Five years ago, my sister and I had a lovely stay at the Lime Tree Hotel in Belgravia, London - great location, service, and breakfast - so we were eager to stay there again during our next visit to London. What's more, the Lime Tree was listed in the most recent Rick Steves London Guide. We reserved a “Comfy Twin” room for a four-night stay 10 months in advance. About 2 weeks before our arrival in London, we confirmed the reservation and were told by email “your Comfy Twin Room will be ready when you arrive on June 2.” As expected, my sister's credit card was charged for the entire stay on June 1. When we arrived on June 2, we were shown to a room that had one queen-size bed. When we objected and referred to the May 14 confirmation, we were told no twin room was available. Eventually, we learned our twin room “was given to last-minute guests on May 31” and so we were reassigned to a room we hadn’t reserved, without notice, the day before the credit card was charged in full. In other words, they knew they were switching us to a queen bed room before they charged my sister's card for the full amount, and didn't notify us of the change. Because there were no other last-minute options in the area, we spent two nights in a room we didn’t want and then were able to move to a twin room for two nights. We asked repeatedly to speak to the manager, because the staff told us that the manager had made the decision to change our room without notice. We were told he was out of the country and unavailable to his staff or guests by phone or email. The staff was very apologetic throughout this ordeal, and let us know the manager said we would receive a refund for one night. This seemed inadequate given the circumstances, but when we asked to discuss this with him we were told, again, that he was unavailable. After we left London, we received an email message from the manager conveying apologies and saying he would look into to the situation and get back to us. Apparently the staff hadn't told him that we knew he was in fact responsible for the situation. In any event, we never heard from him. Between our first stay at the Lime Tree and our second, the hotel was sold and is under new management, new management that clearly doesn’t have the commitment to professionalism and customer service exhibited by their predecessors. Sadly, we will not be returning to the Lime Tree.
Posted by
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, USA
14719 posts
Thanks for the update. Lime Tree has been my go-to for years. I knew they did a complete reno which started right before Covid but I didn't know it had also been sold to new owners. I am sorry you did not get the kind of room you reserved and that your interaction with the manager has so far not yielded any results.
I was slightly exasperated last year when I was staying there that on a Sunday I'd come back in early afternoon to a line out the front door for the restaurant. I went up the steps to the front door and the hostess stepped in front of me to block my way. I just looked at her and said "I live here". I did report that to the staff on the desk but who knows if any education occurred.
It looks like I will have to give a caveat with my recommendations from now on.
Posted by
Reading, PA, USA
1637 posts
Did your sister dispute the charge on her CC? You did not get what you were charged for.
Posted by
3438 posts
It's nice to know that the Lime Tree management team puts the needs of last-minute guests ahead of repeat customers who booked 10 months in advance. I have always thought about staying there some day - but that's not right and I will look elsewhere.
Posted by
CA, USA
1245 posts
Did your sister dispute the charge on her CC? You did not get what you were charged for.
In my experience this is a waste of time. A few years ago we reserved a sleeper car in Germany with a shower & toilet, We arrive at the train station, our assigned car was literally not on the train! We got onto some other car so at least we weren't stuck in town. An unhelpful attendant had us stand in the hallway about 30 minutes while he checked in other passengers, then they eventually found us a room that didn't have a shower & toilet. I got documentation from DB upon arrival in Munich that we didn't get what we paid for and submitted paperwork to DB asking for a refund of the difference between what we paid and got. Never heard back from them. Filed a dispute with our credit card company. They said too bad; we took the train so they didn't care we didn't get what we paid for.,
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11872 posts
If you have not already done so, alert the RS staff of the degradation
Posted by
Last Frontier aka Alaska 🏔️
3560 posts
We also will not stay there again after an 11 night stay last October. While their website makes it look like there is a garden area you can enjoy, it in fact, belongs to the restaurant and you can only sit out there if you are buying or purchasing food. We had hopes to sit out there with our store bought bottle of wine and were told only wine purchased at the bar, could be drunk in the garden. Btw, the bar closed at 4pm!!!! There is literally no other public area to sit. So we had to sit in our room with our pre dinner glass of wine. Very sad. Will not stay there again.
Posted by
Paris
10187 posts
Well, that's a bummer. Thank you for sharing your experience.
Here is an article that discusses the Spanish hotel company's acquisition of the Lime Tree from the previous owners. Very disappointing. I hadn't realized at all.
https://www.boutiquehotelier.com/room-mate-hotels-acquires-lime-tree-hotel/
Posted by
Freedonia
16270 posts
Did you leave a review on Trip Advisor? If not, you should. It might get you some action. Or if anything, you might warn others.
Posted by
Lake District, England
7836 posts
The OP has left an identical review on Trip Advisor under the name of calvininSF (of Marin County, California)
Posted by
Duluth 🛶
7976 posts
I would also leave a review on Google, as many owners get notifications of reviews there. I've posted both good and bad reviews and received owner-generated responses to those reviews.
Posted by
Midwest, USA
165 posts
This is really a shame, all around. Thanks for sharing and alerting.
So we had to sit in our room with our pre dinner glass of wine. Very sad.
Tammy, this made me laugh, in a completely empathetic that's-so-disappointing pathetic kind of way.
Posted by
Edmonds, WA 🌨 ☂
11872 posts
So we had to sit in our room with our pre dinner glass of wine. Very sad.
Bottle of wine + bedroom + time to 'kill' = ( Insert solution here)
It shouldn't have to be sad. :-)