"I booked the Leonardo Royal Hotel at St Paul’s two months in advance for my birthday.
This wasn’t a last-minute overnight stop. It was a carefully planned family celebration with my wife and two teenage daughters. The centrepiece of the evening was dinner at Sabine Rooftop, the hotel’s much-promoted rooftop bar and restaurant.
The booking process was smooth, efficient and reassuring. The hotel took my reservation, took my payment and happily welcomed my family as guests.
What nobody thought to mention was that the venue attached to the hotel apparently had an age restriction that would prevent my daughters from entering. That rather important detail only emerged after we had travelled to London, checked in, unpacked, changed into our party clothes and made our way to the rooftop. Only then were we told that my daughters were not allowed in.
The age limit appeared to be either 21 or 25 depending on who was speaking. The staff themselves seemed uncertain. What they were absolutely certain about, however, was that it was somehow my fault.
"It’s in the small print.”
Not during the booking process.
Not before payment.
Not in any confirmation.
Not in any warning message.
No, it was hidden away in an FAQ section on a separate webpage where it stood about as much chance of being discovered as King Tutankhamun’s spare bedroom.
When challenged, staff were unable to demonstrate any point during the booking process where this restriction was clearly displayed. We went through the process together and reached the payment page without a single warning appearing.
At that point I expected the hotel to step in.
After all, I was a hotel guest. My family were hotel guests. We had booked a birthday celebration built around one of the hotel’s flagship attractions.
Surely someone would apologise.
Surely someone would offer assistance.
Surely someone would help find an alternative restaurant, reserve a table elsewhere, arrange a drink, or make some attempt to rescue an evening that had been ruined by information the customer had never been given.
Nothing.
No practical assistance.
No ownership.
No meaningful attempt to help.
Just a polite variation of “not our problem.”
The most disappointing part was not the original mistake. Mistakes happen in every business.
It was the complete absence of hospitality afterwards.
The Leonardo Royal Hotel sells itself as a destination for celebrations, special occasions and memorable experiences. My birthday certainly proved memorable. Unfortunately it was memorable for standing in a lift lobby, dressed for dinner, explaining to two disappointed teenage daughters why the evening they had been looking forward to for weeks was over before it had even started.
The rooms may be comfortable. The location may be excellent. The views of St Paul’s may be spectacular. But when a problem arose that was entirely foreseeable and entirely preventable, the hotel’s response was to stand on the sidelines and watch. For a business built on hospitality, that was the most surprising sight of the evening.
One star.
Not because the hotel was terrible.
Because the lift managed to take us both up and down without blaming us for using it."
