"The Dixon’s former life as a historic courthouse gives it a charm that modern hotels rarely achieve; modern hotels cannot hold a candle to the unmistakable sense of heritage and character with the interiors marked by dark wood tones and luxurious carpets. I understand that the café at the back was once a police station, while the bar is clearly a repurposed court (you could see the steps leading up to where the judges would preside over the accused). Visitors are greeted by beautiful wooden banisters along the staircase and throughout the upper level, with breathtaking panelled (wainscoted) walls inviting exploration up to the gallery above.
The complimentary amenities were of exceptional quality – the bathroom slippers and laundry bags felt really premium and luxuriously thick. The mini bar looks like something from a sci-fi film, really huge exterior but the interior space is interestingly quite tiny; but it chills really well! The automated pancake machine at breakfast provided a delightful observation through the entire process the pancake is birthed. We loved the limitless supply of bottled water provided on request, though for thirsty camels like myself, maybe the larger bottles could be made available as well? The staff most friendly and always a joy to chat with.
The stunning interior décor made our nearly week long stay feel much shorter than it actually was, coupled with the most wonderful staff team that were always on hand to assist (and make things right). I’d like to commend:
- Ms Shamim who was the first to address me by my correct surname instead of my wife’s.
- Mr Robert who always remembered I loved the welcome cookies at the front desk
- Mr Olu who worked tirelessly restocking the food at the breakfast buffet - sometimes on top of that he was also singlehandedly seating guests and serving drinks all by himself
- Mr Tamang who I really enjoyed chatting with about just about anything
- Of course the wonderful/super Ms Phoung who was there always to save the day with amazing service recovery
Our stay started on a scary note, because the toilet bowl had a nasty surprise when we initially checked in. I took a photo and showed the front desk so that they would remind the cleaning staff to be more conscientious; we just told them to remember to give the WC a proper scrub when we went out later for dinner. After we’d unpacked our luggage, the duty manager Ms Phuong, rung us on the room phone to offer us an upgrade to a junior suite for our troubles, and came up personally with another colleague to escort us to the new room.
The housekeeping staff, without knocking, used her access card to open our room door. I was thankfully out of view while I was changing at that moment. This was of course unacceptable and I made my displeasure known to Mr Tamang at checkout. Upon reaching home after our long haul flight, we received a pleasant surprise in the form of an email from Ms Phuong who offered us her sincere apologies and 10,000 bonvoy points. That was an unexpected but much appreciated soothing gel for the unfortunate experience that soured our otherwise delightful stay right at the end.
Some suggestions to make a great product even better:
- I understand that all room types do not come with work desks, so it would be nice for a small business center to be provided for guests (the restaurant/bar is not too conducive with the low tables)
- Since I could access level 1 via the staircase, maybe that negates the use of the buggy access key device in the elevator (not sure if that is the same for the higher levels)? There were a few times other guests had to tap and press the floors multiple times because of how eccentric it was (sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t)
- Increase water pressure in the shower (it’s too low for the Hansgrohe raindance showerhead to work properly, but the raindance showerhead at the bathtub dances cause the pressure is high enough)
- Power sockets above the mini bar are situated too low, so the power cords get bent at a sharp angle which is slightly worrying – maybe flip them 180 degrees?
- The bottles of shower gel/shampoo are very well used - great for the environment - but the pump of the shower gel is faulty and the shampoo's calcium build up may warrant a change
- Breakfast spread is pretty decent by European standards (Asian hotels would often have multiple staples of fried rice, noodles, curries etc. served each day). But here for guests on longer stays, we’d get bored of the same fare. A daily special would liven things and provide some morning cheer, for example a wrap or tatter tots/chips or sandwiches; anything out of the usual would be fantastic.
- In the absence of an executive lounge, do consider offering Platinum elite guests 2 non-alcoholic drinks each day at tea time?
- When we were dining at the bar, the double automated swing doors kept a constant stream of cigarette smoke blowing in; wonder if some signs/staff requesting for those lighting up to move away from the hotel’s entrance?
- Suggest that guests arrange for their taxis to be picked up from the rear entrance (because it took 15-20mins for our taxi to make one round just to come back to the front of the hotel toward tower bridge)"
