V-Flyer

Thinking of taking my two children for an overnight stay at the Shangri-La Hotel during the February half term.
I see that I can earn 750 Virgin Flying Club miles per stay, which seems pretty good for a one night stay.
We visit London often and usually stay in different Hilton hotels but we're running out of ones we haven't visited yet.
I thought the Shangri-La might be good for a change.
It looks to be £494 for a one night stay for the three of us including breakfast. We've been to the top of The Shard but never stayed there.
Has anyone stayed at the Shangri-La? If so, is it worth the cost?
Thanks.

ChelseaGirl

I'm a great fan of Shangri-La hotels but I have not stayed at Shangri-La at The Shard.

I did consider it for the December v-flter social but, making a correct call, figured that my lying down in bed time might be limited; thanks joeyc and tinksuk.

Close on £500 is a fairly expensive way to earn 750 miles, but your hotel choice remains your own.

The children may prove to be liabilities if you decide to take in the view from GŎNG as it has a £30 minimum spend per person; the under 18 year policy is not, immediately, visible but, from a personal perspective, I stay away from any operation that has a minimum spend, especially if I'm a guest.

Perhaps we'll nip across the road for breakfast then!
The room rate is £450 without breakfast. I just thought it would be a great experience. We all love The View From The Shard, so the height aspect would be a bonus for us.

I would rather do wyndham Chelsea Harbour and spot footballers/celebrities of the kind your children may appreciate. I hasten to add, we've done it over the years with most premiership stars on tap, z-list pop stars (jedward) but for us the food for breakfast and supper was superb. Add in, if they're young kids, it's a suite with a semi separate room for them. Just perfect and at least half the cost.

marshy11 wrote:I would rather do wyndham Chelsea Harbour and spot footballers/celebrities of the kind your children may appreciate. I hasten to add, we've done it over the years with most premiership stars on tap, z-list pop stars (jedward) but for us the food for breakfast and supper was superb. Add in, if they're young kids, it's a suite with a semi separate room for them. Just perfect and at least half the cost.

That might be a plan. My children are currently aged 14 and 10. Son (14) is in to football, daughter (10) is in to music, although I wouldn't put Jedward under that heading I hasten to add!

Flip! Just checked the Wyndham Chelsea Harbour for one adult and two children for one night next week and there's only one room that will accommodate us - a king suite at a cost of £2160 for one night. Eek! Rethink time...

Ah, panic over. I was looking on Booking.com. Just checked on the Milliennium site and the prices are far more reasonable. Looks lovely.

There was a documentary about Shangri-La/Shard on recently....quite interesting

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/the-shard ... the-clouds

I haven't, but having to travel through London Bridge almost daily (and the resulting carnage in the station until nearly 2019) i don't really feel inclined to stay in the area much.

I am having one of my 30th Birthday parties in Gong!!! Did look at staying but the prices made me balk!!!

Bleary-eyed this morning, I thought this post was about something called the "Shangri-Lard"

Not sure I'd want to stay there...

Hi Chelsea Girl - I seem to remember a thread on Head for Points recently about a deal to be had at this hotel - I think it was in their restaurant, so maybe worth having a look at that, it was in the last month or so.

WPIL wrote:Hi Chelsea Girl - I seem to remember a thread on Head for Points recently about a deal to be had at this hotel - I think it was in their restaurant, so maybe worth having a look at that, it was in the last month or so.

If it was the freebie credit, that deal was old although the redemption was relatively recent.

http://www.headforpoints.com/2015/01/14 ... the-shard/

HandM2 wrote:There was a documentary about Shangri-La/Shard on recently....quite interesting

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/the-shard ... the-clouds

Thanks for the link. I had planned to watch this but somehow missed it. Will watch it soon. I bet it's very interesting.

WPIL wrote:Hi Chelsea Girl - I seem to remember a thread on Head for Points recently about a deal to be had at this hotel - I think it was in their restaurant, so maybe worth having a look at that, it was in the last month or so.

Looks as though it might be an old deal, but thanks for the info.

marshy11 wrote:

WPIL wrote:Hi Chelsea Girl - I seem to remember a thread on Head for Points recently about a deal to be had at this hotel - I think it was in their restaurant, so maybe worth having a look at that, it was in the last month or so.

If it was the freebie credit, that deal was old although the redemption was relatively recent.

http://www.headforpoints.com/2015/01/14 ... the-shard/

Thanks for the link marshy. It mentions a 2013 offer so I assume it's not available anymore.

Chelseagirl, yes it was over a year ago the offer came up but only recently Raffles posted about redeeming it.

You may want to sign up to H4P. They email you 3 short offer emails each morning, you can delete, ignore or further explore as you see fit. It's another good source of info for points/offers relating travel.

Thanks marshy, I'll do that.

NYLON wrote:Bleary-eyed this morning, I thought this post was about something called the "Shangri-Lard"

Not sure I'd want to stay there...

But the chips would be fantastic.

We stayed there last year for a long weekend but wouldn't do so again. We were very disappointed with many aspects. Service was slow at bars and in the restaurant and very unprofessional at times. The rooms were disappointing - being able to see into other people's rooms and bathrooms; having a bath with a view would be great if they hadn't installed baths which were so deep that once in you couldn't see over the edge. Having bathroom TVs would be nice too if the remote worked from the bath (it didn't go that far) and having fantastic floor to ceiling windows with great London views would be great too if they didn't then position an enormous TV stand and flat screen TV right in front of the great view. And there was nowhere to plug in a hairdryer that was anywhere near a mirror. Just seems that no real thought had been given to the rooms at all. We also had issues with checking out and the bill and with body lotion instead of conditioner in their conditioner bottles (took ages to get out of my hair). I am sure some of these things including the lack of professionalism and service speed will be ironed out with time and experience but added to the fact that every time we wanted to go into town it was a £50 return taxi fare to Covent Garden, theatres, shopping etc, we will not be rushing to go back. Of all the landmark hotels in London we have stayed in (and we have done most of them) this was by far the most disappointing but perhaps it was just an off weekend for them (this was Aug/Sept). Maybe worth going to have a lunch or afternoon tea as the views are great though.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your review Shelly. I might change my mind and visit the Wyndham Chelsea Harbour instead.
My brother and sister-in-law had afternoon tea at The Shard and thought it was amazing, so perhaps we'll do that instead.