London's shame in falling standards

By Andrew Sangster

A Greedy few London hoteliers are damaging the capital's reputation by overcharging and letting standards slip, say some tour operators. They say the hotels can get away with it because demand is strong and beds are scarce.

Trevor Worth, brand manager of the London Travel Service, said he had taken two hotels off his 71-strong list because standards had declined. Another two hotels were removed because they raised their rates too much.

"It's always the few that spoil it for the many. Sometimes, hoteliers take a short-term view," he added.

The hotels had been featured in this year's brochure but, after the London Travel Service had investigated the hotels following customer complaints, they were removed from the brochure for 1998. "We even had to put a stop on our best-selling hotel because standards dropped," said Worth.

The London Tourist Board (LTB) admitted that there was a problem. Last year's overseas visitor survey found that 12% of people rated hotels in the capital as having poor-quality bedrooms. An even bigger proportion of the visitors, 16%, said the hotels were poor value for money.

"The survey showed that everybody was very satisfied with London except in the area of accommodation. Tourist hotels and hostels came out the worst," said an LTB spokeswoman.

She reiterated the LTB call for compulsory registration of hotels (Caterer, 9 October, page 10), although she conceded that the situation would change as more hotel bedrooms are available.

LTB research shows that 1,880 new bedrooms have come on-stream in the capital since 1995, with 3,070 currently under construction.

In addition, there are 6,938 bedrooms with planning permission and a further 4,020 seeking planning permission.