St. James' Court, A Taj Hotel

I had high expectations for this hotel, especially since it came highly recommended by my brother and several friends. Unfortunately, my experience did not meet those expectations. The condition of the hotel was disappointing. The furniture was noticeably old — which I could overlook — but the TV in our room didn’t work at all during our stay. This was particularly frustrating as I missed watching Wimbledon, which I had been looking forward to. The lift situation was also problematic; only one lift was functioning, causing frequent delays and inconvenience, especially since we were traveling with my elderly mother (80 years old), children, and my brother’s family. We had made a request well in advance to have all three rooms close to each other. Despite checking in a day early, my brother had to wait two hours for room availability, and we were not given adjacent rooms until the following day. This forced us to pack and repack our luggage, which was an unnecessary hassle. While the breakfast was excellent and truly the highlight of our stay, the reception staff lacked clear communication and coordination. Each time we approached the desk, we had to explain our situation again, as there appeared to be no handover of information between staff members. This is a well-rated hotel, and I did not expect such a disorganized and uncomfortable experience. I hope this feedback helps improve future guest experiences.

There are spiders in the room 😱… there was one the first night , I complained about it and I don’t think they took me very seriously and tonight one creeps out to the pillow again. Where do they come from .. I have never seen spiders crawling on beds in any hotel … I caught it on camera today , waiting for housekeeping

The room was neat and clean. The breakfast was awesome with a ton of options. You will find Indian breakfast options along with English breakfast. The food was tasty and feels home. The location is very close to Cardinal place building access to multiple shops and offices. Overall I had a great experience at Taj and will recommend to anyone looking to stay in central London.

Stayed for 7 nights and unfortunately, the experience was far from satisfactory. Here are some of the major concerns that made our stay difficult: Limited food options. The variety across restaurants and in-room dining (IRD) was extremely poor. No flexibility for special dietary needs. Despite travelling with an infant, there was no support for basic food modifications. In-room dining issues- Menu is very restricted. Food quality was mediocre at best. IRD staff were often rude or unhelpful when requests were made. Even after repeated requests, no restaurant was willing to send food to the room, which is a major inconvenience for guests with infants. Same breakfast daily. Hardly any variety. Only 2–3 items changed, and even those were not appealing. Slow, unreliable Wi-Fi. Difficult to even stay connected for essential tasks and Youtube in the TV. TV barely works. Keeps restarting. Conjusted bathroom. Not up to the standard expected from a luxury hotel. No toddler-/infant-friendly services. No effort to accommodate or support families travelling with young children. Poor housekeeping coordination. Delayed response and inconsistent service. Untrained front desk staff. Lack of empathy and slow resolution to problems. Overall customer service lacks warmth and hospitality. Travelling with a baby requires certain basic support and understanding, which was completely missing here. For a place that claims to be a luxury destination, the facilities and service delivery are shockingly subpar. Would not recommend this resort to families or those expecting a comfortable, customer-focused experience.

We stayed for 4 nights with two rooms. PROS: Great location for Buckingham Palace, St James Park, close to Victoria Underground station for other transport. Exterior of hotel is a beautiful building and the courtyard was pretty. CONS: Lots of little things to really up to the high cost: The TV system was broken the whole time for all the rooms. One of the two lifts in the main part of the hotel was under renovation so the one lift often had a wait. There was a bad cleaning product smell in the corridor on our floor. No hotel information in the room (maybe it’s on the TV usually but since that was all down, you couldn’t access info. Called for in room dining menu which they had to deliver. Food was very mediocre except for the chips/fries which were quite good. The breakfast was perhaps the worst part of the experience. Service is extremely slow. We went on the early side since there is a sign at check in warning of the busy breakfast times. There were not many customers but the service was still extremely slow. They mixed up our egg order and we had to wait for them to slowly redo it. Getting cream for coffee took over 15 minutes (again the restaurant was not busy while we were there.) The food seems like there are many choices but most of it is not very good. One whole side of the buffet is Indian food - which we tried but even that seemed to be lack in much flavor. The worst part was trying to get the check. We asked nicely for it a few times as we had to leave to head out for a tour. Always the servers will say, yes be right back etc. But then don’t come. It took so long we had to just say please put it on our room without reviewing it because we had to leave. For all this mediocrity, they charge 60 pounds per person. If you don’t have breakfast included, do NOT eat it here no matter how convenient you think it is (which is why we went.) The coffee is from a standard machine where you pick espresso, cappuccino etc (not made by a barista) and the best parts are things you can probably grab elsewhere for not much money. It was colossally disappointing for the cost. The suite room that we had was an ok size but it was billed as a family suite. There was a room with a king bed and a sofa bed in the living room. The sofa bed was sort of a full size but more like a double (a bit wider than a twin.) Definitely would have been hard to have 2 kids sleep on it especially since the bar in the middle of the bed poked through (sort of like the Seinfeld episode if you are familiar with that.) So if we had actually been trying to sleep 4 people in the room, it would have been really uncomfortable. For our smallish child, the sofa bed was ok but don’t book this if you are expecting it to accommodate 2 teens or kids that big. Our other King room was small with a very low ceiling. Also be aware that there are interior stairs on the floor. Had to carry the luggage up a small pair of stairs from the main floor level to the area where the small room is. Like other reviews that I’m reading now have said, the staff is not particularly helpful. They will respond in a friendly way but then don’t really follow through with getting things done. Found two of the concierge gentlemen not very friendly or helpful at all. One was a stand-offish English man who was not helpful at all in giving us directions. So the summary is you are not getting what you pay for here since the service level left so much to be desired.