has anyone stayed here lately -i wish to book it but reading some of the latest reviews says it has become shabby-before i commit to a large fee i would like to know- if you have ,what kind of room and price was it.

A recent article in the UK national newspaper, The Independent, revealed that the nightitme contract cleaners at the Savoy earn the minimum wage (minus various stopages for uniform etc. etc.)<BR>Considering the very high room rates, is that something you want to support?<BR>Not trying to moralise here, but I think it is worht knowing about.

Not really surprising, but I would have expected more from the Savoy...

Dear Monti,<BR>I've been lucky enough to stay at this famous hotel in May and I saw nothing whatsoever that looked shabby. I love old buildings and I think they are doing an astonishing job of keeping the details like mouldings and antiques in fine form. Some of the art deco details literally made my heart beat faster. I decided to splurge on a Thames river-facing room and it was worth every penny. I hated to go to sleep when I should be wallowing in the great view. The American Bar was fine for cocktails and people-watching, and they have the advantage of a mind-bogglingly fantastic art deco theater (The Savoy Theater) directly next door. If you are lucky it will be showing an hilarious Gilbert &amp; Sullivan operetta, it is my understanding that G &amp; S wrote many of their most famous shows specifically for The Savoy Theater. What an experience! If you enjoy afternoon tea at The Savoy, watch out. Don't plan on going out to dinner later because you will be utterly stuffed to the gills with tasty finger sandwiches and scones with scrumptious clotted cream and then sweet little treats, all washed down with an assortment of teas or coffee. You'll want to have a swim in their rooftop pool afterward, or workout in the gym, or maybe just collapse into bed in a satisfied heap. Or maybe go catty-corner across the river to enjoy the views aboard The London Eye huge wheel which I thought would be a rip-off, but isn't at all, as long as the weather is good. The lines move very quickly and the views are stupendous.<BR>Enjoy your trip.

Missy, you are a superb writer. I stayed at Claridges, part of the same chain, and for a variety of equally cool but totally different reasons I adored it more than anywhere I have EVER stayed! I would only give up Claridges to try The Savoy...and it would be 50:50 which is that they both are just the all around greatest, and know how to pamper you utterly without fawning or being too &quot;present&quot; yet they come at the touch of a button in 30 seconds to do ANYTHING. They both have the most amazing dining, Claridges has Gordon Ramsey, London's current #1, and a wonderful bar, and it just steps from Bond Street, Oxford Street, Hyde Park and even not that long a walk from Shaftsbury. The same dinner-plate sized super pressure showerheads, the same fill-em-up in less than 2 minute deep deep deep bath tubs, the same Irish linens and divine mattresses, the same of everything you could ever list and much more of what you would never even be so bold as to list! Spa, fitness center, and just being shown Winston Churchill's suite, where he lived for many years after the War when he was out, and seeing his view out his terrace to the Thames, and imagining the thoughts that went through that great mind in that big four poster bed...even though we didn't rent the room, we COULD have...and we saw it and felt it. Hotels like these have pores and absorb history. Go for it.

PS we paid 250 Pounds plus alot of taxes and VERY HIGH phone charges for international. I complained and probably could have had it reduced but everything was so dreamlike otherwise I just didn't give a damn at check out time other than to comment...these are steep! Sadly steep because really highly paid US based attorneys and tax auditors also form their actual hotel customer base, not the lobby, not the bar, not the restaurant, not the spa...but someone has to pay and Americans have the most $$. So your company is probably paying 500 Pounds per night for your tax auditor to stay there, I called the hotel direct and negotiated. Plus I got reservations at the hotel restaurants...that takes more than a month if you are lucky otherwise...and it was a beautiful room, on the 4th or 5th floor, with sunlight pouring in, yellow walls, pale, with chinz, very English and very deco at the same time and rich yet understated. Patterned carpets, gorgeous toiletries, masses of the thickest, newest, whitest towels, a mirrored vanity with a window on each side and a maid who cleaned each piece of my makeup, each case and tube, polished in fact, each morning, and lined them up like little soldiers, and tons of closets, and so on.

Dear former NYC resident:<BR>Well you've got me champing at the bit to try Claridges on my next trip to London. You've made it sound peerless. Thanks for the lead!

I found the whole thing imcomprehensible!