The Shard - Hotel In The Clouds (Behind The Scenes Documentary) | Our Stories

foreign to some of the finest hotels in the world and the biggest names in five-star luxury but now there's a new kid on the Block a hotel with lofty aspirations to look down on all the others the ultimate goal for this hotel is it will be in the top five hotels in the world this is a hotel in the clouds the highest hotel in Europe and visible from 25 miles away it's the 90 million pound Flagship of a Far Eastern Empire called Shangri-La and one of the first hotels to bring traditional Asian Hospitality to the

UK but this paradise on Earth isn't quite where you'd expect it it's a world away from London's Posh West End where no other five-star hotel has dared to venture and what's more to deliver luxury to London Shangri-La have made a Plucky decision to hire the locals you know first five-star hotel in South London why not have some South londoners working here they have no experience of Asian culture can you send this quickly guys please many are new to five-star service I've never worked in a five-star hotel I feel like there's a lot more pressure on

me and all this in a building with some breathtaking views or many of the rooms you can stand at the corner and you can see in the other room [Music] declaring this fantastic Hotel I can't emphasize to you enough that this hotel is nowhere near the standard it should be going forward foreign [Music] [Music] at over 1 000 feet high The Shard dominates London's Skyline it's 72 floors are a home to three exclusive restaurants a viewing deck house apartments with an estimated price tag of 50 million pounds and now its most important tenant a five-star

hotel across 19 floors [Music] the most anticipated new hotel in London for years and the big day has at last arrived the Shangri-La Hotel In The Shard is finally to be unveiled to the world [Music] my town for the first time the flag can be raised problem is it's flying the wrong way around yeah the broad stripe should be on the top uh yeah the hotel is not quite open for business either in fact it's only the lobby that is actually fully built after a year of delays the hotel's 202 rooms still need just a

little more work the highest pool in London could do with a few finishing touches and the exclusive cocktail bar on the 52nd floor isn't quite the place to be seen just yet hi no opening date has been set for the hotel yet so there's not much for dorm and Errol to do being a dormant outside you know when the hotel isn't actually open it's a bit of a reversal of the job really instead of welcoming people in um you know you're politely not the only people actually coming in are the 300 strong staff many have

been waiting over a year to start work here today they are finally being inducted into the world of Shangri-La by training manager Moon for those of you who are new to London if I may because I do know some of us have just arrived basically in London south of the river if you see we have this map which really helps locate us where we are where are most of the five-star luxury hotels in London yeah you look this way Mayfair you look Park Lane you're looking at Knightsbridge we are here and we're proud to be

here it's Shangri-La policy to employ local people living around the hotel [Music] old mates Thaddeus and Eddie were brought up Round Here they took a chance and applied to be Bellman beating 600 others to land their jobs we've known each other for about 12 years we're both in the concierge Department both first time in the role for the pair of us in there I can't even look at this map it's too confusing confusing Thaddeus and Eddie had never been to a five-star hotel let alone worked in one first lesson find your way around the 44

lift and it's not easy if you don't see you after three o'clock I will start being you know I'm being worried about oh this is nice isn't it oh it is this is well smart because of the tapering shape of The Shard the lifts are positioned in different places on each of the hotel's 19 floors Thaddeus and Eddie will need to know where all the lifts are so they can deliver luggage as quickly as possible can you tell us the names of these list please I don't know the name of these these lifts um I

don't know if these lifts no this is for a lot of people their first time working in a hotel I was working in cocktail bars different cocktail bars and different pubs for about five years that's a dead end for Eddie the Shangri-La Hotel is a long way from the world he has left behind we're not 16 when a left Squad joined the army um left the Army when I was 24 I believe I just turned 24. I was unemployed for a year then and then I got a job at a go-kart track a local one

um I wound up getting sat from that and then uh yeah well when we're doing this on our own it's going to be very difficult especially early on first couple of weeks I can see I was really struggling Thaddeus and Eddie aren't the only first-timers the hotel has a unique recruiting policy it values personality over experience Ollie is only 19 and still at catering College today he's competing against a hundred other applicants for a job as a junior chef I'm okay at the moment but I know as soon as I walk through this through those

doors I'll start to feel a bit nervous if you invite us for lunch now and you have the beautiful kitchen with so many ingredients and stuff what would you cook for us I would probably cook cold smoked venison loin we would also have a [ __ ] made from all of the awful from the deer which we would wrap in some cabbage okay Angela Angela was working in a pizza chain before landing a waitress job at the hotel it's a very different kind of uniform she'll have to wear here I don't like it it's too

tired I've just worked in your Pub restaurants and some Italian restaurants but never to the extent of what you have to do here so half inch on the side seams I find this too tight for much for me not being I'm not being like you cannot be too tight yeah it's like when I'm sitting like this when I do this has not been washed so that's what you need to get used to they want to bring something different to Five Star like not like every other five-star hotel where they're really roboty they want to bring

personality so they said they employed me for my personality would use a potato Ollie is still trying to impress the senior managers with his extensive menu and a cockle broth we would have a sweet carrot and Foie puree do you think that's gonna work yes it does work we've tried it and it's very surprising that it works so thank you very much for your time and uh we'll get back to you in two weeks time thank you Oliver a pleasure I think you went okay just as soon as I stepped through the door the nerves

hit but I think I did quite well I don't know what they think but I'll find out soon I think that he's a superstar to be honest with you he's very passionate he has a wonderful background and I would love to have him in our team with another 30 Young Chefs still to be interviewed Ollie will have to wait to find out if he got the job good afternoon everyone welcome to my Chinese culture training all of the new team will also need to take a crash course in Asian five-star service Chinese company for Eddie

the Bellman mastering the art of eating noodles is a long way from Life in the army okay what do you feel very noisy exactly very annoying I would say but this is how the Chinese people drinking the soup or eating noodles that means it's very delicious very tasty what happens if they don't like the soup so they will stop eating or they will not like stop making the noise or even not finish the whole meal with visitors from China set to double the Shangri-La in London is built around this new market so you might have

someone coming to ask you is this and then you know our Shangri-La Hotel I'm sure [Music] in the basement head trainer moon is teaching senior managers the principles of Asian hospitality [Music] philosophy is Hospitality from a caring family the word there is caring because we're family and we have something rarer than others a special kind of hospitality Hospitality from the heart Anne is head sommelier she's come from a five-star hotel in Park Lane and is finding the Shangri-La a very different experience there's a very particular style that the Shangri-La do things and it can be

a little bit daunting and kind of off-putting almost Executive Vice President Darren had expected to open his hotel a year ago 12 months on he's still waiting as the building partly remains in chaos and some of the staff are not yet in place [Music] despite these setbacks Darren surprises senior staff with a brave decision [Music] he announces the opening of the whole hotel in only three months time launch date May the 6th the way it's looking everybody minimum minimum in may we should be at over 80 percent of occupied ones so please plan according to

you please prepare as many hands as possible we really need to tidy up the hotel because May 6 we opened you it's important to us now that this hotel is opening obviously we're also doing it to put some pressure on ourselves on the contractors because once this press release is out we need to open May 6th there really is no going back foreign [Music] it's been one of the most eagerly awaited Hotel openings in London after a year of delays and weeks of intensive training the big day is less than a week away it's rehearsal

time for the grand opening and to test run the hotel management had decided to use staff as dummy guests it's a free night in a five-star bedroom and a free meal in a top class restaurant for some lucky trainees [Music] booking into his 450 pound Room with a View is tonight's first guest trainee Bellman Thaddeus and he's swiftly followed by his partner in crime fellow Bellman Eddie I haven't been on a holiday for four or five years now I've not been in hotels for a long time staying there myself I've certainly never stayed in a

five-star hotel myself thank you absolutely pleasure sir I'm Ricardo if you need anything else staff are expected to treat Bellman Thaddeus like a high-paying guest if it was real it would be honestly and in return sadius has been given 600 pounds in fake money that he can use in the restaurant tonight hello this is luxurious the same dressing at I don't want to take it off do you reckon yeah I'll be in trouble if I try and take it I'm gonna it's quite strange knowing that just yesterday I was sat sort of in a classroom

learning some new stuff with my colleagues and then today that is they're calling me sir and Mr girl it's quite nice I must admit when the hotel is up and running rates for these rooms will range from 450 pounds a night to up to 19 000 for the three Signature suites costs vary according to the view with the River Thames and St Paul's pulling in the highest prices but one of the room's most luxurious features can be found in the least glamorous of places the toilet and one thousand pounds worth of Japanese technology so basically

um 365 days a year you have a warm seat which is really nice and there will be a little remote control and it acts like a b day this one also has a hair dryer so you can you can dry yourself afterwards it's like flying first class once you've sat on one of those There's No Going Back [Music] the building's unique design has created some interesting issues many of the rooms you've you've stand at the corner and you can see in the other room so that's why we've had to reconfigure the blinds accordingly and the

guests have a choice if they want them up or they want them down down in the restaurant it's show time the very first service for the kitchen team it might just be a rehearsal for staff but they need to get it right young Ollie beat off 100 other applicants to get the job as Junior chef [Music] but there's no time for training he's straight in at the deep end I started later than everyone else because I've had exams to do it's kind of a disadvantage because everyone knows the kitchen they know where to go they

know everything to do but I'm behind everyone else so I need to catch up quite fast you missed the first week to each other but now the pressure is high okay sure he was a star pupil at college but now Ollie is bottom of the pecking order his task is to pick every single leaf of hundreds of Bunches of cress every day Chris is a dream it's what you wake up to do it can be very frustrating starting at the lowest level you'll always be given the jobs that everyone else doesn't want to do it's

a really boring job it's just a really boring job [Music] when Anne was at her old job in Park Lane she was one of a team of sommeliers now she is the only wine expert at the Shangri-La burgundy glasses are which ones the big round ones the bowl ones Bordeaux glasses and it's up to Anne to train the team it's one of me for the whole restaurant at the moment which is hard because also remember that we've been trying to train the team but there's one of me so there's not much time to train the

team um are you making sure you're restocking because the white wine fridge is looking quite far thank you very perfect these little things that I've not been able to coach the team on yet they don't come overnight you know and the building's design isn't helping wine is stored in the basement a full 38 floors below the fact that we've not got a lot of space up here now I'm 35 it means that you have to travel down to 38 floors just to get a bottle of wine if you run out which is very good for

my bottom but not very good for Speed of service the hotel covers 19 floors around the middle of The Shard with the reception and two restaurants at the bottom on the 35th floor [Music] the space issue affects the restaurant too head chef Simon has to run a kitchen over two floors it doesn't make for easy communication [Music] medium rare don't forget the tomatoes yeah [Music] hey guys one crap one four by one scholar one Tandoori one belly one for Alaska [Music] February [Music] Thaddeus and Eddie are taking full advantage of the free menu tonight and

throwing themselves into their role of five star guests with gusto you might have the organis organic as well do their best to try and Reign the boys in so if it comes sorry the orders are coming thick and fast now but a lot of the meals are getting cold after sitting too long in the downstairs kitchen bar manager Kira has been drafted into the downstairs kitchen [Music] table seven we're still waiting on a minute steak medium rare the trailer will be just coming the communication between the downstairs kitchen upstairs kitchen he's a little off-kilter and

it's um it's an unusual cooking environment so it's gonna be it's gonna be fine we're just gonna work out how to how to do it no one one can we send this quickly guys please the food's over half an hour late and more and more free drinks are being ordered [Music] which puts pressure on the waiting staff it's a real test of confidence for novice Angela I'm gonna get some more have you drink no not yet I didn't even notice okay I'm sorry I think when I'm concentrating on one thing I forget I don't see

anything around me I've never worked in a five-star hotel I've worked in many bars restaurants but mostly nightclubs and bar restaurants I feel like there's a lot more pressure on me is this enough for you yeah thank you enjoy thank you both of their glasses are over full so okay so we're not allowed to fill it up to that high oh okay okay okay sorry it's not just Silver Service waitress techniques Angela needs to remember there's also the Shangri-La philosophy to keep in mind there's certain things you can't say about a table like oh let

me grab that for you or hello guys like you know things that I naturally would just be safe present the bottle ask if they'd like to taste if they would for a little bit yeah like I did over there it has to be all positive things that you say so you can't say no problem because it's got known problem in it so you say yes sure sure yes so yeah sure I can do that for you they've had champagne before though so it's okay supposed to last just ask it okay I definitely think there's a

lot expected I mean not just me everybody they want us to be perfect 100 million percent [Music] the restaurant's late service isn't doing anything to spoil the experience for Thaddeus and Eddie but for senior staff the evening is far from Five Star standard everything that is downstairs okay okay I'll make a call now first thing tomorrow we need to pick somebody in it was a long wait for some of the food it was tough it was tough we probably we will have to go back and look at what we're going to do and how we're

going to move forward probably one of the hardest service I've ever had um in my whole career yeah it's really nice yeah we waited 40 minutes for the start time yeah it was a bit of a wait but we I'll definitely come again yeah foreign [Music] Hotel opens and starts charging guests high-end prices to stay here Following last night Executive Vice President Darren has called together his senior team for an emergency meeting I need to speed the staff up my staff are too slow by the way at the moment we are about six points out

of ten in terms of quality I can't emphasize to you enough that this hotel is nowhere near the standard it should be going forward so I don't understand why you guys are being so relax your Daisy core about it [Music] almost 10 years in the making and 19 million pounds later the opening day has finally arrived today is the big day almost foreign most of the hotel still isn't finished only 59 of the 202 bedrooms are ready the remainder including the three Mega Suites of up to 19 000 pounds will have to be gradually completed

in the coming months [Music] Champagne Bar manager Kira still doesn't have a bar to run no it's not ideal it's not an ideal situation of course there's expectations for the bar it's an incredible setting undoubtedly that adds pressure yeah [Music] still the most anticipated European Hotel launch in years and such events call for a big fanfare at the last major London hotel openings The Who Harry Styles and Kate Moss were guests [Music] the Shangri-La have a pearly king and queen Boris Johnson and a Chinese lion dance once the dance is finally over the restaurant will

be open to guests for the first time a bit strange to be honest it's actually actually today there's obviously some people have been working nearly a year on the project some people even more and now it's actually although we've done simulation the last few days is actually the real thing now half an hour later there's little sign of the Lions wrapping up soon [Music] [Applause] [Music] I thought we had the conditioners for a very glamorous Oriental Paradise we've got after all more Chinese students here than any other city in the world outside China obviously where

they have a lot of Chinese I have a great great pleasure in declaring this fantastic decent the London's Hotel business and indeed London Skyline Open thank you [Applause] foreign [Music] has been waiting for the first guests begin to check in you're here for one night now the real work starts you know this is where the real hotel keeping begins yes we've got guests now so if the water doesn't work tonight somebody's going to tell us commercially yes the pressure will go up quite fast but uh I think we're quite Adept at handling that for Dorman

Errol the opening ceremony is the first time he can actually do his job standing outside here for you know nearly three months you know not inviting guests in being doing the opposite of my role really is like keeping them out but now you know it's time it's it's time today is the first real chance for the staff to put all their training into action I've not worked in a hotel at all before so um I think it's pretty safe to say it's been a steep learning curve for a pair of us you very much it's

my colleague Eddie thank you hello hello sir would you like this place issue yeah we just confirmed that we've got one suitcase one pair of shoes and two that's it thank you now designated logosport yeah faddy isn't Eddie are working together as a team until they find their feet as Bellman it's been easier having Eddie by my side because we've known each other for 10 years and it's always good to see a friendly face um when you're coming into a completely different world thank you [Music] Angela struggled during the practice run in the restaurant when

she was only serving work colleagues now with the arrival of paying guests it's all getting too much still a sparkling water still sure I was thinking I don't know that I was thinking of leaving you get something slightly wrong and it's the end of the world and then you've got to try and not to take it to heart and I'm one of them kind of people that try not to let like affect me but it does but there is times where like you get to sort of Breaking Point and the hotel's only sommelier is equally

frustrated I can't find bottles in a bucket upside down ah this is not a bit strong anyway smiling nod [Music] so it's beginning to seems very slack like everybody's just kind of doing half the job and then leaving bottles lying around the floor's not set up properly there's no glasses really clean like today I kind of left the floor of it on its own gave construction you know this has to be done um give them a quick up we need more glasses being polished and Polished properly so just give them a quick quick check as

well I don't really remember the last day off I had I feel like we want to have a little cry this evening it's crucial to head chef Simon that service goes a lot smoother than it did in the practice run a big night for Simon a two michelin-starred Chef John Campbell will be eating in his restaurant of course his opinion is very valuable um with what I'm sure will give his honest opinion so yeah it is it's important 19 year old Ollie has been working in the kitchen for a week now he's finding it a

very different experience from catering College doing about 16 17 hours a day which is getting right it's getting quite hard it's gone one [ __ ] it up one scale up well done this is my first job out of college and it's tougher than I thought it would be at first it was really bad but it's slowly getting better we all know our jobs more we're finding it easier is it sparkling water all right Angela still isn't finding it easy but she's enjoying chatting to customers um I've not actually sat in a restaurant as a

guest Angela is serving John Campbell's table without knowing he's one of the top chefs in the country is this what you want to do I like making people happy so yeah the customers are my in Focus yes yes customers will make what makes it easy for me actually like they're the ones that make me happy um because my colleagues that I'm working at the moment we're all stressed and we're all tired and no one slept so you get a lot of pressure they're getting a lot of pressure from higher managers so they're giving us a

lot of pressure so when my only getaway is talking to my customers really bartender is amazing it's probably to tell you it's the best in the world yeah apparently so it best to be good Anne has spotted Angela's natural talent for getting on with guests do it to me you're doing it to me so we have a children Smith of 2012. she thinks with more confidence she could make a great wine waitress so that like that Mabel faces the guest when you go to poor this in this hand and the label will still face the

guest okay yeah perfect and gives Angela the encouragement she needs to help her thrive thank you Angela's brilliant actually because she's a little sponge but a bit nervous and but she's one of them she's one of these people that's just fantastic to train and to to Mentor because she will take it all in in the restaurant the team is starting to pull together [Music] but there's one staff member in particular that is shining through for michelin-starred Chef John Campbell just amazing thank you very much that makes me happy yeah I'd look forward to seeing you

thank you enjoy the rest of your night well I think that's really surprised me in taking me back tonight is the quality of food The Taste the flavors are just Sensational but one thing I must highlight is Angela one of the things that really took us back on the table was why did you choose this profession principal reason is she wants to make people happy true Hospitality the service team have impressed me massively tonight it's gone really really good yeah I'm really happy I was having doubts this morning and I was a bit stressed and

but I've just learned that when I'm under pressure just to get on with it [Music] the hotel has been up and running for a week now reports back are that guests are particularly taken with the views although some reckon they get a little bit more than they bargained for due to the structure of the building we do have some views on other rooms over here so should you want a little more privacy just over here you have the blind controls have a lovely day thank you very much bye when she just explained about seeing the

other rooms wasn't too sure about that and uh obviously they've got the the privacy blinds but uh you know a little bit unexpected for for the the standard of the hotel for the layout to be like that where you can see into a different room a few journalists have found this titillating angle too juicy to resist otter is the hotel's director of communications most of the reviews are mainly positive some of the media has picked up on the fact that you can see into neighbors rooms which we are clearly communicating to our guests and that's

why we have blinds if we're in the Middle East it would have been suicide it wouldn't have gone down well at all fortunately we're in London people have a sense of humor of course we don't like the Press reports but we're dealing with that all eyes are on us now in all in all sense of the world [Music] it's the end of September and the hotel is almost fully up and running 199 bedrooms are now open for business guests can at last take a dip in the infinity swimming pool on the top floor and bar

manager Kira finally has the keys to her Sky Bar gong the highest in Europe we are indeed up and running um thank goodness it seems to be very popular the Sky Bar is becoming particularly popular with guests as a venue for surprises and this is what is about to happen to this young woman so he's giving me the queue so I'm going to carefully pop it in here put your glasses of rose [Music] all right enjoying it [Music] it's these moments that make it all worthwhile for Kira time choose to spend their special occasions with

us and actually there's something lovely about that thank you so much [Music] Ollie is getting closer to his dream only four months ago he was resigned to the painstaking job of picking Crest leaves but now he's moved on to sources today is the most testing day in his career so far parents are coming to the restaurant everyone gets nervous when the family comes in that's for sure olla's parents have never been happy about his choice of career so today he wants to prove to them that he's done the right thing my mum's first reaction was

I was going to work in a cafe somewhere doing English breakfast to builders and my dad's first opinion was a bit no I don't want him doing that you know this is your responsibility yeah yeah sure I have anything to do with it my grandfather was a chef as well and he knew what it was like growing up without his dad there and he knew the hours I would be working in two scalloped two dot two risotto to follow two Dory two lamb two chocolate and two parfait Oliver was inspired by my father who was

a chef and unfortunately when my father died it was then that Oliver decided he'd become a chef it's important to get my parents approval of what I'm doing I really want them to understand and help enjoy my job just as much as I do head chef Simon has put ollie on plating up it's a job in the spotlight so his parents can see what he can do service table 11. thank you very much [Music] for Eddie and Thaddeus it's been quite a journey from likely Lads to five-star Bellman we are fully fledging the job now

we've both passed our probation periods we've done completed all the training that we have to do there's always more you could know there's loads of tricks of the trade that we still need to learn I mean we're not here to be Bellman our whole lives we're here to progress and climb up the ladder so we're always going to be learning foreign not the boys they once were I've noticed getting on the tube on the way home if there's a woman's that stood next to me waiting to get on the same entrance I go oh after

you met him which is something I would never you know I'm from South London Madame isn't in my vocabulary normally except for when I'm at work [Music] Ollie is impressing head chef Simon with how much he has been picking up you're not very good try again I mean it's nice let in place that's himself played out paper every single dish you can see he's obviously been watching there's a pair of you've seen them come all through their their years and their difficulties and their struggles and then they get to hear some especially somewhere like here

and you go wow well done love it was lovely day Simon I think that words can't express how proud we are and where you've come and all these years and to start your first full-time job here we're really proud of you all that hard work paid off thank you get out the face [Music] sammelier Anne's hard graft has paid off she's just been promoted to restaurant manager and now has 38 staff working under her you like The View oh amazing not too not too shabby as this doing two jobs and working the long hours and

the point you literally have to put your life on hold for a little while and it's that's the truth tonight Anne has been helping with a birthday surprise for one of her guests he has flown in from Panama to celebrate his sister's big day oh I'm so exciting oh my God for Anne these are the moments that it's all about to be able to have an impact on other people to be actively able to impact on little parts of their life to say to a guest you know happy anniversary I'm so happy you came to

us that these things matter and they really matter to me and that's what gets me out of bed every day Angela is still feeling unsure about being good enough to work in a five-star restaurant but her guests don't agree you helped me yesterday as a positive quote really really helped me I come in today I was like no I'm going to be strong I can do this I'm the best like you said well this is Mr and Mrs dick I served them yesterday for lunch they're really really lovely I just bought them a card actually

I got it sent to their table she likes people with the shaft you know um and thanks very much for talking to her yesterday thank you for boosting her confidence and it's nice to see that she's she's moving on I think she'll be fantastic so lovely to me so I said that I was so natural and it's really nice to see um it was really nice to hear song with a proper London British accent they said she told me she'd never stayed on a hotel in her life he has said because she needs uh to

see what's like on this side of the table so I'm going to do that for her [Music] after a bumpy start for the hotel the latest reviews have been much more positive journalists are praising the staff's attention to detail almost as much as The View foreign [Music] this is just the beginning [Music] [Applause] oh hope is that we are the best hotel in London [Music] the ultimate goal is it will be in the top five hotels in the world that's it one thing is for certain when people book into the hotel they'll get a view

that never fails to deliver having such a view in London is very unique especially at this time of the day it is so beautiful I can see a lady in a bathroom foreign hello