Kimpton Fitzroy upgrades – processed in advance?

[dst87]

BH wrote:

After all that, I’m beginning to wonder if I’ve made a terrible mistake booking there for this weekend!

Anyway, I have a follow-up question for those who are still following this thread: I assume Galvin Bar & Grill can charge to the Kimpton bill and does anyone have any experience of splitting the final bill to two Amex cards on checkout (to take advantage of cash back on both)?

I’m not sure if you can charge to the room from there, but I’d be astonished if you couldn’t. You can from the main cocktail bar and Burr & Co.

We had no problem splitting the bill at check-out between two cards (though if relevant, it was an easier conversation because the cards were my primary card and my husband’s supplementary card, so it felt like a more natural request).

[BH]

dst87 wrote:

We had no problem splitting the bill at check-out between two cards (though if relevant, it was an easier conversation because the cards were my primary card and my husband’s supplementary card, so it felt like a more natural request).

Thanks. Same position with us, so shouldn’t be an issue.

[NorthernLass]

Last year we had no issues splitting the bill over 2 Plat cards which both had a £100 cash back offer. Damn, that was a good deal! We got over £1200 worth of value for under £600.

[BH]

A quick update on my experience last weekend in case it’s of use to others: no upgrade at checkin as the hotel was fully booked. Charming receptionist told us that Nov/Dec difficult to get upgrades as most higher tier rooms sell out. We were sent a bottle of wine as an apology.

Secret passphrase “the snuggle is real” yielded a voucher for two cocktails.

The room – Superior Park View Queen – had plenty of room and didn’t present any of the problems mentioned elsewhere in this thread: no popcorn on the floors or any issues with the air conditioning/heating!

We tried the evening drinks at 5-6, but only stayed for a glass of wine as it wasn’t very exciting. (There didn’t seem to be any limit on how much one could drink, though the lack of any kind of nibbles was disappointing. I’m sure I’ve had them at other Kimptons, but might be imagining it.)

Diamond breakfast option was specified as a hot course, the buffet and “a” hot drink, but I wasn’t charged any extra for a couple of espresso drinks. (I had another later from Burr & Co and wasn’t charged for that either – presumably because the manual system that checks for inclusion of breakfast doesn’t synchronise between the restaurants. I didn’t actually find the coffee very good – tepid at best – so the following morning I had a cafetière which was much more to my taste.)

We stopped in Fitz’s for our cocktails on Friday and enjoyed a good time before going out to dinner. We were surprised on Saturday evening to be told we’d need a reservation to get in as we’d been told the night before that we would not. In the event, we explained that we were eating at Galvin in half an hour, so they deigned to allow us entry. (It might actually have been better to have had the cocktails at the dinner table as there was quite a rowdy crowd of non-hotel guests that night.)

Galvin’s was pretty good as steakhouses go. The stand-out experience was being downsold when choosing the wine (from ~£70 to £38) after explaining to the waiter what I was looking for.

We were granted a late check out at 1pm Sunday and had no problem settling the bill with two cards; so getting 2 x £75 cash back from AmEx which has already arrived.

All the staff that we encountered were friendly and helpful – none of the surliness that I was expecting from the previous comments.

Finally, a special mention for the lifts: you choose your floor and get directed to a lift that usually stops only there. Going down, they often stop at another floor, but there’s very little wait (and that can so often mar an otherwise good hotel).

All-in-all I would recommend the Kimpton Fitzroy!

[BH]

(This might post twice as my first go seems to have vanished!)

A quick update on my experience last weekend in case it’s of use to others: no upgrade at checkin as the hotel was fully booked. Charming receptionist told us that in Nov/Dec it’s difficult to get upgrades as most higher tier rooms sell out. We were sent a bottle of wine as an apology.

Secret passphrase “the snuggle is real” yielded a voucher for two cocktails.

The room – Superior Park View Queen – had plenty of room and didn’t present any of the problems mentioned elsewhere in this thread: no popcorn on the floors or any issues with the air conditioning/heating!

We tried the evening drinks at 5-6, but only stayed for a glass of wine as it wasn’t very exciting. (There didn’t seem to be any limit on how much one could drink, though the lack of any kind of nibbles was disappointing. I’m sure I’ve had them at other Kimptons, but might be imagining it.)

Diamond breakfast option was specified as a hot course, the buffet and “a” hot drink, but I wasn’t charged any extra for a couple of espresso drinks. (I had another later from Burr & Co and wasn’t charged for that either – presumably because the manual system that checks for inclusion of breakfast doesn’t synchronise between the restaurants. I didn’t actually find the coffee very good – tepid at best – so the following morning I had a cafetière which was much more to my taste.)

We stopped in Fitz’s for our cocktails on Friday and enjoyed a good time before going out to dinner. We were surprised on Saturday evening to be told we’d need a reservation to get in as we’d been told the night before that we would not. In the event, we explained that we were eating at Galvin in half an hour, so they deigned to allow us entry. (It might actually have been better to have had the cocktails at the dinner table as there was quite a rowdy crowd of non-hotel guests that night.)

Galvin’s was pretty good as steakhouses go. The stand-out experience was being downsold when choosing the wine (from ~£70 to £38) after explaining to the waiter what I was looking for.

We were granted a late check out at 1pm Sunday and had no problem settling the bill with two cards; so getting 2 x £75 cash back from AmEx which has already arrived.

All the staff that we encountered were friendly and helpful – none of the surliness that I was expecting from the previous comments.

Finally, a special mention for the lifts: you choose your floor and get directed to a lift that usually stops only there. Going down, they often stop at another floor, but there’s very little wait (and that can so often mar an otherwise good hotel).

All-in-all I would recommend the Kimpton Fitzroy!

[Harry T]

NorthernLass wrote:

It might be that the hotel is so busy this weekend that there’s no upgrade available – you’re not guaranteed one either when you use the BOGOF at a Kimpton. There’s no harm in contacting them though as they definitely do upgrade when there’s availability – we were given a double upgrade to a beautiful junior suite last year when it was very quiet due to international travel still being very restricted.

Re Park Lane – I snagged a Friday and Saturday night in July in the last points intern “sale” at 40k pn and my room is still stubbornly showing as “cosy double”, even though I am Diamond Ambassador. I am assuming that this may be a punishment as the current rate is 95k points or £660 pn! I’m not going to even bother pushing for an upgrade because the rate is so ridiculously low for a summer weekend in London, lol.

The Amstel gave me an upgrade to a full suite from the base room when I last stayed for a couple of nights, and I had booked the hotel for 40k points a night (it’s probably even more expensive than the Fitzroy). I was IHG Platinum Ambassador. Along these lines, I can think of many more anecdotes where I’ve paid super cheap healthcare rates at Bonvoy properties and received huge upgrades. I don’t think hotels care what or how you pay.

[Froggee]

@BH I’m glad it went well for you. Clearly based upon Tripadvisor I must have been unfortunate as most do rave about it. It’s funny you liked the lifts as one of the (few) things I really liked about it was being able to take the stairs up to my room. Particularly as they had “lucky George” the dragon looking out for me each time.

[JDB]

@Harry T I think you must have the necessary savoir faire which counts for a lot at these hotels; more valuable than any ‘loyalty’ card.

[BH]

Froggee wrote:

@BH I’m glad it went well for you. Clearly based upon Tripadvisor I must have been unfortunate as most do rave about it. It’s funny you liked the lifts as one of the (few) things I really liked about it was being able to take the stairs up to my room. Particularly as they had “lucky George” the dragon looking out for me each time.

Thanks. My room was a bit high up to want to take the stairs every time, but we did say hello to Lucky George!

[Olly]

Just back from a couple of nights stay. Arrived at 11pm on Thursday and asked for an upgrade but told not possible as hotel was full. Asked if I could have something else instead and given a drinks voucher.

Room was very warm and facing the internal courtyard on the 3rd floor. Next morning breakfast was pleasant enough and on the way back through the lobby asked if I could switch to an external facing room. Was told “no problem, we’ll have it ready for you when you return this afternoon. Just leave your stuff in the room and we’ll move it for you.” Got back around 4.30 and was told it wasn’t ready but should be in a few mins. Old room was still available so went back there and about an hour later finally got a call to say that the new one was ready. New bedroom much of a muchness but bathroom was much smaller. For the inconvenience of waiting was given an additional “snuggle is real” drinks voucher, despite not uttering the phrase. By this time it was too late however to make use of the social hour drinks. Went out for dinner and got home about 11pm, and got into bed only to find the sheets smelt of urine.

All in all, pretty disappointing experience. For a high end hotel it really suffers from not having a pool and spa, and I found the service distinctly average.