Review: St Pancras Renaissance hotel and its new ‘Suite to Seat’ Eurostar transfers

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• Dirtyneedlebluesky says:

  12 Oct12 October 08:41

  To tip or not to tip the porter that is the question?!

  • sloth says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:45

    for stacking the bigger and presumably heavier bag on top of the backpack I’d say not…

  • James C says:

    12 Oct12 October 08:50

    Just trying to recall when I last got tipped for doing my job in line with how I’m paid to do it….

    • robkeane says:

      12 Oct12 October 10:08

      It’s the moment when the porter hears an american accent and metaphorically rubs his hands together, as opposed to mostly hearing a uk accent and thinking no tax free money for me

      • Paul says:

        12 Oct12 October 20:57

        Anyone working in hospitality pays tax on tips, often at a rate set by HMRC. Decades ago my brother worked breakfast in a fancy hotel and had a nightmare trying to get HMRC to believe no one tips at breakfast
        So no your waiters are not Ecclestone dodging their taxes and the jail where they being

    • Andy says:

      12 Oct12 October 10:11

      How very British. I’m guessing you probably earn considerably more than a porter? Do you ever receive a bonus for doing good work, meeting targets or going ‘above and beyond’ – being paid more, even though you’ve ‘only’ been ‘doing your job’? I’m sure there are plenty of HfP readers who do. If I’ve spent £675 on a hotel room, £5 extra shouldn’t be too difficult to swallow. Hospitality is struggling ATM – recruitment continues to be difficult. Yes, tipping is a perk – but It’s also a nice thing to do. I try to acknowledge good service when I can and if someone has been particularly helpful, then tipping them isn’t a problem for me. I understand that many can’t afford to tip, but in the context of this review I don’t think that applies.

      • Danny says:

        12 Oct12 October 10:31

        What next, tip the doctor for printing out your prescription?

        In Japan there are plenty of wealthy people, yet tipping is regarded as an insult.

        It is viewed there as bribing someone to do a job.

        • Andy says:

          12 Oct12 October 14:12

          The hotel is in London – tipping is fairly common there. I agree, I wouldn’t tip a Doctor. I have given chocolates to nurses though.

      • Sunguy says:

        12 Oct12 October 10:54

        Heres a little itty bitty of a problem……which I have fallen upon….

        Since the banks really dislike cash transactions, have been closing branches, cash machines and so on – then making absurd charges to businesses that wish to put cash into their accounts ….. less and less of us carry cash any more….

        I have a £20 note in my wallet, I genuinely cant remember when I took it out – its there for “an emergency” …. I tend not to have actual cash …. or change …

        So, despite wanting to tip …. whether thats in a restaurant that doesnt give me the option to add it on to my card spend, or a bellhop moving bags …. I cannot do so – even if I wanted to splurge and give said bellhop my £20 note – I doubt they would be that grateful somewhere outside the UK.

        So…..tipping is a problem if its cash that is required … and we have banks and businesses to thank for that!

        • planeconcorde says:

          12 Oct12 October 16:25

          Exactly this.
          Recently I have been to two restaurants, outside of the UK, where I wanted to tip. Adding a tip to the bill when paying by credit card wasn’t an option. The restaurant refused to add the tip to the total figured they keyed into the credit card machine. The option to add a tip when confirming the transaction on the card machine was disabled. I had no small cash notes.

        • Paul says:

          12 Oct12 October 21:01

          Agreed

      • Andrew says:

        12 Oct12 October 10:58

        “If I’ve spent £675 on a hotel room, £5 extra shouldn’t be too difficult to swallow”

        Another way of looking at it is that if a hotel has just charged someone £675 for a room then it shouldn’t be that hard for them to pay their staff a decent wage such that they’re not reliant on tips.

        Yet another way of looking at it is that if a hotel room costs £675 then exemplary service should be expected as standard and not an optional paid extra subject to a generous tip.

        • Harry T says:

          12 Oct12 October 12:58

          I agree with Andrew here, it’s not my responsibility to pay people properly or incentivise them to do their actual job professionally.

      • Harry T says:

        12 Oct12 October 12:57

        No, some of us have to do our day job without bonuses or tips. Let’s not bring elements of the toxic American service culture to these shores.

      • Peter K says:

        12 Oct12 October 16:28

        I never receive a bonus. In fact, in my profession, I would be expected to reject a tip offered to me (which I have done).
        I am often commended for my work ethic and thoroughness…but that is what my pay is for. I gain repeat work because of my attitude and that, along with satisfaction of a job well done, is my reward.

        Do I tip? Yes, regularly. But I hate an expectation to tip. In the US to me it is just an unlisted part of the cost, so I don’t view it as a tip. But in a situation like this in the UK I wouldn’t expect to tip the man taking my bags. That’s part of why I’m paying extra for a suite. It’s included.

  • Andy says:

    12 Oct12 October 14:03

    Jeez. I hit a nerve. Sorry.

    • meta says:

      12 Oct12 October 14:42

      @Andy the problem is that 95% of the time those working in service are doing it half-hearted, just expecting a tip regardless and usually provide a shitty service. From the photo posted here, it looks like this porter placed heavier bag on a rucksack. I have no problem tipping someone whose given me good service, but it’s a rarity in the UK, even at some luxury and 3-star Michelin restaurants.

• Little Littlewood says:

  12 Oct12 October 09:46

  Having used the eurostar a few times this year to visit Disney with the children, each time we arrive more then 3 hours before and on more than one occasion we narrowly caught our train due to the long ques in security. Yes we were in school holidays but we left plenty of time. They would only have a couple of people checking in and the belts were notorious for breaking down. I will definitely be looking at this next time.

  • Novelty-Socks says:

    12 Oct12 October 10:51

    There is no point arriving more than an hour before your train as they queue people based on the time of your train.

    If you turn up 3 hours ahead you are going to have to wait 2 hours before they’ll even let you into the queue. It’s pretty well-organised now IMO.

• Seagull says:

  12 Oct12 October 10:38

  So disappointed with this advertorial. I understand you need advertising revenue of course, but don’t publish this as a legitimate article. It’s not. There is literally no benefit (except I need to spend a night in a rather questionable “suite”) to this which I don’t get from paying considerably less than a minimum of £675 to buy a BP ticket.

  If it means only 2 articles today then fine, I’d rather that. Rant over.

  • Roy says:

    12 Oct12 October 10:55

    For a couple who needed a hotel room anyway there’s probably not much in it.

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 11:08

    Eh? I doubt that anyone would bother staying here overnight purely for a Eurostar fast track (and upgrading to Business Premier to get FT would be cheaper!) if they actually lived in London! The target market is people who otherwise need an overnight hotel before a Eurostar trip. Note that it is a genuinely free service – you pay the same for your room whether or not you use this.

    I also don’t understand how you think we actually get paid for this article. Under what mechanism are journalists now paid for going on press trips? We actively dislike group press trips (I have NEVER done one in 11 years) and turn down far more than we accept, and of those we accept we often bounce them off on friends (eg Jamie’s Bahamas trip last year). In this case, Sinead spent two days out of the office and we got one article in return – not a great return on her time or salary, but we thought it would be an interesting piece.

    • Peter W-G says:

      12 Oct12 October 12:48

      To counter these comments negativity I would say that you succeeded it giving an interesting article. I will probably never use this service (or fly first class in a suite) but I enjoy reading about it and dreaming.

      • modestpointscollector says:

        12 Oct12 October 17:34

        I agree, I didn’t know about this service, and probably will never use it, but then I have virtually no use for a £675 hotel room in London given I live an hour away, and don’t have that kind of money to spend that much a night on hotel rooms. But it’s fun to know it exists and read about it. Like the Lufthansa 1st class experience at Frankfurt, Singapore Airlines Suites, Ethihad’s “The Residence”etc…

        I’m also not sure a BP ticket will get you much in terms of having a porter carry your bags onto the train from your bedroom or a roof over your head the night before. Maybe someone should try it and report back?

        • Roy says:

          12 Oct12 October 19:37

          No, but personally I’d go for a cheaper room at the Renaissance and a Business Premier return. I’m happy to carry my own bags the short distance and it means I’ll get fast track in Paris as well as London. Probably a more expensive option, though.

          Can’t fault the article – certainly interesting to read a review of both the hotel and the Eurostat transfer service.

• Roberto says:

  12 Oct12 October 12:45

  Most important question:

  Does Marriot Bonvoy Platinum, Titaniun, Ambassador, Cobalt

  Get complimantary access to the Chambers Club Lounge?

  • Harry T says:

    12 Oct12 October 12:59

    Titanium and above.

    • meta says:

      12 Oct12 October 14:44

      Platinums also get lounge access or is this hotel playing tricks?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        12 Oct12 October 15:52

        The chambers club is excluded not tricks it’s in the actual T&c of the programme.

      • Rob says:

        12 Oct12 October 16:18

        No because it’s not an executive lounge. It is a dedicated lounge for a certain group of rooms.

• sloth says:

  12 Oct12 October 14:42

  I never understand why people get so worked up by these advertorials, it’s just weird. They are all marked as such and it’s virtually the same puff piece that was written in the Sunday times last week about the same thing and generated similar complaints. I travel a lot and always find 99% of articles interesting even about things that I wouldn’t choose to spend my money on such as this. It’s a massive waste of money for what it is but is still interesting to read about it and the types of people that would pay it….probably the same people that are booking the new Raffles hotel

  Hfp also has to earn its money from somewhere… I think they do a good job

  • MT says:

    12 Oct12 October 15:07

    I overall agree with this. I guess the only question is whether this one is in theory a little close to home. In the sense HfP throws summer parties here and also has a good relationship with Marriott sponsoring the event amongst other tie ups. As such it would be easy to be bias even unconsciously on this occasion.

  • Simon says:

    12 Oct12 October 15:22

    Agree, and unlike the newspaper HfP puts the “x paid for our accommodation” note at the top of the article rather than at the bottom. (Also I prefer HfP’s “x paid for…” instead of the newspaper’s coy “we were a guest of x”.)
    The Times did add in a (not totally fair) comparison of the cost of a normal room + premier train ticket, vs paying for this service with a standard seat on the train – didn’t come out in favour of the hotel room.

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 16:23

    We are getting very bored of this. Any suggestion that we are paid for going on press trips, which is an utterly stupid concept as anyone who has ever worked in or dealt with the media will understand, will result in a permanent ban for the commentator involved, as has now happened here. It is insulting to the professionalism of our team and, more importantly, would be in breach of various advertising rules if true. I’d guess that we actually spend around £5k per year on expenses attached to press events.

    • Jack says:

      12 Oct12 October 17:55

      The rise of the influencer and paid for advertorials which mimic actual genuine pieces has led to people being unclear on the difference as to what’s paid and not paid. You have always been upfront which is good, but i can see why people end up questioning whether something is legitimate or not because too many people are dishonest nowadays unfortunately

      • Bagoly says:

        12 Oct12 October 19:26

        @Jack: Absolutely right about the public space having being poisoned.
        And as there are always new readers, HfP has to keep repeating the disclaimers in the articles.
        What is less understandable is how after Rob’s repeated solid explanations, any regular reader would not understand the philosophy of HfP.
        Especially as the site is free, so anybody can stop reading as soon as they see the disclaimer.

        • T says:

          12 Oct12 October 20:08

          Well, to be honest, that is a little too short sighted dare I say naive on your part!
          The question is: can your readership fully trust one of the inhouse journalists to write a” review” being a fair unbiased piece of informative narative, when that readership knows from experience and from the media and advertising tab on the HfP website that the journalist has a proven track record of commercial dealings with this subject? Hfp writes reviews on subjects and sells advertorial space to those same subjects from the same hot desk!
          Surely this warrants a critical note from time to time?

        • Rob says:

          12 Oct12 October 20:18

          We have commercial dealings with everyone, pretty much. That’s relatively obvious, I would suggest, given all the advertising we carry. What’s amusing in terms of this debate, of course, is that the Renaissance is our single biggest expense of the year (£20k+ per party, more than our annual office rent) and not the other way around. We could be as mean to them as we like and they’d still take our money next summer.

• yorkieflyer says:

  12 Oct12 October 15:14

  £675, how much ?

  • Rob says:

    12 Oct12 October 16:17

    Have you tried booking a London hotel recently? My New York 5-star room next week is $1,500 per night and that’s entry level, not a suite.

    • yorkieflyer says:

      12 Oct12 October 16:54

      Your out of London favourite, Premier Inn will be doing us very nicely for less than £100 later in the year before a Eurostar

      • Erico1875 says:

        12 Oct12 October 19:49

        I recently booked the Copthorne in Kensington for £75.

        • MT says:

          13 Oct13 October 00:07

          Just avoid the Chelsea one. Absolute dump. Booked as was convenient and walked out and stayed elsewhere!

    • Pinoed says:

      12 Oct12 October 23:14

      The answer to a decent London hotel is The Gantry at Stratford.

      Well priced for London (£150 mark usually). Great service with nice baths in the suites. Cinema, green space, food at Westfields. Great breakfast for Hilton Gold & Diamonds. £6 parking if you drive. Javelin to St Pancras. DLR to London City, Elizabeth Line to Heathrow, Central Line, Jubilee Line, Overground.

• meta says:

  12 Oct12 October 15:27

  Looks like there was news yesterday that Evolyn will launch a competing service London-Paris. This will hopefully reduce prices.

  • meta says:

    12 Oct12 October 17:14

    Either Eurostar will lose some of its slots or there is room to add more slots.

    • RussellH says:

      12 Oct12 October 17:26

      There are plenty of paths available already, once the trains have been boarded. It is the requirement for security + immigration checks and keeping people hanging around after these that are the bottlenecks.
      And I very much doubt that there is any mechanism to force Eurostar to cancel services to allow a competitor to run trains instead.
      Can you see the French government, who effectively own Eurostar, just telling them to stop running half their trains, just in order to let a Spanish competitor run them instead?

      • meta says:

        12 Oct12 October 18:27

        On the other hand, if UK gov or rather CMA tells Eurostar they have to give up slots at St Pancras, what is Eurostar going to do? Same things on the French side, Evolyn can take it to EU competition authorities.

      • RussellH says:

        12 Oct12 October 19:56

        The French government has been working hard to stop rail competition in France for years. If they tell a prospective competitor to give up, in practice it really does not matter what anyone else says.
        If the CMA were to say X and the French authorities say Y? Evolyn will walk away long before it got resolved.
        In any case, I would expect Eurostar to say that they welcome competition, but the UK government is responsible for the lack of space at terminals, which is the real problem. Eurostar would not be unjustified in saying that the problem could be resolved by the UK joining Schengen.

        And slots are things at airports, not on the railway. And there are plenty of train paths.

  • Ken says:

    12 Oct12 October 18:59

    Well over a decade since Deutsche Bahn said they would run a service.

    It’s only got harder since.

    Love to see it happen- but I doubt it will

• George K says:

  12 Oct12 October 18:14

  Thank you for a very interesting piece on a service I knew nothing about. When we last stayed at this hotel, we were upgraded to a Chambers Wing suite having booked a significantly lower rate. I’m wondering if a complimentary upgrade would qualify you for the service, or is it specifically reserved paid rate. I’m guessing the latter.

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