Harrods Grotto

[Ilovechocolatetoomuch]

Has anybody received their booking email yet?

Yep. They emailed and said 'i'm sorry you had technical issues but the grotto is now sold out'
I emailed back saying I had not had technical problems and it was really sad that all the children whose parents couldn't afford to spend over 2k a year at their shop no longer have access to the grotto.
Normally I would let this slide but I think it's poor show that they are basically running a class system now. We are going to the Royal Albert Hall instead.

It sucks now they've changed the system - now younger higher priority the more points you have on your card. So those (like me) who only ever got the card for the grotto and never spend anything have little to no chance - I reckon there were very few tickets allocated to the nil points category!

domesticslattern - yes it's such a shame, I thought Selfridges one was way better than Harrods has ever been. Much more to see. You even boarded a little train ride.

Why shouldn't a luxury store offer priority to its high net worth customers? Harrods is designed to be for the super wealthy, they make no bones about that

I’ve read complaints that even those who were the next tier up 2-5k still got there booking on the same day (16th) and got their email after they had sold out.

It's so sad. It is such a lovely grotto. Oh well it sucked going in November and that was the only time we ever got tickets .

I don’t get any kind of priority, I got my email on the 16th the same as everyone on this thread & got booked in for 12th December I must have got really lucky. Ah I came on here thinking we’d all be excited talking about when we were going, sorry
I don’t know why they shortened it this year, it usually starts on 1st November but it’s starting on 17th this year so much less spaces.
Anyone near crews hill? Springtime nurseries is a great one, train ride to the grotto & kids get given a voucher by Father Christmas to go pick out their toy from a big toy room (fairly decent toys as well) would definitely recommend that one

Jon Snow did you get your email at 9 a.m? Mine didn't come till 10:30.
Think you will be hard pushed to find many people to be excited with i'm afraid :(
We already do Paultons every year so I feel very grateful that we have that.

I got it at 10 o’clock. I was really surprised there were even any spaces left for December let alone the 12th. The last 2 years I’ve only managed to get in for middle of November. It’s a shame the Hamleys one is so bloody expensive because it looks like a good one

Problem with the Hamleys one is that it only allows one adult in per child. Bit rubbish when my OH takes the day off and we make a day trip of going to London to see Santa and do shopping, for him then to be stood outside.

Duke of York aren't having a Santa's grotto this year. Not sure why but was on their latest newsletter. Shame because it's always excellent and very popular (and free)

Leicester Square do a nice one, it only started last year. Its £9.50 per child (including booking fee) it’s a group one you all go in santa reads a story and then they get called up one by one to tell Santa what they want, get their gift and have their pic taken (can’t remember how much the picture cost but i seem to remember it being reasonable. Whole thing lasts about 20mins.

Just another suggestion for anyone still looking...

We also have a tradition of Harrods - my eldest is now 16 and it was only a few years ago we stopped doing Harrods when the system just got crazy. I much preferred the days of old where you turned up, queued for hours while the elves danced around you to keep you occupied, and got brought cookies and bottles of water!

Anyway, a couple of years ago, we discovered the Dreamworks ones at Westfields. My kids were older and outgrowing the more traditional grottos anyway. Each year is themed around a different movie. You go into a magical sort of entrance and watch a movie that is sort of interactive then you go to little video screens and play games to fly the sleigh etc. Then you all go in and sit in an actual sleigh with a movie screen in front and around and you "fly" to see santa. It is like actually flying through the air and quite fun! Then you go through to the little santa rooms just like at the harrods one. I really liked the whole experience and we have done it a few years now.

Really, I didn’t know that about Hamleys, glad I didn’t book it now then because as you said we would have gone up there as a family. The Leicester Square & Westfield ones sound really good aswell, might check those out!

I have booked the royal Albert hall. It's £26.50 but it lasts an hour as you go into different rooms to solve clues to find where santa is hiding and includes a gift at the end. I wanted to do winter wonderland but oh said no as we went once and it was freezing lol.

Oh that sounds really good too! See Harrods is looking shit now in comparison & it’s me that’s jealous
Winter wonderland would bankrupt me it’s so bloody expensive! All looks great in theory until you’re surviving on asda 30p pasta for the rest of the week

I still wish we were doing Harrods we normally spend the whole day in there shopping and eating.
It's actually really a first world problem isn't it. Sounds pretty rediculous to get upset about it when people don't have anything to eat in the world let alone a visit to a posh department store to see Father Christmas.
Dosn't mean to say next year I won't be on that phone at 9 a.m / camped out outside the grotto on booking day.

We all have our first world problems! I’d have been really Bloody annoyed if I didn’t get them too. Do they seriously let people book by phone?? That’s really not fair if they do. We always have to do it in a rush, I get tickets for about 7-8 o’clock in the evening but once I’ve picked the kids up from school, got them changed & got to Knightsbridge on the train, it doesn’t give you much time in there! Don’t forget to go there at some point (or order online) in the next year because they’ve started only sending emails out to people who have spent with them in the last year, think that’s a new thing this year as I don’t remember that being one of the conditions previously!

I got this response today...

Thank you for your email.

I regret to inform the Harrods Christmas Grotto has now sold out. Due to the highly popular nature of the Harrods Christmas Grotto, we received a very high volume of calls on Monday 16th October with regards to Grotto bookings and apologise for any disappointment caused by trying to contact our Grotto Customer Loyalty team.

The BOOK NOW emails were sent from Harrods at 9:00am and due to the large volume of emails sent, the time at which these emails reached customer inboxes was completely out of our control. There was both a telephone and online booking system which meant the Grotto tickets sold out very quickly. We encouraged all customers that received Grotto communications via email to book online and those who were not eligible to book online, to contact the Grotto Customer Loyalty team via telephone. Customers who were eligible to receive Grotto communications via email were encouraged to book online using their booking link as our website has a higher capacity to process multiple bookings made at the same time. Unfortunately due to the seasonal nature of the Grotto, some customers are inevitably left disappointed as the demand for the Grotto surpasses the amount of slots available. We apologise for any disappointment this has caused.

The priority booking date for Green 1/Green 0 customers was Monday 16th October. Prior to this date, customers in this rewards tier would not have been able to purchase Grotto tickets. On your priority booking date, there were a selection of dates and times released throughout November and December that were previously unable to book therefore the Grotto had not sold out before your priority booking date.

If they hadn’t released all dates previously then that explains how I managed to get so close to Christmas I suppose. I must have just been one of the first few people to get or see my email & quickly book I was sitting in Toby carvery having breakfast with my harrods card & phone next to me, saddo.

That’s so cheeky about the phone calls, I had no idea about that!

I was ready with my harrods card too. Didn't come till 10:30 :(

Last year I didn’t get the email til half 11. I was having kittens I tell ya! Still got a space though. That’s why it’s amazed me how quickly they went this year. I don’t know why they shortened it this year

Mine turned up at 11.50

While we are talking about alternative options, London Zoo do one. It involves real reindeer.