4 London hotels: Golden greats

Originally built as a gentlemen’s club in 1892, the St James’s Hotel and Club reopened in August last year after a complete renovation by AMJ Design. Make sure you check out the grand internal staircase before you take the lift – it’s practically the only thing that survived.

The St James’s is operated by the Althoff Hotel Collection, which has eight properties, mostly in Germany. The general manager is Tim Pettifer, ex-GM of the Cliveden hotel in Berkshire. Located on Park Place, a cul-de-sac off St James’s Street, with the Royal Over-Seas clubhouse next door, the seven-floor property is not easy to find, but to attract attention there’s a giant Union Jack flag hanging above the entrance.

The Victorian edifice, painted a deep terracotta colour and with wrought iron detailing, hides a modern, stylish interior with original works of art in all the public areas – the property’s Rosenstein Collection includes examples of European impressionist, expressionist and cubist art.

Marking the St James’s out as a five-star property, all 60 bedrooms are sumptuously furnished with handmade silk wallpaper, black lacquered furniture, Murano glass chandeliers, and polished stones in the bathroom. In general, rooms are of a good size, averaging 25 sqm (although some are considerably smaller), and come in eight categories, five of which are suites.

Standard in-room amenities include a comfortable armchair, a workdesk with free high-speed internet access, a laptop safe, a minibar, an iPod docking station, built-in wardrobes and a flatscreen TV, with L’Occitane toiletries in the bathrooms. Checking in late, I was impressed that a toothbrush, toothpaste and water were supplied to my room within two minutes of me requesting them.

The hotel’s location means St James’s, Mayfair and the West End are all on your doorstep. Since it is also a club (£250 to join, £400 per year), there’s often a buzz around the public areas, albeit of a very refined sort. There are five meeting spaces in the basement, including the surprisingly large Mayfair Suite, as well as two adjoining suites on the penthouse floor. The reception is just above street level, up a flight of steps.

Andaman restaurant is headed by Philipp Vogel, who dishes up beautifully presented fare with Mediterranean leanings. A two-course set lunch costs £35, and three courses cost £45. Breakfast was limited in range, being a small buffet, but additional items, such as eggs Benedict (£12.50) and kedgeree with smoked haddock (£11.50), can be ordered from the menu.

PRICE Internet rates for a midweek stay in June started from £242 for a Superior room.

VERDICT A luxurious boutique hotel in a central location – expensive but worth the extra money if you want a cosy, slightly pampered experience.

CONTACT 7-8 Park Place, St James’s; tel +44 (0)20 7316 1600; stjameshotelandclub.com

Part of the relaunched Doyle Collection, the Marylebone rebranded itself from the Jurys Doyle Hotel Collection at the end of last year. Previously the Jurys Clifton Ford hotel, it is right in the centre of Marylebone Village, north of Oxford Street, only a minute’s walk from Marylebone High Street and with the West End a short taxi ride or a 15-minute walk away.

It has the good fortune of being in a relatively quiet area, with Welbeck Street, Bulstrode Street and Marylebone Lane being minor roads with no noisy London buses, and, apart from the rear south-west corner of the hotel, no pubs or restaurants close enough to be a disturbance.

The hotel occupies three buildings, although once inside, only the steps and gentle slope of the corridors give this away. Enter the reception and the property feels more like a boutique hotel, but venture further in and you’ll find a business centre, meeting rooms and a bar/restaurant.

It’s a stylish hotel with furniture and fabrics from suppliers such as B and B Italia, George Smith, PTT Design, GP and J Baker, and Porta Romana. The 256 rooms and suites have been refurbished and all have free high-speed internet access. The entry-level Superior rooms (there are 128 of these) have duck-down duvets and white linen sheets, high-power hairdryers and flatscreen TVs with a good choice of channels, including Sky Sports, as well as Temple Spa aromatherapy bathroom products and rainshowers.

The 69 Deluxe rooms are larger (about 25 sqm) and offer Nespresso coffee machines and luxurious towelling robes, while the 51 Studio suites and five Luxury suites measure 30 and 40 sqm respectively, and have separate living areas. There are also three Presidential suites on the top floor with private roof terraces.

The bar/brasserie 108 Marylebone Lane (108marylebonelane.com)

is at the rear of the property and is a great space – it doesn’t feel like it’s part of the hotel, there’s good service and food, the prices are reasonable and it attracts a decent following from nearby businesses. The restaurant (note there is a separate entrance on Marylebone Lane) makes much of using local produce, which is a real advantage when suppliers include the Ginger Pig butcher, Biggles Gourmet Sausages and La Fromagerie.

The hotel didn’t neglect business travellers in the refurbishment – the business centre is a good size and offers all the standard requirements as well as free internet access. In addition, there are seven meeting venues on the ground and first floors, with the Howard de Walden suite accommodating 60 delegates theatre-style. There is also a small fitness centre open from 6.30am to 9.30pm during the week, with a 16-metre swimming pool, a dance studio, a gym, sauna, whirlpool and steam room.

PRICE Internet rates for a midweek stay in June started from £190 for a Superior room.

VERDICT The first of the revamped Doyle Collection hotels has had millions spent on it to attract style-conscious business travellers. Exceptional value.

CONTACT 47 Welbeck Street; tel +44 (0)20 7486 6600; doylecollection.com

Emerging this January from a £25 million refit, the “four-star deluxe” Radisson Edwardian Bloomsbury Street (previously the Radisson Edwardian Marlborough) is a classy, almost designer hotel in a great position close to the British Museum, and between the West End and Holborn.

The hotel is on the corner of Bloomsbury Street and Great Russell Street, although slightly confusingly, another Radisson Edwardian property, the Kenilworth, is opposite. This confusion might become worse now that the Jurys Great Russell Street hotel has rebranded as the Bloomsbury Hotel, but staff seem used to directing the confused to the right location.

Another point to note is that this end of Bloomsbury Street is close to the junction with New Oxford Street and during the night it can be noisy, so if you are a light sleeper it’s best to ask for one of the inward-facing rooms.

On arrival, you will notice that behind the reception desk is a whole wall covered in pages from Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway, an homage to the famous Bloomsbury group of thinkers and writers of the early 20th century.

There are 174 bedrooms – 36 Standard doubles, 50 Superior twin and queen rooms, 85 Deluxe rooms with king-size beds, and three Luxury suites. All feature flatscreen TVs with Quadriga internet systems, free high-speed wifi, bespoke furniture, fine leather headboards and luxury bed linen.

I was on the seventh floor in an attic-style Deluxe room, although with no views since it faced on to an internal courtyard. There was a large rainshower (some rooms have power showers) along with shampoo and shower gel dispensers on the wall – very environmentally friendly and a welcome touch.

The room was well equipped with a minibar, a safe, an iron and ironing board, a trouser press, satellite TV, pay-per-view movies, and tea and coffee-making facilities. For international guests there are handy US plug sockets, and Deluxe rooms such as mine also have spacious seating and working areas.

There is a small gym in the basement, plus seven meeting rooms – the largest, the Folio, can accommodate 350 people. All feature the very latest high-definition video projection technology with built-in Blu-ray and touchscreen controls, and a free web printing service is available.

The Bloomsbury Street bar and restaurant are on the left as you enter the hotel. While it’s a bustling place, the tables are too close together and the open design means there aren’t any booths or concessions for lone diners. However, the excellent staff are friendly and the food is delicious, although served on awkwardly shaped plates and bowls. A seasonal two-course menu costs £19.50, while three courses cost £25. Bottles of wine start from £16.75, glasses from £4.50, and champagne from £42.

PRICE Internet rates for a midweek stay in June started from £198 for a Standard double room.

VERDICT Excellent value, although avoid rooms on Bloomsbury Street, where noise might disturb.

CONTACT 9-13 Bloomsbury Street; tel+44 (0)20 7636 5601; radissonedwardian.com/bloomsburystreet

London’s five-star hotel stock is slightly diminished at the moment, with the Savoy not reopening until the end of the year and the Four Seasons on Park Lane also closed for refurbishments until next year. But finally, after several years of work, Langham Hotels International’s flagship property is open once again.

The entrance to the hotel is now back on Langham Place, just north of Oxford Circus, yet everything inside has changed. Natural light floods in through giant windows, illuminating not only the oversized reception and concierge desk but also the new wrought-iron gates of the invigorated Palm Court.

Langham Hotels has spent more than £80 million on the refurbishment, and it shows. The restaurant, the Landau, is led by head chef Andrew Turner, restaurant manager Franco Becci (previously at the Savoy Grill) and sommelier Zack Saghir, while the Artesian bar (named after the 110-metre well under the hotel) has a huge list of cocktails and what may be the widest selection of rums in London. (The history of the hotel is fascinating and was mentioned in a previous review – see “Chain reaction”, businesstraveller.com, April 2008.)

The new interiors are by Richmond International and feature specially commissioned pendants and chandeliers of hand-blown Murano glass in the lobby and in Palm Court, marble surfaces, custom-made bronze and glass gates, and metalwork panels in the reception “reflecting the Asian and Eastern influences on English society in the late 19th and early 20th centuries”. Other adornments include custom-produced artwork by leading contemporary artists from Hong Kong, China and the UK.

Of the 380 rooms on floors one to eight, there are 104 newly designed Grand rooms, 30 Grand Executive rooms, 40 Grand Junior suites and three one-bedroom Grand suites with paisley throws and decorative accessories from Europe and the Far East.

The 57 Classic rooms, 26 Classic Executive rooms and 17 one-bedroom Classic suites had a soft refurbishment two years ago. They have the same technology as the new Grand rooms and are very good value, being roughly the same size (25 sqm to 28 sqm on average) but costing about 30 per cent less.

There are also 47 Langham Club rooms. Guests staying here have access to the Club lounges, which offer free cocktails, light meals and canapes, and two hours’ use of the boardroom. About a third of the bedrooms face inwards on to courtyards, useful if you are a light sleeper, but all come with fruit and water, a minibar, 67 free TV channels, a 32-inch television, tea and coffee-making facilities, free shoe-shine service, wifi access (£20 for 24 hours) and a safe.

There are also 15 conference venues, including the Grand ballroom, which has its own entrance and seats 280 people for dinner. Langham House, on the corner of Portland Place and Chandos Street, has been incorporated into the hotel as a standalone meetings area.

In addition to the on-site fitness centre and 16-metre swimming pool, a new £2 million Chuan spa is set to open by the end of the year. The finishing touches to the courtyard break-out area by the Grand ballroom – the Middleton memorial garden – are also awaited.

PRICE Internet rates for a midweek stay in June started from £385 for a Classic room.

VERDICT One of the best five-star hotels in London. If this is your price bracket and you haven’t yet tried it, now is the time.

CONTACT 1c Portland Place, Regent Street; tel +44 (0)20 7636 1000; london.langhamhotels.co.uk