OPEN ALL HOURS

 

Bertie’s Bar manager Luis Cobas talks about the special fizz of the Royal Garden.
If you work in a hotel bar you have to be enthusiastic – it’s not a job you can do if you’re not willing to work hard – and I’d say that my staff at Bertie’s are amongst the most enthusiastic in London. These days most hotel bars will close at 1 or 2 in the morning, but you’ll often  find me still making cocktails at 4am. It would be easy for me to say “Let’s close the bar” when it starts to get a little quiet, but we know that there’s always a good chance that we could get some guests wanting a drink in the early hours.
One of the main reasons for this is that the Royal Garden has always attracted a lot of guests from the entertainment world. There’ll often be a band coming back from a gig at midnight, maybe a bit later, and – like most musicians – they usually want more than one drink! It’s something that we’ve done for a long-time and something that all our guests, not just the rock stars, appreciate. Besides, hard work is not a problem for me – two days with no sleep is easy!
It’s not just our opening hours that set us apart from other hotel bars. Part of what makes Bertie’s so special is the friendly welcome we like to give guests and this has made us one of the most popular bars on High Street Kensington. Having worked at the hotel for nearly 40 years now, I’ve spoken to so many guests and one of the things they like so much about coming here is the relaxed atmosphere we provide. A friendly face, a good memory for the customer’s drink of choice or a friendly chat whilst you’re mixing a cocktail really make a difference and the management encourage us to make sure this sort of service is offered to everyone.

High Street Kensington by night

Perhaps the most rewarding element of my job is making sure that all my staff are able to achieve these standards of service. I might get someone to train who can’t speak more than a few words of English, but given the right training it’s not long before they’re better than me! It’s very rewarding to see them succeed and put a smile on our customers’ faces. Hotel bars have to be welcoming places.
Of course, as well as service, a good barman has to know everything there is to know about the drinks behind his bar – when it comes to cocktail making you don’t want to be checking a recipe every five minutes! Of course we offer every drink imaginable (and plenty that people make up on the spot!) so we’re can’t claim to know every drink off by heart, but most of the time people don’t go for anything too crazy.

We are currently running a half-price champagne offer

One of the most popular drinks for our customers is a glass of champagne. We currently have a half-priced offer on Canard Duchêne, which has proved popular with a lot of city workers looking for a bar on High Street Kensington as well as in-house guests and is a great way to start the evening in style. As for me, I’m more of a Bloody Mary fan, although my

 

In the wake of the current political issues surrounding Israel (whose embassy is adjacent to the hotel) and middle east politics, our Diplomatic Consultant, Charles de Chassiron, explains his role at the Royal Garden and how the hotel caters for high-profile diplomats and visitors.

The role of Diplomatic Consultant at a London hotel is something that first appeared in the 1980s. There are four or five other hotels in London who employ someone in a similar position, but not all 5-star hotels have someone doing a job like mine.
I’m not a public member of the hotel staff, I’m a part time consultant (as my job title suggests!), but I work closely with a lot of my colleagues – particularly those in the sales, banqueting and guest relations departments – to help them cater appropriately for the international diplomatic visitors we welcome frequently to the hotel.
Having worked in the FCO (British Foreign & Commonwealth Office) for 35 years, the main focus of my job is to ensure that the needs and expectations of high-profile diplomatic guests are understood and any special requirements are seen to.
Of course, there are a lot of diplomatic missions in London – around 180 embassies and 30 international organisations – with Kensington Palace Gardens itself in the heart of ‘embassy land’. We have a close relationship with many of these missions, and our proximity makes us the perfect choice for guests here on diplomatic and international business.

President Sarkozy meeting Former PM Gordon Brown in 2008

In 2008, for instance, President Sarkozy was here on a State Visit and we were able to cater for a 90-strong journalistic corps from France. Obviously, being just up the road from their ambassador’s residence was very convenient for them. The same applied in 2009, when President Medvedev of Russia stayed while attending the G20 summit.
In addition to this convenience factor, my former colleagues in Protocol department of the FCO will recommend a hotel that employs somebody in my position – like the Royal Garden Hotel – because they like to use somewhere that really understands the diplomatic requirements of different guests. Of course, I also know a lot of the staff at the missions and ambassadors themselves, which helps to build relations between particular missions and the Royal Garden Hotel.
In an average week, I’m in and around the hotel for three days, but I’ll be on hand at special events or when a particularly high profile guest is arriving. A couple of weeks ago, we hosted two national days in our state-of-the-art Palace Suite – one for Cameroon and one for Senegal who were celebrating 50 years of independence.

The Palace suite has hosted many recent national days

It helps for me to be on hand for certain events such as this. Of course, the vast majority of my colleagues, especially in guest relations are very good at what they do, but with so many different nationalities and cultures coming to the hotel, sometimes they just need that extra bit of guidance or advice.
When it comes to welcoming diplomatic guests, what makes a good hotel is being aware of who visitors are, what they need and – above all – levels of service. In this respect it is no different from the demands of every guest who come through the doors at the Royal Garden Hotel, even if the reasons for or the practicalities of their stay are rather different!