London Hotels Insight provides up-to-date, independent advice for your perfect stay in London. We research guest feedback, meet management and identify hotels at the top of their game.
@FranklyStafford: tweets from a top London concierge.
You can now catch one of the best concierges, Frank Laino, on Twitter @FranklyStafford
It’s lovely to see that Frank Laino - interviewed on this blog and a past winner of the Luxury Travel Advisor Awards of Excellence Top Concierge Worldwide award - has just joined Twitter. Frank has been head concierge at The Stafford, currently celebrating 100 years in hospitality, for 11 years.
He must have countless interesting, funny or downright outrageous stories to tell – though we’re sure he’ll be as discreet as any good concierge, especially since the Stafford is famous for its understated luxury.
Smooth operator that he is, we certainly don’t expect any footballer-style Twitter gaffes from Frank! But we are expecting a fair sprinkling of insider concierge-style tips to keep the Twitterverse in the know.
Asked why he set up his account – separate to The Stafford’s main one @StaffordLondon – Frank told me “Twitter is just a natural extension of the Frankly Speaking newsletter I have been doing for many years now.”
Check the best rate for The Stafford from 30+ hotel booking sites
Although The Stafford sadly does not offer its guests free WiFi, it is embracing social media via the tweeting of its charismatic concierge
You can get hold of Frank’s newsletter in electronic form from the hotel website and Facebook, and in hard copy form in all the hotel’s bedrooms.
And when I questioned what he intends to tweet about (fingers crossed for scandalous gossip!), he said he’ll be “focusing on things that I think will be of interest to clients and travel agents, mainly in London”.
But even if Frank won’t spill the beans on his more, ahem, “interesting” visitors, his tweets do promise to offer a unique insight behind the scenes at The Stafford and into life as a world-class concierge.
Let’s hope this is the start of a trend in London concierge tweeting – surely a great way to find out about the capital’s hotspots, hidden corners, and old favourites from those who are most in the know.
And by confirming the value of social media marketing, we hope The Stafford will soon join the club of London hotels with free WiFi - surely Frank’s tweeting will convince his bosses to see the light*? You’ll find Frank under the handle @FranklyStafford and he definitely looks worth following!
Get the best-value London hotel deal from 30+ booking sites in 1 click
Photo credits: Stafford Hotel (Kempinski).
* Note that The Stafford currently offers “basic” free WiFi to guests but charges for its high-speed connection (in common with a number of other top London hotels). London Hotels Insight considers it fairly ridiculous for 5 star hotels to inconvenience their guests in this way and we’ve been campaigning passionately for free WiFi (or at least for hotels to state their WiFi charges clearly on their websites before guests make a booking).
Previous post: Marriott County Hall gets a new restaurant.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Pretty sure The Stafford does do free wifi…
Hi James, we’ve clarified The Stafford’s WiFi policy in the note below the article. If I’m paying for a 5 star hotel then I’m not expecting “basic” anything and to me this is a bit of a cop-out but no worse than a number of other expensive London hotels like The Ritz, The Langham, etc. It’s a great hotel though apart from this little glitch.