Minnietheminx
Member
Many Britannia hotels used to be quite good. Then they became Britannia hotels...
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Products and services where the new version is not as good or has significant disadvantages as the old
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
With hotel prices as they are in Liverpool the Adelphi is crying out to become a JW Marriott and get a super posh refurb like St Pancras...maybe less so some of the others.
That's what Britannia (or Elite Hotels for their ones pretending not to be Britannia) are good at. Taking a really nice hotel and letting it fester. Although I will say they've been making improvements across the estate of the last year or two.
3rd rail land
Member
Would it make financial/buisness sense for a high end hotel chain to refurb these building into 5* hotels given the vast amount of work many of these building need?
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
If they'll be able to command premium prices for the rooms yes. If the going rate for a Premier Inn in a few weeks' time in Liverpool is £250 a night (and it is) then I'm sure the answer to that is yes.
It would depend on the cost to refurb a building like this. I'd imagine with the age / condition that might make it incredibly expensive and the high end chains might instead look at new build / converting a department store etc. instead.
I also imagine that a high end hotel these days will probably be looking for a smaller building with less rooms than something like a Britannia currently has. The Adelphi has 400+ rooms, most new high end hotels outside of London would tend to want maybe 100 tops I'd imagine to make it financially viable.
I also imagine that a high end hotel these days will probably be looking for a smaller building with less rooms than something like a Britannia currently has. The Adelphi has 400+ rooms, most new high end hotels outside of London would tend to want maybe 100 tops I'd imagine to make it financially viable.
Liverpool could never host a hotel as high end as a JW Marriott. An ordinary Marriott perhaps but JWM is the luxury brand. There's only one in the UK and that's the famous old Grosvenor Hotel.
The property is much too large as @BuhSnarf points out - very few premium hotel brands could make that size work in a more "boutique" sized city like Liverpool.
Belperpete
Established Member
- Joined
- 17 Aug 2018
- Messages
- 3,596
Philplug Screwfix. No need to carry around assorted sizes and types of plastic rawlpugs that rarely fit properly. Philplug fitted any size hole and any size screw in almost any type of material. You rolled out a plug of suitable size, dampened it (by spitting on it or rolling it around your mouth if you didn't have a handy water supply), filled the hole, waited for it to start setting, and then screwed into it. It cemented itself onto the surrounding material, so unlike a rawlplug rarely pulled straight out again. Wonderful stuff.
The only minor drawback was that the cement was strengthened by asbestos fibres. It is a pity that noone seems to have come up with a more modern version, using less carcinogenic fibres.
The only minor drawback was that the cement was strengthened by asbestos fibres. It is a pity that noone seems to have come up with a more modern version, using less carcinogenic fibres.
Shimbleshanks
Established Member
Pubs, caffs and similar establishments refusing to accept cash. An increasing number in Central London, plus the horrible Gail's chain throughout the country.
CaptainHaddock
Established Member
- Joined
- 10 Feb 2011
- Messages
- 2,712
Those ridiculous caps on plastic drink bottles which have a strand of plastic to attach the top to the bottle. If you keep it on it gets in the way of you drinking and if you twist and pull it off you end up with a sharp point of plastic which, if you reuse the bottle, you'll inevitably cut your lip on!
jon81uk
Member
For the pub there is often significant advantages to not taking cash, no one needs to take it to the bank or pay Securicor to collect, the staff can't steal it, the customers can't steal it, the ram-raiders can't steal it and you don't need to pay to insure it.
I read a while back about a pub who had three break-ins and pretty much had to go cashless due to the increased insurance costs.
I’ve wondered if they should be designed to be a bit wider since the cap is staying on. But I guess money means they are adapting it to the current bottle design so it can be sold with removable caps with the same bottle in other countries.
I've massively reduced my consumption of bottled drinks as a result of that nonsense. Whether that was really the intended consequence I have no idea
For water I try to remember my water bottle. Other things I just don't buy them now
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Doesn't bother me. A quick twist and it's off, and it's never cut my lip.
I don't think it's a great design, but I'd not call it anything more than a very mild annoyance.
jon81uk
Member
Pull the cap all the way back and it stays back.
The intention was to ensure the caps go into the recycling attached to the bottle, as loose caps are harder to separate to plastic recycling. Also to prevent caps being dropped as litter, as the smaller items are more likely to get left and not picked up.
I see. Well.... another fine example of pretending the first two 'R's don't exist. As long as we recycle recycle recycle, that's three Rs!
jon81uk
Member
Well if you want to reduce and reuse then fill a bottle from the tap and don't buy the single-use bottles at all. The single use PET bottles are not designed for reuse and can lead to other issues if reused.
OhNoAPacer
Member
I remember back in must have been the late 1980s telling someone about carbon tets use in fire extinguishers, he was dumbstruck as he had always assumed it was inflammable.
For years after the Montreal protocol we actually had a dispensation as nothing else was suitable for the chemical analysis method we employed, once it stopped being manufactured the lab using it had to clean up the used material by distilling it.
Vexed
Member
Indeed. I now prefer the cap to stay attached so I can't lose it. Whenever I get a bottle without it it just feels wrong now!
Interestingly, coming into EU law after Brexit it's not assimilated law* that bottles must have tethered caps nor UK law. It's just manufactures using common supply chains for the UK & EU.
*previously called Retained EU Law
I like Rohan trousers, shirts and jackets.All and any Rohan outdoor and walking gear. When they were still a small family firm with craft workshops in the North of England, they were top quality. Now that they have sold out to the corporate 'big boys' their products are made in China, or sometimes other far-eastern countries and wear-out or disintegrate much more quickly....for the pleasure of paying twice the price.
When I find something from them that I like, I set up an eBay search for them with filters for style name and size, and set a target price that I would like to pay. There is a checkbox to save the search, and get an email when something is listed that matches.
My favourite shirts are practically indestructible. They are easy to wash and dry with a machine. In a hotel, I can also hand wash them, I roll them in a towel and hang them up over night and they will be dry in the morning.
The buttons sometimes break, but each shirt has a spare. I have had spares from Rohan for other things. They also did a repair once to a favourite jacket for a reasonable fee.
I wouldn’t say vastly inferior. My c2005 Beghaus+Goretex Jacket (£180 new) lasted 17 years of regular use in winter plus regular abuse in summer in the hills, before finally giving up (Waterproofing went, as did the zip). It’s replacement, equivalent but a better design (£200 new) has now had around a quarter of the time overall, and probably a third of the mountain days (including some rough and tumble in poor conditions in the Cuillins), and is still as good as new.
I like them too, and quite prepared to pay a little more to use them. So convenient.
Yes, I have a stash of coins (for parking) in the car. I found it on Sunday. I put it there in 2018 and haven’t touched it since.
MicroLithium
Member
I remember my absolute fury, about 10 years ago, coming across a parking machine that was cash only and hadn’t been updated to take the new 10p/20p coins (can’t remember which), and I couldn’t make the fare with other coins. I bought something in a nearby shop with a note for change - and all I got was more new coins (I think the machine also insisted on exact fare). Drove away and have cheered every car park updated with contactless/pay by phone since
D6130
Established Member
....plus the North Staffordshire opposite Stoke-on-Trent station and the former Premier Inn at Charing Cross in Glasgow.
eoff
Member
Adding to my original list:
- Packaging, maybe a bit tenuous but some products came in packaging which was useful far beyond the lifetime of the product, I still have drills in tobacco tins that I scrounged.
- Restaurants that only have order by QR code or website (I have walked out of three so far)
Egg Centric
Established Member
I quite like QR code ordering, if only cause I don't have to tip
- haven't really seen it at a proper restaurant though, more nandos or spoons type place. Who is insisting on it though, I've not seen that?eoff
Member
I quite like QR code ordering, if only cause I don't have to tip
I think some weatherspoons type place in Bristol Airport.
Floating Chinese restaurant in Amsterdam.
Restaurant in Europe somewhere, I think Brussels, not very sure.
Two step authentication dependency. I login my xsx using password but occasionally it wants me to use an alternative method. I don’t but login 2-3 times then it works. Two step authentication is annoying when you are trying to depend a bit less on the smartphone.
True, but 2FA is so much more secure. Not having it really leaves you open to various types of attacks.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
2FA is good if implemented well, which means using an authenticator app. The Microsoft implementation is by far the best as it ensures (so far as possible), by requiring the code, that you have access to both sides of the situation and there is far less likely to be some sort of phone based fraud going on.
What isn't good is the increasing number of sites that just sack off doing authentication properly at all, and make you send a code to your email/phone *instead* of a password. This is 1FA, not 2FA, and it's inferior 1FA than a password, at that.
Yes, Microsoft's authenticator app is now thankfully becoming a standard across a lot of organisations. Aegis Authenticator is a good open source alternative, too.