Under the spell of Lady Marjorie — Interesting take on the Brits and service in the 21st century.
Things got even worse in this country after the opening of so-called “boutique” hotels. These were brought to us by Ian Schrager, one of the men responsible for the famous 70s New York nightclub, Studio 54.
This had an “exclusive” door policy: being nice didn’t get you in, looking good and having attitude did. His London hotels, the Sanderson and St Martin’s Lane, were all about snarl, not service.
In fact, they made chilly service trendy – apparently some people got off on staff who looked you up and down with such disdain you needed therapy afterwards.
But then his staff weren’t hired for their warm handshakes and ability to make you a hot toddy of a snot-filled evening (thanks to the barman of L’Hotel in Paris for that) – they were chosen by casting directors.
link found by Harry Fuller
Coincidentally, this morning I was looking at hotels in London on Expedia for a trip in December. One of the hotels that it offered up was an Ian Schrager. Not recalling exactly where I knew the name, I was seriously considering it. And while the article notes that service has gotten better (“Luckily, a healthy bit of competition in the “boutique hotel” department made Schrager give his staff a “drop the attitude” talk.”), I think, with all the options in London for lodging, I can safely drop it from the list of considered hotels (“better” doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “good”).
I stayed at a K+K in Paris this past April, another one of those boutique hotels (there’s a K+K in London as well), and found it to be very nice despite the fact that the rooms were “boutique-sized.”
The Roger Williams in NYC is also a nice boutique hotel, while I’m on the subject.