positives and even though I burned a bunch of points I felt it was not worth it. Location is A+ if you are going to the theatre - but thats about it. Disappointing sums it up for me.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for sharing your kind comments with us, we are delighted that you enjoyed your stay at the Waldorf Hilton.

We regret that your dissatisfaction with the room design (bathroom in particular) had not been detected during the stay, where we could have showed you one of the more traditional rooms with separated bathroom.

We thank you for you valuable feedback and I would like to offer our assistance when making your next reservation, when we would ensure you will be given a nice and spacious room according to your preferences. Please contact the Guest Relations Manager directly.

We look forward to your next visit.

Kind regards,

Public Relations Manager

Dear Sir / Madam,

It is with great pride that we read your feedback about the hotel and in particular about Kerstin, our Guest Relations Manager.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to provide us with such valuable feedback and we very much hope that we may have the opportunity of welcoming you back in the not too distant future.

Kind regards,

Public Relations Manager