London is in its global hotel brand era: In the last year, it’s added a Raffles, a Peninsula and a second Mandarin Oriental; a Waldorf Astoria, a St. Regis and a Six Senses are on their way. This new guard is taking over historical icons and throwing up gleaming towers, and it’s upping the ante on amenities, too. A posh afternoon tea is no longer enough, it seems; now, five-stars come with signature scents, subterranean spas, museum-worthy art and long-stay residences. Rooftop bars, a rarity here a decade ago, are now seemingly obligatory (Bar 33 at the Emory wins for views, with everything from Big Ben to Battersea Power Station in its sights). But there’s still room for the occasional independent hotel, like the Broadwick, a maximalist love letter to the owner Noel Hayden’s hotelier parents and the creative Soho of the ’90s in which he came of age. “It’s a bit of a sensory overload,” Hayden says. Naturally, there’s a rooftop bar there, too.
Grand Hotel Bellevue
Paddington, an area short on upscale hotels, is a smart choice for French brand Lignée Hotels’ first property outside France. A decades-long regeneration, the new Elizabeth Line, linking Paddington to Heathrow and East London, and nearby attractions like Kensington Gardens and Little Venice make it a good base for exploring the capital. Grand Hotel Bellevue, whose sister hotels include the soignée La Maison Favart and Le Narcisse Blanc Hotel & Spa in Paris, occupies a five-story Victorian townhouse on elegant Norfolk Square. The Paris-based, Milanese architect Fabrizio Casiraghi has combined a bold, earthy color palette with bespoke furniture and antiques for the interiors, and collaborated with the American fashion designer Emily Adams Bode Aujla to design the hotel’s reception and Pondicherry Bar. A tribute to the duo’s love of India, the bar has bold yellow walls hung with tapestries featuring elephants and tigers; its cocktail list includes Masala Chai Iced Tea, with spiced rum and crème de pêche. The smallest, single rooms are designed to feel like boat cabins, with dark wood walls and brass light fixtures, while the 375-square-foot Grand Norfolk Suite has a free-standing tub, high ceilings and views of Norfolk Square. Bathrooms are stocked with products by perfumer-to-the-royals, Floris, and there’s a fitness studio with Nohrd equipment. Rooms from about $345 a night.
Raffles London at the OWO
The 120-room Raffles London, which opened in fall 2023, is a spectacular revival of the Old War Offices, a turreted, Edwardian Baroque icon in the middle of the city’s royal and political landmarks. The 760,000-square-foot stone-clad building served as the offices for leading politicians, including Winston Churchill, and was the birthplace for the British intelligence services MI5 and MI6 — it inspired Ian Fleming’s James Bond series. Intricate mosaic floors, marble staircases, acres of oak paneling and eye-popping chandeliers have been meticulously restored, and a four-story, 27,000-square-foot subterranean Guerlain spa added. Near the entrance to the Whitehall Ballroom hangs the 1921 painting “Naval Officers of World War I” by Arthur Stockdale Cope, on loan from The National Portrait Gallery. Of the nine restaurants and bars, three overseen by the three-Michelin-star Argentine chef Mauro Colegreco, the must-visit is the Spy Bar, a speakeasy with the Aston Martin stunt car from “No Time to Die” (the OWO was featured in the 2021 film) as a centerpiece and Bond’s favorite cocktail, the Vesper Martini, on the menu. Rooms from about $1,440 a night.
The Emory
A glass-and-steel box topped with sail-like structures on the edge of Hyde Park, Maybourne Group’s (Claridge’s, The Connaught, The Berkeley) first all-suite hotel, the Emory, unveiled earlier this summer, was designed by the late Richard Rogers, the architect of the Pompidou Center, and Ivan Harbour of the RSHP firm. The “quiet luxury” aesthetic is strong; the textured public spaces, with polished copper light fixtures, leather upholstery and Damien Hirst artworks, are by Remi Tessier, known for his private jet and yacht interiors, and include a trio of Jean-Georges Vongerichten restaurants. The suites and 3,200-square-foot penthouse, by six additional designers, feature luxe materials like Calacatta viola marble and ash wood, and a palette of soft, neutral colors inspired by Hyde Park. The four-story, subterranean Surrenne spa hosts classes by Tracy Anderson. The Emory’s rate includes a private ride from the airport, a 24-hour personal assistant, breakfast and the contents of the not-so-mini bar, where you might find a jug of iced Pimm’s and English strawberries in summer. Rooms from about $2,100 a night.
Broadwick Soho
The passion project of the gaming entrepreneur Noel Hayden, who grew up making toast and performing magic tricks in his parents’ seaside hotel, Broadwick Soho is the wild card of London’s new hotel scene. Hayden’s brief to the interior designer Martin Brudnizki was “your eccentric godmother’s townhouse meets Studio 54.” The bell boys look circus-ready in leopard-print blazers; inside, there’s contemporary art everywhere, including works by Francis Bacon, Bridget Riley and Andy Warhol, many of them from Hayden’s personal collection. The hotel’s low-lit restaurant, Dear Jackie, named for Hayden’s mother, has red silk walls hung with hand-painted plates, patterned booths and refined Italian food — don’t miss the ricotta tortelloni with broad beans. The seventh-floor bar-restaurant, Flute, dials up the maximalism with cork walls and mirrored ceilings and has a wraparound terrace. Bedrooms are low-key in comparison, with a soothing palette of blues, greens and pinks, and Soho rooftop views from floor-to-ceiling windows — though bespoke brass cocktail bars in the shape of elephants bring a hint of kitsch to the suites. Rooms from about $790 a night.
At Sloane
Of the many pedigreed hotels that have landed in Chelsea in the past few years, none is as opulent as At Sloane, a sibling to Paris’s Hotel Costes, which opened in December. The hotel is a renovation of a 19th-century red-brick mansion designed by the architect Edwin Thomas Hall, who created the mock-Tudor Liberty department store. The interiors, by Francois-Joseph Graf, the designer of the toile de Jouy-decked La Mirande hotel in Avignon, France, mix monochrome hues with shades of crimson, graphic rugs, checkerboard tiles and textiles by Morris & Co and Pierre Frey. More than 1,000 black-and-white photographs of stars including the original Sloane Ranger, Princess Diana, line the stairs to the 30 guest rooms. There, timber paneling opens into secret walk-in wardrobes, minibars and exquisite bathrooms modeled on the ones Graf remembers from childhood stays at Claridge’s. On the building’s new sixth floor is a guests-only restaurant with turn-of-the-century furniture by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Edward William Godwin and Christopher Dresser, and shelves stacked with hundreds of Chinoiserie vases. Rooms from about $795 a night.
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, the brand’s second, smaller London hotel, opened in June in a new build with a contemporary, red-brick-clad townhouse exterior on Hanover Square, Mayfair’s first square when it debuted in the 1700s. An expanse of green Ming marble greets guests when they enter, a nod to the company’s heritage and nearby green spaces (Berkeley Square and Green Park are neighbors). The Asian influence continues in the 50 rooms and suites (there are also 77 private residences), with House of de Gournay hand-painted silk wallpaper; stone-colored furniture and rugs; and pops of emerald, maroon or turquoise on cushions and headboards. The Korea-born, Colorado-bred chef Akira Back has made his UK debut with a namesake restaurant — look out for his trademark ‘AB Tuna Pizza’, with umami aioli, tuna sashimi, micro shiso and truffle oil — and Dosa, a 14-seater, counter-style restaurant; a rooftop bar opens later this year. It wouldn’t be a Mandarin Oriental without a standout spa; this one has an 80-foot swimming pool and 22-minute treatments for guests short on time. Rooms from about $1,400 a night.
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