The Landmark London

I am really perplexed by the reviews that rate poorly the Landmark due to inefficient service. In my experience everyone was extremely polite, helpful, respectful and considerate, as anyone would expect of an old-fashioned 5-star hotel.

In my opinion, the Landmark is one of the best 5-star choices in London. Firstly, it tends to be less expensive than hotels of its caliber, especially if booked through agencies eg lastminute.

Secondly, it is practically attached to a tube station and even has a shelter over of the crossing of the road to the station so that one does not get wet by the rain.

Thirdly, it is only a 10-minute ride from Paddington, and thus great for the Heathrow Express.

Lastly and most importantly it has the BIGGEST standard rooms I have ever seen in a city hotel. Most executive suites in places like Claridges, for instance, are smaller.

The only problem I had was with internet connectivity. There is wireless only mon-fri, the business centre consists of one computer and is extremely overpiced.

But that is all, really. The Landmark is a great place to stay, if you like traditional luxury, in its full golden, palm-tree, thick carpet, Middle-Eastern and Japanese tourist grandeur.

The Landmark is a beautiful hotel in a very convenient setting (handy for the Heathrow Express, shopping in cute Marylebone, Regent's Park, Bond Street, etc) so I was really looking forward to my stay. On arrival I wasn't disappointed, check-in was quick and painless (although they got my name wrong on the check-in forms & on the welcome note in my room), and the room was great. Our room was large & comfortable, with a great bathroom, overlooking the enclosed central courtyard (Winter Garden restaurant), and we were pleased by our complimentary bottle of champagne on arrival.

The problems didn't really start until we went to the restaurant. The food for dinner was wonderful, but they took a long time to take our order and service was slow. My food had a lump of metal in it, and they offered to replace my meal but I declined, so they did not charge for it. The breakfast buffet was a real smorgasbord, with something for everyone, but the service was ridiculously slow and there were a few silly mistakes - one of the guests at our table ordered a vegetarian omelette and specifically said she didn't want any meat on her plate. Her hot breakfast was delivered well after everyone else's... with bacon! When she sent it back they just removed the bacon from the plate and sent it straight back out again, which is extraordinary.

We had to ask for the table to be cleared after our first course, and then had to ask for clean cutlery when our hot breakfast arrived, then when we wanted the bill we were ignored by staff for a good ten minutes.

The hotel was lovely, and when we got our food it was lovely, but the service in the restaurant was very disappointing and really let the rest of the hotel down.

I booked a one night stay at the Landmark through the Leading Hotels of the World service through my membership there as a special celebration, and contacted the hotel in advance to check details. My first contacts were by (repeated) emails, to which I received an "out of office" auto-response, which seemed rather strange. So I phoned and due to the nature of my enquiry they said that they would call me back. They didn't (twice) and I eventually wrote - again, no response. All I could do was cancel and we chose to stay elsewhere. The hotel is supposed to be 5 star but the service is quite awful - and this seems to be a recurring view that I've now read in other reviews. I've written again as a matter of principle and received some kind of holding reply, but this was weeks ago and I still have not received a proper response. My conclusion: don't bother; even in London you will find better levels of service at this price.