HotelChatter

·   Great location (Piccadilly & Green Park tube stops right around the corner)
·   Some rooms have a view of the London Eye
·   Rooms are small, but comfortable.
·   The help wears weird white track suit bottoms instead of traditional suits (though this may be just a rumor)

As a business traveler you will probably be most concerned with the communications capabilities of The Cavendish Hotel.

As far as Internet access goes, the hotel boasts "ISDN" lines. While in 1997 ISDN lines were boast worthy, they certainly are not today. We are not sure if you have to pay for Internet access or not, however, if you do, and you are connecting through the phone, keep this recent visitors story in mind:

There was no information about telephone charges in the room so I asked the front desk how much it cost to make a local call. They told me 50 pence per minute. I had called my friend a couple of times from a pay phone at a cost of 30 pence each time so the hotel's mark up seemed appropriate.

My friend and I talked for awhile, but there was not need to worry about it as it was less than an hour so my maximum cost was going to be 30 pounds.

Then the charge for my one call showed up at 135 pounds.

When I enquired about it, I was told that the number I called was a mobile (cell phone) and therefore charged at the rate of 2.70 pounds per minute.

I checked the British Telecom website and their charge for calling the number I dialed is 8.4 pence per minute so the hotel's cost was less than five pounds.

I am very disappointed with the hotel as the mark up 130 pounds on a 5 pound phone call is truly outrageous and made worse by the fact that I tried to prevent this from happening by asking at the front desk beforehand. Sadly I had no way of knowing that my question had to be asked in a more specific manner.

The hotel manager explained that their mark up is to cover the cost of a switchboard operator, but at $300.00 per hour, you would think I was paying for sex.

As always, if you guys and girls out there have any further information on this hotel, just leave a comment on this story below.

Related Stories:
·   The Cavendish Hotel Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Tags: Miscellaneous

by markj