How London Hotels Handle Complaints

Even the best hotels sometimes mess up!

The thing that sets the top hotels apart is the way they "recover" when things go wrong.  

Since there are so many factors at play in a hotel, it's very possible that you may have a less than perfect stay. So isn't it worth choosing a hotel that will "do the right thing" when things goes wrong? I conducted some in-depth research of London hotels and hotel brands to see which have the best process for dealing with complaints. In most cases I personally met the hotel management to discuss this topic.

My findings will hopefully help you choose your perfect London hotel.

The very best hotels like The Lanesborough, Claridge's, The Grove, One Aldwych and Brown's will naturally do their utmost to deal with any complaint. At the room rates they charge, they have to! The key principle these luxury hotels abide by is "decide in favour of the guest". Often the management will personally contact the guest and try to convince them to give the hotel another chance.

If you're staying in one of these top hotels you should let them know of any problems during your stay. They'll usually do their best to fix it while you are still there. If you go a notch lower and look at 4 star brands like Malmaison, Myhotels or Hilton, you'll find them equally diligent.  It is usually the responsibility of the individual hotel's General Manager to deal with the complaint, but in some cases you can also go to head office for a response.

In many cases, complaints are used to improve a hotel and ensure that issues are not repeated.

Sometimes even the hotel company's CEO personally gets involved. For example, Sir Rocco Forte (Rocco Forte Collection) and the CEOs of Myhotels, Millennium & Copthorne and Malmaison all told me stories of times that they had themselves taken responsibility to resolve an issue. The CEO of another hotel group - Red Carnation Hotel Collection - told me that they see their rare complaints as an opportunity to further enhance service. 

He even invites customers who had a problem (however minor) to have dinner with him, so that the company can learn and further optimise its offering. It's little wonder that Red Carnation currently has an amazing 5 hotels in TripAdvisor's top 10 for London!

Note that the above description represents the "elite" and most expensive London hotels.There are bound to be some bigger horror stories at the cheaper hotels. But I still hope this shows you the commitment most leading London hoteliers have to address your complaint. 

In most cases they genuinely want to put things right. You could argue that in a hotel market as competitive and costly as London, they simply have no choice. So if you have a genuine complaint about your stay in a London hotel, please always come forward and let the hotel know!