London Guards Hotel

Terrible Customer Service

I wish that I could write a good review of the London Guards Hotel. However my experience with the London Guards Hotel is far from pleasant. I will lay out the facts as I see them that are substantiated with documentation.

For the Christmas holidays I planned to take my family (wife and two teenage sons) to London to partake in what I've been told is a wonderful time in London during Christmas. I booked my airline flights in early November to arrive into London Heathrow airport on December 21st. The challenge was finding hotel accommodations that were near parks or trails that my son can train as a runner. The only accommodations that I could find were at the London Guards Hotel and the only rooms available for booking were non-refundable. In addition, I had to pay the full amount for two rooms instead of a deposit for which I'm more familiar doing.

Unfortunately there was nothing else available and I had full intentions of travelling to London and staying at the hotel with my family since I already had the airline flights purchased. So I took the plunge and payed in full for two rooms at the London Guards Hotel that was non-refundable. We waited with anticipation to start our Christmas Holidays in London.

The night before our travel day I received an email from the airline that our flight was cancelled due to the blizzard conditions hitting England. I immediately called the London Guards Hotel to explain my situation. My call was received by someone that did not speak English very well and the person could not answer my questions. I also sent an email to the London Guards Hotel with a copy of the airline email indicating the flight cancellations.
I called the London Guards Hotel first thing in the morning at 9am asking for the manager and once again my call was answered by someone that did not speak English very well. It was not clear if the manager was in the hotel. I called the hotel two more times that morning with the same results; no one that spoke English well and no manager to be found.

I finally was able to speak with the manager, a Mr. Giuseppe, after lunch time. I explained to Mr. Giuseppe that my flights were cancelled and that I was trying to find flights to London to salvage my Christmas holidays. I tried to ascertain from Mr. Giuseppe what other options I may have with the London Guards Hotel in the event that I could not get to London because there were no flights available. To my amazement Mr. Giuseppe was very curt and rude. He reminded me that my hotel bookings were non-refundable and that there was nothing he could do. I appealed to his sense of ethics about the non-refundable room bookings in relation to the flight cancellations that were out of my control. I was willing to pay for a cancellation fee or to get a credit for a room at the London Guards Hotel at a later date. Mr. Giuseppe indicated that he was preparing for his holiday vacation and he did not have time to deal with my situation and he abruptly terminated the phone conversation.
Never in my travel experience have I ever been tried as negatively and rudely as the staff at the London Guards Hotel.

I called back the hotel and told Mr. Giuseppe how rude and unprofessional he was. I asked to speak with the owners of the hotel and Mr. Giuseppe indicated that he was the owner. The phone conversation ended with a sad realization that my family and I were not going to London and we lost almost 1000 Euros for the room bookings.

I made the best of the Christmas holidays and settled back into work and study after the New Year festivities with a nagging thought that that Mr. Giuseppe was not the owner of the London Guards Hotel. I called the hotel towards the middle of January and I asked to speak with the owner of the London Guards Hotel. The receptionist indicated that the owner was not at the London Guards Hotel but at some other hotel. I asked for the telephone number of the other hotel and I managed to get the name of the owner; Mr. Jack Gill.

I was not surprised that Mr. Giuseppe lied to me about him being the owner. I then called the other hotel and asked for Mr. Gill. I was transferred to a person that did not identify himself as Mr. Gill but immediately asked the nature of my call. I asked if he was Mr. Gill and with a pause he indicated that he was. Given my experience of Mr. Giuseppe lies, I had my doubts that the person I was speaking with was indeed Mr. Gill. I explained my situation and about the unprofessional manner Mr. Giuseppe behaved in my conversations with him. The "Mr. Gill" indicated that he would look into the issue. "Mr. Gill" was difficult to give a commitment for when I would receive a response. He finally agreed to respond within one week.
That last phone conversation with "Mr. Gill" was three weeks ago and I did not receive any response from the London Guards Hotel.

Please use my story as an indication of what you may experience if you decide to stay at the London Guards Hotel. Once they have your money you are at the mercy of individuals that do not understand customer service and have no sense of honour and ethics.
Sincerely,
JLO