Claridge's, Maybourne Hotel Collection

Service like nowhere else in London

I stayed at Claridge's from October 24-26 last year and payed an exorbitant £5,816 for the privilege. I am writing this review now because of the appalling levels of customer service from the most senior management of the hotel. I would encourage anybody considering staying here to take their custom to a hotel that values them, rather than just pockets your money and doesn't acknowledge its mistakes. For many people Claridge's is the epitome of elegance and luxury, and many people have a fabulous time whilst staying there. Reviews on this site are not reflective of all guest experiences, as anybody who has the audacity to challenge the narrative that it is the best hotel in the world will receive a call asking them to take it down. Unfortunately, this was not the case during my visit. Despite the price, I stayed in a suite that did not have a functioning television the entirety of my stay. In addition, I placed my passport in the safe in the room; unfortunately the battery in the safe died and on the day of checkout - and of my flight for a holiday - the battery died and the safe was unable to be opened for several hours as a consequence. After checking out, I realised that - despite having pre-paid my stay in August - that I had been billed the full amount again. This led my credit card company to place a block on my card while I was abroad meaning that I had no means of purchasing things whilst on holiday and was unable to pay my hotel bill in Copenhagen. Despite Claridge's being made aware of the situation they had no contact with my bank at all during this time and it was only three months later that the duplicated charges were refunded. Claridge's maintains that they were not made aware of these issues at the time because there is no record of it in their systems which means that it couldn't possibly have happened. Not only were they made aware, because they had to reset the safe and install a new television, I liaised extensively with the then director of rooms to discuss remediation. In spite of Claridge's denials I shared the room with three other people who have all attested to these errors, and I have provided independent corroboration from my credit card company. When I attempted to redeem the proposed offer of remediation, Claridge's response - from the Managing Director no less - has been to gaslight me, insisting that none of these things ever happened, questioning my integrity and insinuating that I am a liar despite being a long-standing guest of the property for 35 years. They claim to have no record of these faults but when I asked for evidence that they had asked all of the relevant teams, I was stonewalled despite having a statutory right to data held about me by the hotel. A failure by the hotel to train all of its staff to maintain accurate records does not make a guest a liar. Let the buyer beware - not all that glitters is golden