ST. JAMES HOTEL & CLUB MAYFAIR Luxe

charming hotel, well located, fine decoration however paying more than 500€ for a room with absolutely no view because at a basement level is totally scandalous. will not come back for my next stay in London. Too bad.

This hotel is in an amazing location and has imposing presence. And hitherto, the service provided has been excellent. Not this time. I have stayed here at least annually for over a decade. And my booking for a suite found me in a pokey arrangement in the basement. Yes, it had a separate lounge, but... "Sorry, nothing else available." Hang on, I booked 3 months ago. And the service, especially in the breakfast room has become too casual. Staff talking amongst themselves rather than watching out for the needs of guests is a sign of arrogance. It could have been so much better.

Our family just spent a week at the hotel and we had a wonderful visit. The rooms are a good size and we got adjoining as we requested. The staff, bell staff, door men, concierges and especially wait staff all wonderful and looked after us to nth degree. The hotel is a hop and a skip from Buckingham Palace and dozens of other notable landmarks. It really is an uncommonly good location for visitors who want to be in the heart of Mayfair. It is not an inexpensive hotel but one would not expect a discount in that neighbourhood but generally, it provided very solid value. Our only quibble was the air conditioning in both our rooms conked out on the 2nd or 3rd day, and we were told this is an ongoing issue the hotel is trying to address. We were given a small portable unit that made the room less stuffy (our window did not open) but I still felt someone should have offered something in compensation. A drink the bar, a ride to the airport. Something. I feel when you pay for superior service, any shortcoming should beget an offer of compensation. That said, otherwise, we had a wonderful time and will definitely consider the hotel again when we return to London.

Positives: Location, location, location. Could walk most places and tube everywhere. - The service was very good except for my notes below. - We had a suite and a regular room for the kids nearby which was OK. The suite was nice. - mattresses and bedding to die for. - Staff was there always. I never had an instance where I could not get someone's attention to my needs in less than a minute. - The Concierge (all three of them) were very helpful. We had some odd needs (a 25m pool in which my son could practice) and they found us several. They actually pointed out that the Olympic Venue was available, which was probably my highlight in London. (watching my son and wife workout in the competition pool from the 2012 Olympics. Negatives: - Weird problem with the keys. They didn't work consistently and we had to get them rekeyed several times. -Had not been to London for a decade, so my friends told me I was just out of touch when I was surprised that almost the entire staff was from another country. No problem with that except I did encounter some language problems, particularly when ordering breakfast. By my fifth day, the manager took my order to avoid the problems. Overall: I would stay here again. Pricey but worth it. I would have rated it a 5 except for the language and key issues.

Almost more of a luxury B&B really. Pros: central location, helpful staff, modern furnishings with traditional style. Cons: small rooms, TINY bathrooms (I had to turn sideways to make it on!), restaurant closed Sundays, no gym. OK pricing.