Staying at the Savoy - Last day, the verdict

Check-out

It is always difficult to see something that is not there. You may think that is a rather peculiar sentence and that I have been to the American Bar again having more than four of their "Corpse Reviver No2" this morning, but I have not. What I have done is to open our guest room door here at the Savoy and found the Times hanging neatly in a leather bag on the door. In hotels like the Savoy you often get a free (or shall we say included) newspaper. That is when I realised that we did not have our newspaper yesterday. But I did not notice since it was not there. So it does actually make sense. I am a little surprised that the staff at the Savoy failed in such a simple act as hanging our leather newspaper bag on our door when the task is basically to hang one on the door of every occupied room. On the other hand it is in a way good to be able to fault them at some minor things so that these posts do not appears as pure and utter promotion for the hotel. 

So we have reached our last day at the Savoy hotel. I have asked for and been granted a late checkout at 4pm. I originally thought that it would be difficult to let me have the room that long, but I have learned the Savoy way now. Nothing is difficult. I have also read on the web that people have been charged extra for late check-outs. And, indeed, in the in-room information folder it says that if you want a late check-out, you should call reception and they will provide you with availability and rate. I think that within reason, late checkouts should be complimentary if available. And I find that it is in many places. The good thing is that I have been granted my rather late one for free. 

There is a thick envelope stuck in under the door this morning. This turns out to be a copy of my account and a letter about how to checkout. I was actually wondering about that. How do you check out if there is no reception counter to go to. Well, as you may have learned from yesterdays blog post, it should be as easy as going down and talking to one of the staff members in the Reading Room or Front Hall. It would probably suffice to go down, stand still and look lost, and they will come to you. But as I read the letter I find that I did not have to worry. Check-out may be done the Savoy way, meaning the way you want it to be done. I can

• Go down to the reading room and talk to a member of staff
• Fill out the express check-out form supplied in the envelope
• Check out via the television
• Check out by telephone
• Or, my favourite, just send an email saying you are leaving and then just leave and they will email you your final invoice

I must admit that I prefer the human touch, so after spending the day strolling around London, we pack our bags, call down to have someone come pick up our luggage and walk down to the Reading Room. Check-out complete, we walk out of the revolving doors for the last time. Outside our luggage is waiting for us. The doorman promises to do some exercise so that he can accompany me on my run next time we are here. We look dreamily at the S8 VOY, the Rolls Royce Phantom that decanted us on the doorstep of this great place two and a half days ago, grab our luggage and start walking towards the tube. Our magical Savoy encounter has ended, everyday life has been resumed.

The verdict

So, have I found my perfect hotel? Looking back to one of my earlier posts here, I see that I then defined my perfect hotel as being

"The hotel where I can soak up tradition and atmosphere, marvel at the thought and care that went into making the place, feeling at home and cared for and generally experience a touch of magic in the midst of all of life`s boring sides."

I can now truly say that the Savoy meets these criteria. It is positively dripping with tradition and atmosphere. And the recent restoration work has produced a hotel that while echoing the grandeur of the past also appears new and crisp. The location is great, especially for theatres. Our room has been as good as any I have had in any of the top hotels we have stayed in. All food and drink that we have had was of a very high standard. In addition to our tradition of coming to the Savoy for afternoon tea every time we are in London, I may take up a new tradition of going to the American Bar as well. 

But, as I have tried to make exceptionally clear in my previous posts, it is the people that work here that really makes the Savoy a special place. The absence of the reception counter, that barrier that so often separates the staff from the guest, makes interacting with the Front Hall staff very personal. And all the little details that are in place and that I also have described earlier make the whole experience even more welcoming and warm. There is nothing of the snottiness that I have seen in other famous hotels. Some times you encounter staff who know perfectly well that they hold an important position in an important hotel, and they want that to come across as much as possible. Nothing of that here. 

We did not experience the butler service this time as this is something that comes with staying in a one bedroom suite or above. I would truly like to test that out as well some day. Perhaps for our 25 year wedding anniversary in a couple of years. These suites are of course rather expensive. Searching for a random night a couple of months from now, the standard rate for a one bedroom suite is 1194 pounds per night, and in my world that requires a very special occasion indeed. But for that price you get a few extras:

• Butler service
• Transport to and from the airport
• Lokal dropp-offs with chauffeured car
• Beverages from the in-room bar
• Pressing of one garment per person
• Wifi

So you get quite a lot, but it costs a bit, too. But with my passion for personal service, I feel I need to test the butler service. Some time. We will see.

Was everything perfect in every way? Well, for the important parts, yes. There have been a few flaws as I have pointed out. 

• When we had not eaten all the fruit that we had ordered (and paid for) and left the rest to eat later,  the rest was removed for no obvious reason. I think this was the most severe fault during our stay.
• They charge extra for wifi. I do believe that I have made my view on that topic perfectly clear in my previous post.
• We did not get our newspaper on the first morning.
• Since we were arriving in the hotel car, the doorman should have been able to just welcome us by name in stead of asking my name. This is not a flaw, but an opportunity to add even more magic to the experience.

So, was it perfect? Well, it was pretty close anyway. I am sorry to say that yes, it is as perfect as it probably gets. Why should I be sorry about that? Because there are more hotels that I would like to try. There is Claridges and the Connaught, we should re-visit Browns again after their refurbishment and we should also try the Ritz again after our less than perfect stay there some years ago. But now all logic tells me that I should return to the Savoy and if I stay anywhere else I would feel as if I were cheating on them. 

How can I sum it up in a few words? Reading through all my posts, there are some words that i seem always to come back to. 

Elegance, tradition, warmth and friendliness. 

That, to me, is what the Savoy is.