Review of Royal Lancaster London 5*

The most spectacular aspect of this hotel is are the staff. Their attention to detail, friendliness, accommodating characters and professionally smart appearance is a real credit to the hotel. However the hotel itself feels like a 4* masquerading as a 5*. On the surface it looks very nice and upscale but my room just did not function very well as it should have. Of course the views over Hyde Park are stunning. I was on the 18th floor in a suite. Most disappointing was that during my 3 days I kept trying to have a hot bath but the water was never hot enough for one. I even tried at 4 am (I was jet lagged). The lighting isn't user friendly. In my room you couldn't just have the lounge light on without have the main overhead lights on. I called the engineer but he said that is the way it's wired. The lights in the bathroom are just on one switch which is too bright if you get up in the middle of the night and just need a low dim light to guide your way. The coffee machine didn't come with any instructions or menu as to what each of the different coloured pods tasted like. The milk sachets were too small and very fiddly to open, and the TV had an annoying message running through the middle something about a widget not being compatible which I just couldn't remove. My biggest frustration was not being able to have a hot bath but there is a lot to like about the room too. The bed linen, towels and robes were very high quality, the staff are definitely 5* and the location is fabulous.