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Hyatt’s Great Scotland Yard hotel opens in London

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The Great Scotland Yard Hotel finally opened this week after delays.

Great Scotland Yard is a luxury five star hotel in Central London, situated just around the corner from the Corinthia.  If you imagine leaving Embankment tube station towards the Strand and turning immediately left under the railway bridge, you are heading in the right direction.

Great Scotland Yard hotel

The building is, unsurprisingly, the original Scotland Yard headquarters from the 1820s.  Scotland Yard later moved to Victoria Street, next to what is now Conrad St James, but that building was demolished earlier this year to make way for apartments.  Scotland Yard is now based on Victoria Embankment.

The hotel has 152 rooms.  It is part of The Unbound Collection by Hyatt, which allows it to operate at arms-length and without any overt Hyatt branding.  There is an impressive food and drink line-up, led by chef Robin Gill, including signature restaurant The Yard and a tearoom called The Parlour.

The tearoom is “inspired by The Imperial New Delhi hotel for its opulence and sense of tradition”.  I’ve stayed at The Imperial and I am intrigued as to how this looks.

Great Scotland Yard hotel opens

Full details are on the Hyatt website here.  You will earn a bonus 500 World of Hyatt points per stay until 31st March 2020 – no registration needed.

As a redemption, the hotel is currently 25,000 points per night.  This is good value given that cash rates are around £300 – £400 midweek and beats our standard valuation of a World of Hyatt point of 1.1p.

World of Hyatt update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: World of Hyatt is not currently running a global promotion

New to World of Hyatt?  Read our overview of World of Hyatt here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on what we think World of Hyatt points are worth is here.

Buy points: If you need additional World of Hyatt points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from Hyatt and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

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Comments (162)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • BJ says:
    12 Dec12 December 05:22

    Caledonian sleeper is a good example of why rail franchises have to go, not that we are short of good examples.

    • Shoestring says:
      12 Dec12 December 07:00

      you can’t just choose a tiny number of incompetent managers and conclude: this proves why privately owned xyz is ineffective in private hands

      • BJ says:
        12 Dec12 December 08:39

        I was referring to railway franchises, not companies in general. Quite obvious that customer satisfaction across most of them has been poor if we go on basis of media reports which, admittedly, leaves a lot to be desired. Obviously depends how high (or low) we set the bar, and a frequent traveller will have a different perspective from the occasional leisure traveller. Personally I don’t see much point of privatisation without competition.

        • Shoestring says:
          12 Dec12 December 09:21

          on the last point: sure, gas & elec privatisation has been quite successful for anybody prepared to put 5 mins’ work into switching supplier (highly competitive, low prices) – whereas (say) water is an abject failure in the private sector —> no competition, sky high prices, money that should be used to invest in efficient & cheap water supply paid out as dividends instead – as a ‘natural’ state-owned industry, all water needed was good mgt (and if govt wanted, it could take ‘dividends’ out for other general taxation purposes)

          • Rich says:
            12 Dec12 December 19:05

            Gas and Elec privatisation, as the MSE is often fond of saying, means that you and I pay less to boil a kettle than my 90 year-old next door neighbour.

            Some say that’s just healthy market economy and she should get off her backside and change supplier, but I don’t think it’s working for the most vulnerable.

          • Lady London says:
            12 Dec12 December 22:04

            + 1.

    • Spaghetti Town says:
      12 Dec12 December 07:36

      That’s the last thing that should ever be privatised, if there ever is rail privatisation.

      • Shoestring says:
        12 Dec12 December 07:45

        I think BJ is pointing to the ‘year of woe’ that Caledonian Sleeper has suffered https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jun/26/caledonian-sleeper-suffers-setbacks-with-highlands-train-delay-serco – with staff who ‘voted for strike action, claiming “intolerable” and “appalling” working conditions after the botched rollout of its £150m fleet of sleek trains.’

        • Shoestring says:
          12 Dec12 December 07:47

          https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/jul/24/caledonian-sleeper-staff-vote-strike-action-stress

        • BJ says:
          12 Dec12 December 08:43

          Yes, all of that. It should have been something to look forward to and celebrate but instead it’s a shambles. The fares are a real problem too.

        • SteveD says:
          12 Dec12 December 09:01

          Is anyone here old enough to remember when the UK’s railways were any good (on average), regardless of the ownership structure?

          • Andrew says:
            12 Dec12 December 09:43

            The difference now is that if Caledonian Sleeper staff are unhappy only Caledonian Sleeper staff strike. In ‘the good old days’ of British Rail the entire country’s railway staff would been on strike.

          • Rob says:
            12 Dec12 December 09:45

            As long as you’re not commuting on them, they are – generally – good. I went up to Manchester the other week, First Class, for around £40 one-way. Got the shoulder train where you stil get full food and drink but pay off-peak pricing. Absolutely no complaints.

          • mark2 says:
            12 Dec12 December 11:04

            I used to commute from Swindon to Paddington daily and was satisfied.
            It is rarely mentioned that the tracks and signalling where most of the problems (apart from strikes) occur was re-nationalised in 2004. Apparently a Labour government would re-nationalise them again!

          • RussellH says:
            12 Dec12 December 11:38

            Sure I (and no doubt many others) am old enough. Rail fragmentation only started in the late 1980s under John Major’s administration, with the privatisation of Railtrack.
            Both the idea and the implementation were bad. The infrastructure was always going to remain as a monopoly, and it has, of course, been nationalised once again now for many years.The implementation was appalling. Almost everyone who actually knew anything about running rail infrastructure was made redundant. They brought in assest-strippers who sold off whatb they could, and delivered what looked like impressive figures for a few years by ignoring a lot of the maintenance.
            Everything came to a head when the poor maintenance resulted in several serious accidents and the whole business was brought back into the public sector.

            Ownership of rolling stock (under BR it was owned, these days it is mostly leased) is a separate matter, and operation of passenger and freight services are different matters again.

            Most of the complaints in the press come from commuter operations, which are difficult to make money out of, because you cannot use your assets efficiently – you need huge amounts of capacity during peak periods, while the rest of the day these assets are either sitting around doing nothing, or are running around less than half empty. Privatisation has resulted in making things more efficient by squeezing many more passengers into highly reduced amounts of space – much more efficient, but also much more unpleasant. Hence the complaints!

      • Will says:
        12 Dec12 December 11:45

        Network Rail is already public sector and they are a shambles. The Germans seem to do alright with a mixture of private and public ownership across the network. Our problem is poor management and sky high wages. You won’t fix them with nationalisation.

    • RussellH says:
      12 Dec12 December 11:50

      I never understood why the Scottish Government agreed to Serco as operator of CS.

      But then perhaps no one else with more experience and understanding of rail operation would have taken on CS. It is a very niche operation, and very seasonal, which makes a purely commercial operation very difficult.

      As to the new rolling stock, how much of the problems have been down to CAF (the builder) and how much to Serco/CS I do not know, but what has become clear is that all of CAF’s new trains for TPE and Northern have also been significantly delayed, with various teething troubles still to be sorted out.
      AFAIK, CAF had not supplied rolling stock to the UK before this, so they may well have been over-optimistic about what they could achieve. UK trains have to be significantly smaller than what they will have been building before.
      [And Hitachi, also pretty new to the UK market, have had significant problems with their new trains too. The Scots here in particular will mostly be very familiar with the problems of their new Hitachi trains, where the original windscreens distorted the driver’s view of the signals…]

  • NigelthePensioner says:
    12 Dec12 December 07:26

    We did the sleeper from Euston to Aberdeen last Friday night. It was superb in every way! We had the double bedded suite and the mattress was superbly comfortable. It was all in all a great experience with lovely food and a comfortable Club Car. I would do it again but for the cost £470 single for two with a two together rail card……breakfast included. Flybe back to BHX on Sunday £45 each!!

  • Dawn says:
    12 Dec12 December 07:48

    I can’t see the link to the video? Please could someone tell me what it is? thanks 🙂

  • Simon says:
    12 Dec12 December 08:14

    O/T – Shangri-La points. Wondered if anyone/Shoestring could advise?

    The missus has USD $150.00 vouchers (generated via her Shangri-La account) for Ting restaurant at the Shangri-La hotel in the Shard – we have a reservation on Tuesday. I also have 250 Shangri-La points from that app download promotion ages ago. Am I able to use my 250 points in concert with my missus’ vouchers to settle a restaurant bill? I remember “Instant dining” being mentioned once or twice on HFP over the months, but I can’t recall the mechanics of this. I can see that I can create a QR code for my Shangri-La account, but I don’t see how that helps me settle any bill in practice? I don’t have a physical card that is in date any more, you see, but perhaps there’s a virtual one within the app itself and maybe that helps me to part-settle the bill? Any pointers would be welcomed, especially regarding how in practice I might be able to use these 250 points at the restaurant table. 250 points are insufficient to generate a voucher at the Shard, unfortunately. MANY THANKS! 🙂

  • BJ says:
    12 Dec12 December 08:51

    OT: Time to exercise my suffrage and what an apt name that sounds for this particular election. Thanks to HFP for keeping me distracted from both the insufferable public servants and media over the past month!

    • Rob says:
      12 Dec12 December 08:56

      A general reminder that, apart from social media sites (which we are not) it is a criminal offence until 10pm tonight to publish how you voted or to speculate on the result of the election.

      • Scallder says:
        12 Dec12 December 09:42

        Rob whilst I don’t want this site to descend into this, I don’t think that’s right.

        “Rules around photography and publishing in elections are covered by the 1983 Representation of the People Act, which states that:

        No person shall, in the case of an election to which this section applies, publish before the poll is closed

        (a) any statement relating to the way in which voters have voted at the election where that statement is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information given by voters after they have voted, or

        (b) any forecast as to the result of the election which is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information so given. ”

        and per the Electoral Commission:

        “A voter may volunteer information about how they voted, provided no undue influence is exerted on them to do so.”

        So you won’t get into any trouble if someone did post on here (which as I started off by saying, I hope they don’t)

        • Rob says:
          12 Dec12 December 09:47

          The Guardian does not agree with your interpretation and has imposed a similar ban.

          • Anna says:
            12 Dec12 December 10:18

            I’m sure it only applies to official media publications, no-one’s going to be prosecuted for saying how they voted on Facebook or whatever. It would be virtually impossible to prove who had actually posted the comment, to start with, given the difficulties in getting social media companies to part with this kind of information. Not that I’m encouraging any more coverage of the subject!

          • Rob says:
            12 Dec12 December 12:27

            Social media is excluded. We are not social media.

          • Shoestring says:
            12 Dec12 December 12:09

            nothing controversial from me on election day! I haven’t voted yet – I’m waiting until my second vote gets back from college 😼

          • BJ says:
            12 Dec12 December 15:03

            Voted, nothing more to add.

  • Nick says:
    12 Dec12 December 08:55

    OT:

    Anyone know how refunds on items bought with a shopping centre gift card are treated?

    Example – If I buy a coat from John Lewis Westfield using a Westfield Gift Card- and then need to return it to another John Lewis on the high street… will I be forced to accept JL vouchers as my return method? Or can it go back on a credit or debit card of my choice?

  • NICk says:
    12 Dec12 December 08:58

    I am about 9 months into my BA premium plus and have already earned the 2-4-1

    Due to new amex bonus rules – whats a better option?

    a) Just downgrade to the free blue version? (How is this best done? over the phone) = then get close to £10k spend and then upgrade again to Premium?

    b) Just cancel completely- and sign up in circa 6-8 months for the premium again? Thereby saving card fees and getting a potential referral bonus

    • Rob says:
      12 Dec12 December 09:02

      Both work, both save you the fee. Very little chance of getting the bonus for a new application but you may get a 6000 Avios bonus when you re-upgrade from free to paid BA. Downgrade involves a fresh application, your old card is automatically shut and the transasctions moved across.

      • Leigh says:
        12 Dec12 December 09:38

        Could I ask how to get the 6000 (potential) Avios points when upgrading (BA Free to BA Premium)? Is best to do the upgrade by phone or just apply for a new Premium card?

        • Rob says:
          12 Dec12 December 09:42

          For literally 10 years, Amex has randomly given people 6000 Avios when upgrading to BAPP. The staff don’t know anything about it. It just randomly appears. My bet is that this is from a promo from 2005ish and someone forgot to remove the algorithm from the system. It doesn’t all the time, but most of the time.

      • nick says:
        12 Dec12 December 10:22

        Wow, so a downgrade from Premium to Blue counts as entirely fresh application with accompanying credit checkj?

        More minded to simply cancel then..

    • Anna says:
      12 Dec12 December 09:27

      If you cancel completely then get referred for a new one, the referrer should get a bonus regardless of the length of time you wait, however you wouldn’t get a sign up bonus unless you wait 2 years.

    • BJ says:
      12 Dec12 December 10:16

      Earlier this year I downgraded online via a referral link. I didn’t get the referral bonus but I did get the 5000 for spending £1000.

      • Anna says:
        12 Dec12 December 10:21

        That’s interesting, I wonder if it’s an IT glitch similar to the SPG one…

        • BJ says:
          12 Dec12 December 10:45

          I did it hoping to get the referral bonus but disappointment with that was soon replaced with surprise.

      • nick says:
        12 Dec12 December 10:48

        Could you explain this process?

        U had a Premium Card, logged in to Amex and Made a new application for the Blue Card?

        It then automatically cancelled your premium and issued you the Blue Card?

        • BJ says:
          12 Dec12 December 11:43

          I applied via a referral link. The application is just done in the usual way, if successful then the blue soon changes to black online and the new card arrives in the post in usual way. Highly unlikely you will get either referral or sign up bonus though. Refund on the BAPP will go into your account in a few days. If you are nit automatically approved you will be on manual reviews as they know what you are trying to do. I only ever saw comment ftom one person who got rejected and I think it was fixed after calling CS.

  • Roberto says:
    12 Dec12 December 09:21

    Re Necker… I seem to recal that you had to be VS gold too – the miles alone might not be enough.. But its 1:20 in vegas and I just about remembered my room number so I could be well off base..

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