The Ritz or The Milestone???
Jun 6th, 2009, 08:35 AM
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The Ritz or The Milestone???
My husband and I are visiting London to celebrate my 50th birthday - and we want to stay somewhere special. I have always wanted to stay at the Ritz - but the tripadvisor reviews of late have not been great - whereas the Milestone's reviews are stellar - and they have won some great awards. Where would you stay?
Jun 6th, 2009, 08:50 AM
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I haven't stayed at either, so can't comment on that. But So and I were having a discussion about London this morning and he told me about 41 Hotel and I googled it and it looks very special indeed. You might want to check it out.
Jun 7th, 2009, 12:55 PM
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I stayed at the Milestone about a month ago. I know people rave about it but, I just didn't get it?? It was nice ...I'd give it 3.5 to 4 stars.
I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance to post a trip report yet but, here's the skinny. We arrived in London on April 24th for 3 nights. We had a deluxe room and we were on a 3 night package that included full daily breakfast and dinner one evening. Naturally our flight got in very early and of course our luggage came right out so, I'd say we arrived at the hotel around 8:30-9:00am. We had planned to just check the bags and head out but, amazingly enough we were told that they were "taking care of an issue with our room" and it would be ready shortly. I should have paid more attention to that comment but, more on that later. In the meantime we were ushered into the lounge for a beverage. Since it was so early, I had a Cappuccino and DH had a nice big glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Both were excellent and we were thrilled to be getting into our room so early! We're off to a great start! After about 1/2 hour a staff member came to get us & took us to our room. The room was very small, kind of traditional old world decor but, that's not unusual. The bathroom was very nice and about as large as the room. A big plus for the room was the view. We were on the 5th floor and our room overlooked Kensington Park. DH wasn't feeling well. He hadn't slept at all on the plane so he wanted to nap. I hopped in the shower and figured I'd head out for a walk while he was sleeping. As I stepped out of the shower I heard an unbelievable CRASH. I knew it was in our room so I flung open the door and just couldn't believe what I saw. There was a huge picture over our bed that had fallen and missed DH's head by about an inch! He was sitting up had just had this glazed look on his face. What really blew my mind, the entire wall where the picture was hung was some sort of antique mirrored tiles. They had hung the picture on the wall using VELCRO! I just kept thinking he could have been killed or suffered a serious head injury! I got dressed very quickly and I was all ready to read management the riot act. Because DH isn't feeling great he told me he didn't want to change rooms because we were all unpacked and he only wanted to sleep. Still, I felt management should know and besides, the picture knocked off a sconce on his side of the bed so now there were wires hanging out of the wall. The impression I got was, this wasn't the first time the picture had fallen. The Velcro looked old and I suspect that's what they were fixing in the room when we arrived?? Can't say for sure though. I spoke to the girl at the front desk who checked us in and the sense I got was, she didn't really care. She matter-of-factly asked if I'd like maintenance to come and rehang the picture! No, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I then spoke to the man who escorted us up to our room (he was kind of like a concierge type of person) so I told him what happened and I asked him if could speak to the Manager on Duty. He told me he'd take care of everything when DH got up and we were ready to both head out. So while I was out DH got up--showered and spoke to maintenance himself. Maintenance fixed the sconce and he just told them to leave the picture off the wall, which they did. Thankfully that was the only big event we experienced while staying at the hotel.
Breakfast is fine, nothing great but, they do make eggs to order and they have a large continental breakfast buffet. I have to say that their Cappuccino was fabulous! Definitely as good as any I've had in Italy. One thing I did notice, they seem to have way more guests than they do room in their restaurant. The restaurant is very small. I didn't count but, I'd say they have maybe 12 tables or so? The problem is, it seemed as if everyone came down for breakfast at roughly the same time. They didn't have room for everyone so, they were putting people in the lounge or, in our case, we were actually put in a function room with a group of people who had rented it for a private function! Yup, that's right....we were put into a private room that a family had rented for a 50th anniversary brunch. I was a bit uncomfortable once I realized they were having a private function. The people were very nice--they even offered us some cake with our breakfast! I don't know, if that had been me and we rented a private room for a function, I doubt I'd be happy if the hotel brought other guests into that room to have breakfast.
The dinner we had through our package was mediocre at best. They have a special 3 course menu for people who book this package. It was fine for us because we ate there on our first night when we're jet lagged. It was fine from a convenience perspective.
We didn't really use the concierge for anything other than asking their opinion on whether we needed to get to the River Cafe by taxi or, could we do so by the Tube. The gentleman we spoke to was very nice and we're glad we took his advice to take a taxi!
All in all---I liked the location a lot!! Personally, I think the location of the Milestone is way better than the Ritz. I have to say that I expected the room to be nicer than what we got--and that's ignoring the picture incident. I had very high expectations when I booked this hotel and I was also probably influenced by all the rave reviews on TripAdvisor. I think if we go back to London and we're looking for a higher end hotel, I would stay at The Dorchester or, one of the Firmdale Boutique Hotels.
http://www.thedorchester.com/
http://www.firmdalehotels.com/
Happy Birthday!
I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance to post a trip report yet but, here's the skinny. We arrived in London on April 24th for 3 nights. We had a deluxe room and we were on a 3 night package that included full daily breakfast and dinner one evening. Naturally our flight got in very early and of course our luggage came right out so, I'd say we arrived at the hotel around 8:30-9:00am. We had planned to just check the bags and head out but, amazingly enough we were told that they were "taking care of an issue with our room" and it would be ready shortly. I should have paid more attention to that comment but, more on that later. In the meantime we were ushered into the lounge for a beverage. Since it was so early, I had a Cappuccino and DH had a nice big glass of fresh squeezed OJ. Both were excellent and we were thrilled to be getting into our room so early! We're off to a great start! After about 1/2 hour a staff member came to get us & took us to our room. The room was very small, kind of traditional old world decor but, that's not unusual. The bathroom was very nice and about as large as the room. A big plus for the room was the view. We were on the 5th floor and our room overlooked Kensington Park. DH wasn't feeling well. He hadn't slept at all on the plane so he wanted to nap. I hopped in the shower and figured I'd head out for a walk while he was sleeping. As I stepped out of the shower I heard an unbelievable CRASH. I knew it was in our room so I flung open the door and just couldn't believe what I saw. There was a huge picture over our bed that had fallen and missed DH's head by about an inch! He was sitting up had just had this glazed look on his face. What really blew my mind, the entire wall where the picture was hung was some sort of antique mirrored tiles. They had hung the picture on the wall using VELCRO! I just kept thinking he could have been killed or suffered a serious head injury! I got dressed very quickly and I was all ready to read management the riot act. Because DH isn't feeling great he told me he didn't want to change rooms because we were all unpacked and he only wanted to sleep. Still, I felt management should know and besides, the picture knocked off a sconce on his side of the bed so now there were wires hanging out of the wall. The impression I got was, this wasn't the first time the picture had fallen. The Velcro looked old and I suspect that's what they were fixing in the room when we arrived?? Can't say for sure though. I spoke to the girl at the front desk who checked us in and the sense I got was, she didn't really care. She matter-of-factly asked if I'd like maintenance to come and rehang the picture! No, that wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I then spoke to the man who escorted us up to our room (he was kind of like a concierge type of person) so I told him what happened and I asked him if could speak to the Manager on Duty. He told me he'd take care of everything when DH got up and we were ready to both head out. So while I was out DH got up--showered and spoke to maintenance himself. Maintenance fixed the sconce and he just told them to leave the picture off the wall, which they did. Thankfully that was the only big event we experienced while staying at the hotel.
Breakfast is fine, nothing great but, they do make eggs to order and they have a large continental breakfast buffet. I have to say that their Cappuccino was fabulous! Definitely as good as any I've had in Italy. One thing I did notice, they seem to have way more guests than they do room in their restaurant. The restaurant is very small. I didn't count but, I'd say they have maybe 12 tables or so? The problem is, it seemed as if everyone came down for breakfast at roughly the same time. They didn't have room for everyone so, they were putting people in the lounge or, in our case, we were actually put in a function room with a group of people who had rented it for a private function! Yup, that's right....we were put into a private room that a family had rented for a 50th anniversary brunch. I was a bit uncomfortable once I realized they were having a private function. The people were very nice--they even offered us some cake with our breakfast! I don't know, if that had been me and we rented a private room for a function, I doubt I'd be happy if the hotel brought other guests into that room to have breakfast.
The dinner we had through our package was mediocre at best. They have a special 3 course menu for people who book this package. It was fine for us because we ate there on our first night when we're jet lagged. It was fine from a convenience perspective.
We didn't really use the concierge for anything other than asking their opinion on whether we needed to get to the River Cafe by taxi or, could we do so by the Tube. The gentleman we spoke to was very nice and we're glad we took his advice to take a taxi!
All in all---I liked the location a lot!! Personally, I think the location of the Milestone is way better than the Ritz. I have to say that I expected the room to be nicer than what we got--and that's ignoring the picture incident. I had very high expectations when I booked this hotel and I was also probably influenced by all the rave reviews on TripAdvisor. I think if we go back to London and we're looking for a higher end hotel, I would stay at The Dorchester or, one of the Firmdale Boutique Hotels.
http://www.thedorchester.com/
http://www.firmdalehotels.com/
Happy Birthday!
Jun 7th, 2009, 01:27 PM
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Agree with ILUVPARIS. Absolutely look at www.firmdale.com. I have stayed at The Soho, Charlotte Street and Covent Garden Hotels. All outstanding with stunning decor.
Duke's Hotel or the Stafford would also be excellent choices.
Duke's Hotel or the Stafford would also be excellent choices.
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