Every business traveller has their favourite hotel or, at least, the one they are required to stay at whenever they visit the capital. Your choice may be dictated by the location you want to be in – often close to clients – or perhaps because you are familiar with (and building loyalty points with) a particular chain. But whatever your criteria and your budget, London has options at every level and in every location.

To start a new series testing out business hotels in the UK, the Business Traveller team has rounded up 22 hotels visited in the past few months, which we have presented here in order of location.

Unless otherwise stated, all rooms provide the following: 24-hour room service, a full concierge service, dry cleaning, air conditioning, in-room safe, minibar, direct telephone, modem and TV, power showers and non-smoking bedrooms.

For the purposes of our reviews, the West End is the area south of Marylebone Road and north of the Thames, although we have also focused separately on St James (page 16), Westminster (page 22) and Paddington
(page 23).

RADISSON SAS PORTMAN SQUARE
22 Portman Square, tel +44 (0)20 7208 6000, radisson.com

The Radisson SAS is a smart, upmarket business hotel with a good choice of rooms overlooking the surrounding streets and Portman Square, a few minutes north of Oxford Street. The 272 rooms, 11 studios, three suites and four penthouse suites are in a range of styles from Art Deco Italian and Scandinavian to British and Oriental.

Mine had a golden theme – more Eastern Mediterranean than any of the above might suggest – but it was comfortable and had all the expected amenities including tea-making facilities and an excellent shower. Service is good throughout, particularly in the Portman restaurant (review will appear next month). There’s also a fully equipped fitness centre, although being this close to Hyde Park many fitness fanatics take advantage of any clement weather to run outside. The hotel is big on conference and banqueting and has a ballroom that can accommodate up to 600, but during the week it’s also popular with business travellers taking advantage of its position in the centre of the West End.

Price Best flexible rate is £159 for standard room (an internet-only “hot deal” is available for £143 and must be booked at least four days in advance). No rack rates available.

RADISSON EDWARDIAN BERKSHIRE
350 Oxford Street, tel +44 (0)20 7629 7474, radisson.com

Close to Bond Street tube, between John Lewis and Selfridges (the entrance is round the corner on Marylebone Lane), the Berkshire was refurbished in 2004 into a modern boutique style and is now the sort of place where you should know the names of the people responsible for the interiors (furniture by Phillipe Hurel; original artwork by Vietnamese artist Anh Quan). The Berkshire’s 148 rooms, over eight floors, are in several categories: single, standard doubles/twins, deluxe doubles/twins and two suites. My king deluxe was spacious and comfortable with beige sofas, leather seats and a crocodile-skin headboard made by Fendi. The bathroom, in black and grey marble was well-lit and had a bath with shower. Standard rooms have the same furnishings and style but are smaller and have fewer pieces of furniture.

All rooms have Bang and Olufsen TVs, designer furnishings, complimentary wifi access (broadband £9.95 for 24 hours or £2.50 per hour), trouser press, iron and board, hairdryer, Gilchrist & Soames toiletries and tea and coffee facilities. From deluxe rooms upwards you also get bathrobes, slippers and a turndown and shoe shine service. The one item I could not find was a clock. I woke at 5.45am and had to switch the light on to check the time – not the best start to the day.

Free internet access is a real plus, but there was no desk in my room so I worked on the sofa and coffee table, where the broadband cable is. Some rooms do have desks so this could be worth requesting.

For dining, the Ascot restaurant and bar on the first floor is open for breakfast and dinner. The wood panelling, glass tables, wooden floor, mirrors and red leather chairs are reminiscent of a traditional club, though it serves modern British cuisine. Starters cost £6-£8 and mains £12-£18. There is also a set menu costing £15 for two courses and £19.50 for three. There is no business centre but the reception can cater for most needs.

Price Best flexible rate for standard room is £139. No rack rates available.

ONE ALDWYCH
1 Aldwych, tel +44 (0)20 7300 1000, onealdwych.com

The first of two hotel options on the Aldwych (along with the Waldorf) and taking its name from the address of its westernmost point, One Aldwych combines an attractive, modern design with superb service. The hotel’s managing director, Gordon Campbell Gray, says the hotel is about “stealth wealth rather than dripping deluxe”, and the high price for the rooms offers value: from CD players and free wifi access in every room, to mineral water on turndown and flowers and fresh fruit daily.

There are only 105 bedrooms and suites, but all have feather duvets with Frette bed linen. There’s also a truly environmental approach, not least in the form of an EVA system, which uses only 20 per cent of the water needed by conventional systems.

Originally built in 1907 by the same architects responsible for both the London and Paris Ritz, the hotel was once home to The Morning Post newspaper, and now has an 18-metre swimming pool with underwater music where the printing presses once thundered. There are also sauna and steam rooms, a spa with Aveda treatments and Carita skincare, and resident personal trainers.

A 30-seat cinema is available for private hire  and there are two excellent, and very different, restaurants: Axis on the lower level is good for evenings, while Indigo on the mezzanine level above the lobby bar is a bit more buzzy with delicious food.

Downstairs there is an excellent art collection decorating everything from the lobby bar to the corridors. One Aldwych opened in 1998, yet is already a modern classic, and one with attentive service.

Price Best rate (by telephone) for standard king room for single occupancy is £289. Rack rate is £325.

SWISSOTEL THE HOWARD
Temple Place, tel +44 (0)20 7836 3555, swissotel.com

Just down the road from Aldwych, close to Temple tube station, this five-star property is part of Raffles International Group under the Swissotel brand. Extensive refurbishment was completed in 2002 and two new floors of suites were added, with great views of the Houses of Parliament and the London Eye.

The hotel is five minutes by taxi (traffic permitting) from Charing Cross station and the Eurostar terminal at Waterloo. Its 189 rooms have high-speed internet access (24 hours costs £15), and wifi is available, just in the lobby (around £3 for 15 minutes).

Restaurant JAAN, which overlooks the private garden and waterfall has modern French cooking with Cambodian flavours. The Temple Bar offers live entertainment six nights a week. A lobby lounge refurbishment is under way which will result in a new bar, Mauve, opening later this year.

The business centre is open 24 hours and the hotel’s two function suites, Fitzalan and Arundel, can cater for up to 120 people. There is no fitness centre but guests can use Holmes Place in the Strand for free.

Service is excellent, the concierge was particularly helpful and knowledgeable and throughout the hotel there is a good combination of modern and opulent features. A great venue for both business and pleasure.

Price Internet value rate for a king room with garden view is £199. Rack rate for standard double is £239.

DUKES HOTEL
35 St James’s Place, tel +44 (0)20 7491 4840, dukeshotel.com

Between Mayfair and Green Park, tucked away off St James’s Place (which is reached from St James Street), Dukes is hard to find but centrally located, and is a good choice if you want to bypass the more ostentatious hotels in Mayfair to enjoy some peace and quiet. Situated down a tiny side street in a small courtyard with window boxes full of flowers and hand-lit Edwardian gas lamps, the building has existed since the 1700s.

The 90 rooms (including six suites) are classically English with ruched curtains, plump sofas in rich colours and fabrics by homegrown designers, though there are practical modern touches such as ceiling spotlights. Both wifi and wired internet access are available in every room (£18 for 24 hours or free in the business centre) – the latter records your internet usage and charges it straight to your bill. Plasma TVs are gradually being installed in all rooms (suites have two, one each in the bedroom and the lounge).

The suites also have separate air conditioning for each room. Bathrooms are of cream, green or granite marble, all equipped with baths and large showerheads, and toiletries by Kenneth Turner. The penthouse suite
has good views of St James, a private dining area and outdoor terrace.

There’s a small fitness centre next door to the spa, open 24 hours, and the spa (with products by Dermalogica) has a treatment room and steam room and offers therapies such as body wrap with mud, mineral salt scrub, waxing, manicures and pedicures, and massages (a 30-minute massage costs £45; a classic facial is £60). For those preferring to brave the outdoors, detailed jogging maps are provided in each room.

The dining room, on the lower ground floor, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but rooms also have a comprehensive list of local restaurants. The lounge, next to the lobby, is bright and airy and serves traditional afternoon tea, but the hotel’s highlight is its atmospheric and cosy Cocktail Bar, open 11am to 11pm Monday to Saturday, 12pm-10.30pm on Sundays, which is famous for its dry martini cocktails (highly recommended) – mixed by award-winning barman Tony Micelotta.

There is no business centre but there is a computer with free internet access and printer available in the lobby, and mobile phones, pagers, laptops, printers and fax machines can be rented from reception. Reception can also handle photocopying and offers secretarial, linguistic and translation services between 9am and 5pm.

There are three private dining rooms, the largest being the Marlborough Suite on the lower ground floor. It can seat up to 32 and has access through a separate entrance, a private bar and reception area, and is licensed for marriage ceremonies. The Sheridan Room and Montrose Suite can seat 12 and 18 people, respectively.

Price Standard rate for double king room is £255.

DE VERE CAVENDISH
81 Jermyn Street, tel +44 (0)20 7930 2111, cavendish-london.co.uk

The only De Vere property in London is close to Piccadilly Circus on the south side of Jermyn Street, with a main entrance on Duke Street. It was completely refurbished four years ago for £11 million, and further work on the lobby and bar finished in August. The cream and purple lobby is bathed in a calming blue light and the concierge desk is decorated with flowers and candles. Staff wear neutral white and beige clothes.

The 230 rooms over 15 floors are modern and classified as double, deluxe, executive and executive studio, with the main difference being space (and some of the standard rooms have shower only). The upper floors have fabulous views. My executive room had suede armchairs and cream and brown walls with contemporary black and white photographs in glossy black frames. My cream-tiled bathroom was large with a huge walk-in shower and bath. The TV (not plasma-screen) had 12 channels and pay-movies and a CD player (CDs are available from the concierge) with preset radio stations. The four penthouse suites have plasma TVs, Gilchrist & Soames toiletries and incredible city views. There are no leisure facilities on-site but guests can use LA Fitness on nearby Lower Regent Street (costing £10 per session).

The Aslan restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and modern European cuisine in the evenings, while the Lobby bar is small and cosy and a great place for a quiet drink, opening until 12.30am. The first-floor lounge is decorated in earthy tones with furnishings so co-ordinated it could be a page in an IKEA catalogue. Private underground parking is available (£35 for 24 hours and free Friday to Sunday).

Two PCs with high-speed internet access are available (£10 for 90 minutes) in the lobby. Cables are provided in all rooms for high-speed internet and wifi is available in public areas (a maximum charge of £20 over 24 hours). There are five meeting rooms on the first floor with natural daylight, the largest accommodating 80 people theatre-style but the entire floor – including the restaurant – can be hired out for events.

Price Standard rate for a double room (for single occupancy) is £235. Rack rate is £250 including breakfast and VAT.

CITY INN
30 John Islip Street, tel +44 (0)20 7630 1000; cityinn.com

Located just off the Embankment, a few minutes’ walk from the Houses of Parliament, this flagship property of the City Inn Group is one of the few hotels in Westminster. Opened in September 2003, it is a notable addition not only to the area, but to London, being the city’s biggest new-build hotel in 30 years. It’s not to be confused with the various other “Inns” on the market; this is a high-end four-star (borderline five-star) property  in a central location with an exceptional restaurant: City Café. The 460 rooms are of high quality, ranging from standard through to club rooms and suites, and all have floor-to-ceiling glass windows, frighteningly effective air conditioning using fresh, not recirculated air, good soundproofing, DVD and CD players with an extensive free library, LCD flat-screen satellite TV (it’s not pay-TV, which makes for hassle-free watching) and free broadband internet access. There are also anti-allergy pillows and 13.5 tog anti-allergy duvet, luxury cotton bathrobes and toiletries by The White Company. Public areas and meeting rooms are equipped with wifi. Also on the technology side, automated check-in and check-out is being tested; for those used to British Airways’ machines, it will be a welcome addition to the self-service world.

The stylish Millbank Lounge bar is popular with local workers, as is the excellent 200-cover City Café (review coming next month), complete with al fresco terrace on “Art Street”, London’s first ever street conceived as a work of art.

One option for business travellers is the High Flyer package, which includes early check-in from 8am (subject to availability), chauffeur-driven car pick-up from a local airport or train station, accommodation in a double room, complimentary two-hour express suit-press, full English breakfast and a three-course dinner in City Café from the daily changing seasonal “kitchen” menu from £150 for the first night and from £100 for additional nights.

Price Best flexible rate is £199 for a club queen room. Advance purchase rate of £179 (must book three days in advance; first night non-refundable). Rack rate is £225.

THE ROYAL HORSEGUARDS
Whitehall Court, tel +44 (0)870 333 9122; thistlehotels.com

Discreetly tucked away between Whitehall and the Embankment, about 200 yards from Embankment tube station, this property dates back to 1860 and was once part of Scotland Yard. It is now a flagship property for Thistle Hotels (which has 19 hotels and over 6,000 rooms in central London) and is popular with MPs and other government officials.

The 280 rooms are all different shapes and sizes, some overlooking the street and others having a partial view of the Thames, though all are decorated in traditional English style. All rooms have high-speed internet access (£15 for 24 hours or 50p per minute), and public areas have wifi access (there’s no business centre). There is a good restaurant and bar, The One Twenty-One Two, which is the last four digits of Scotland Yard’s old telephone number. Other London Thistles include: Bloomsbury Park, The Selfridge, Thistle Tower, Bloomsbury, Charing Cross, Barbican, Euston, Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Kensington Palace, Kensington Park, Lancaster Gate, Marble Arch, Piccadilly, Trafalgar Square, Victoria and Westminster.

Price Best available rate for a double room is £157 including VAT. Rack rates not available.

HILTON PADDINGTON
146 Praed Street, tel +44 (0)20 7850 0500; hilton.com

Britain’s first railway hotel, opened in 1854 and once the Great Western Hotel, the Hilton Paddington has recently undergone a £60 million refurbishment and is a four-star deluxe. The interior is spacious with an open-plan brasserie and lounge towards the rear, and a back entrance which leads straight onto a walkway inside the railway station. The platform for the Heathrow Express can be seen from the hotel door, and Paddington station is served by Bakerloo, Hammersmith and City, District and Circle tube lines.

The 355 rooms (including 26 suites) have views over the station and onto Praed Street, although effective soundproofing ensures a good night’s sleep. The decor is modern and certainly distinct; the yellow patterned carpets, peach striped wallpaper and red wood furnishings make an unusual combination.

All rooms have broadband internet access (£15 for 24 hours) and internet access through the TV, computer cables provided, and tea and filter-coffee making facilities. My executive room was on the fifth floor and included access to an executive lounge with free snacks and drinks, quiet booths for private meetings, and internet access.

My bathroom had dark marble floors and black marble-top sinks. There was a separate bath and shower and Hilton toiletries, which included a nail file.

For winding down, the Steam Bar is a long, American-style bar with leather seated open booths and large wooden tables. The atmosphere was quite lively but I did not appreciate the lingerie channel showing on the huge TV. The bar serves food until 12.30am. I had a tasty and decent portion of spring rolls and a smaller serving of prawns on sticks for £12. The Brasserie restaurant is just off the lobby area and dishes up the Hilton breakfast, buffet lunches and à la carte dinners.

The hotel has 15 meeting rooms and seven “focus rooms” – also known as bedroom syndicates for one-to-one meetings. These are normal bedrooms which turn ingeniously into a meeting space when the bed folds up and tables and chairs slide into place. They can hold four people comfortably. The Great Western Conference and banqueting suite, with an impressive number of chandeliers, accommodates up to 400 people.

The hotel has a business centre on the first floor, open weekdays 8am-6pm (closed weekends), and after 6pm reception can take care of faxes and phone calls. There are two computers with broadband connection, costing £10 for 90 minutes. There is wifi access in the lobby and first floor atrium area, charged at £10 for 24 hours (BT Openzone access cards can be bought at reception).

Price Best flexible rate for double room is £210, including VAT. Promotional “leisure” rate available of £130 including VAT and breakfast (restrictions apply). Rack rates not available.

CORUS HOTEL HYDE PARK
Lancaster Gate, tel +44 (0)870 609 6161, corushotels.co.uk

On the corner of Bayswater Road and Lancaster Gate, a few minutes’ walk from the tube station (Central line) and a 10-minute walk to Paddington station, this is the flagship property of the Milton Keynes-based Corus, a 60-strong chain of three-star hotels. After a £12 million refurbishment the design is modern with attentive staff, and the 390 rooms are comfortable, although only a few have broadband internet access (public areas have BT Openzone available).

Price Standard rate for double room is £125 including VAT. A promotional rate is also available for £75 room only, £95 bed and breakfast or £125 for dinner, bed and breakfast, all including VAT. There are no cancellation restrictions on the cheaper rates. Rack rate is £139 including VAT.

QUALITY CROWN HOTEL
144 Praed Street, tel +44 (0)207 706 8888, qualitycrown.com

Next to the Hilton and opposite Paddington tube station, this refurbished hotel opened as the Quality Crown in July. It is part of London Town Hotels, which has five other hotels in the capital. The decor was designed by the director of operations, Malcolm Linforth-Jones. The chocolate-coloured carpets have a retro-style stripe on the left, which follows the line of the walls, and in the lounge there are London photographs taken by Malcolm and printed onto canvas. The reception has shiny marble floors and there is a small bar in the corner with a couple of chairs and some high stools.

The 85 rooms are well thought out, making maximum use of space, and have leather chairs and stylish beds with dark wood and leather bed boards. There are directional lights at the sides of the bed and the space feels clean and uncluttered. All rooms have 30-inch flat screen TVs and wifi access (charged at £2.99 per hour or £9.99 for 24 hours), trouser presses, and tea and coffee facilities. The bathrooms have huge power shower-heads and are bright and shiny.

Price Best flexible internet-only rate for a double room is £80 including VAT. Rack rate through calling reservations is £95 including VAT.

QUALITY HOTEL PADDINGTON
8-14 Talbot Square, tel +44 (0)207 262 6699, lth-hotels.com

A few minutes’ walk from Paddington station in Talbot Square, a peaceful garden square, this hotel is set in a Georgian house of primrose yellow and whitewashed walls. It has 75 rooms including a new executive floor
with club rooms and junior suites. There is a small lobby with comfortable antique sofas and tall plants, and the decor throughout is twee with traditional patterned bedspreads and matching chairs. The stairwell is listed.
The rooms are small but comfortable. All rooms have tea and coffee making facilities, trouser press, satellite TV and wifi access (£9.99 for 24 hours or £2.99 an hour). The internet can also be accessed via the TV. Some rooms have four poster beds and Mary Poppins-style views over Paddington’s rooftops and kitchen gardens. The bathrooms are a good size with clean, white tiles. Some rooms have both baths and showers.

There is a small bar just off reception and downstairs the restaurant serves buffet-style continental and full English breakfast. It is a small space but has two skylights and an old country home feel.

There is no business centre or meeting rooms but meeting space can be arranged at the Quality Crown Hotel, round the corner. Reception can assist with faxing and photocopying.

Price Best flexible internet-only rate for a double room is £77 including VAT. Best rate through calling reservations is £85. Rates vary.

TRAVELODGE FARRINGDON
10-42 King’s Cross Road, tel +44 (0)870 191 1774, travelodge.co.uk

It’s easy to walk into the wrong Travelodge in this part of town, as I did, and then panic when they don’t recognise your reservation; the Travelodge Islington and Travelodge Farringdon are on the same road about 50 metres apart (there’s also a Travelodge Kings Cross nearby). There is certainly plenty of demand – both Travelodges plus the Holiday Inn opposite my hotel were full and turning away customers on the night I stayed.

The Farringdon property was a Thistle until June 2004, and a gradual refurbishment of all rooms is in the pipeline to bring it into line with the 11 other, more modern London Travelodges. There are signs of wear and tear at this one, such as a couple of cracks in the doors where room numbers had been nailed in, and one of the drawers I pulled out came apart in my hands, but on the whole everything was clean, unfussy and functional. The 280 rooms are all of a similar size with those positioned at the back being quieter than the  ones overlooking the road. My room was at the back and I wasn’t bothered by the low-level traffic noise (I was, however, woken up at 1am by a group of merry, door-slamming German students).

Most rooms are family rooms with one double and a single bed, with others having twin beds or doubles. All have showers and baths (combined) and are neutrally decorated, equipped with pay movies and internet connection via the telephone, accessed by swiping a credit or debit card. Reception is open 24 hours but to call it you have to swipe your card (and pay) as if calling an external number. A buffet breakfast is available from 7am-10am (£6.50). Dinner is also served in the laid-back lounge area between 5pm and 10pm. A good option for a cheap stay, and perfectly comfortable if you are a low-maintenance guest who is happy without frills such as minibar, room service and air conditioning (and being able to contact reception for free).

Price Standard flexible rate for a double room is £60; non-refundable promotional internet rate for a double room is £50. No rack rates available.

Ibis London Excel
Western Gateway, Royal Victoria Dock, tel +44 0800 587 3931, ibishotel.com

Ibis is the most widespread of French hotel group Accor’s budget brands in the UK, with 12 properties in London. The hotel is 200 metres from the western entrance of the Excel exhibition centre (nearest DLR stop Customs House, a three-minute walk) and is one of a cluster of six hotels next to Excel, including a Novotel, Crowne Plaza and Premier Travel Inn. Car parking is shared with the Novotel next door, costing £10 for an overnight stay.

The 278 rooms on eight floors are identically decorated in green and apricot shades and some have good waterside views (the hotel is in an L-shape with the best views being on the outside of the L). Rooms are more comfortable than they look: my blanket looked old and the double bed had just one pillow (though there is a spare in the cupboard) but I enjoyed a wonderfully undisturbed and comfortable night’s sleep. The bathrooms look a bit like closets in the corner of the room but are tardis-like, opening into a surprisingly large shower, and mine was spotlessly clean and gleaming.

Internet access is available in rooms using the modem/dataport in the telephone and costing 20p per minute, and wifi access is available throughout the hotel (but, oddly, works better on the upper floors according to staff on reception). There is no gym and no business centre or meeting rooms, but faxing and photocopying can be done at reception; however, make sure you take your own laptop if you want access to emails as there are no computers available.

The large and pleasant La Table restaurant serves a buffet breakfast from 6.30am until 10am (although there is a simpler spread available on request for early and late risers from 4-6am and 10am-12pm). Rather than the traditional English cooked breakfast there is a continental spread of meats and cheeses and hardboiled eggs, as well as pastries, fruit, toast and cereals. Dinner is served from 6pm to 10.30pm with options of two courses (£10.45) or three courses (£11.95) or the salad and soup buffet bar (£6.95).

There is no room service but hot and cold snacks such as sandwiches and paninis can be ordered at reception, 24 hours. There is a bar alongside the restaurant, which opens until midnight. Many of the in-room amenities you would expect in a more upmarket hotel are available on a more limited basis – for example, two “ironing rooms” are available on the second and sixth floors, and a hairdryer and safe are available at reception. The TV can provide wake-up calls and has terrestrial channels and a couple of European channels, plus three UK radio stations. The hotel is service-conscious and promises to resolve any complaints (I had none) within 15 minutes or give you your money back; it also markets its loyalty programme very prominently. /

Price Standard flexible rate is £60.

THE CUMBERLAND
Great Cumberland Place, Marble Arch, tel +44 (0)870 333 9280, guoman.com

Two minutes from Marble Arch, this newly refurbished hotel is the first example in the UK of Thistle hotel’s new luxury brand, Guoman. Formerly Le Meridien Marble Arch, it’s on the corner of Great Cumberland Street and Oxford Street and, after having £95 million spent on it, the 4,000sqm lobby and bar are suitably dramatic with white leather sofas and stools, a waterfall, and modern art sculptures. The 1,090 rooms are hi-tech, decked out in vibrant colours, and have mini fridges for storing your own food and drink. Ask for an interior facing room; those looking onto Oxford Street are noisy.

Price Best flexible rate for double room is £129 (advanced purchase non-refundable rate of £116). Rack rate for a double room is £382 including VAT.

THE WALDORF HILTON
Aldwych, tel +44 (0)20 7836 2400; hilton.co.uk/waldorf

This is a superb re-imagining of a classic hotel. It has been many years and £30.4 million in the making as it converted from Le Meridien to Hilton. The exterior is unchanged – a traditional style of early-20th century London architecture – but inside the reception desk is illuminated yellow glass, the walls are minimalist white, and the main colour comes from the bright red leather wing chairs.

The 299 rooms are in all shapes and sizes, some with views, some interior facing, but all have wall-mounted plasma TVs, trouser press and a laptop charger in the safe (why don’t all hotels have this?). It’s a superb addition to the London hotel scene.

Price Best fully flexible rate for a queen room is £220 (non-refundable advanced purchase rate is £176)

THREADNEEDLES
5 Threadneedle Street, tel +44 (0)20 7657 8080, theetoncollection.com

Taking its name from Threadneedle Street, this former bank, built in 1856, has undergone a £21 million transformation into a five-star luxury boutique hotel – part of the Eton Collection of hotels – with an outstanding restaurant (review next month). Prices are high, but deservedly so given the decor and the quality of service. The discreet entrance leads through to the original stained-glass dome of the atrium which, in the evening, is animated by music from the adjacent bar.

I stayed on a Friday night in July, the day after the London bombs, and so the occupancy was hardly typical (I was one of only two diners in Bonds restaurant that evening, and the usually busy bar was almost empty), but the staff were professional, courteous and well able to deal with the trouble of my requesting another room because of the noise from a neighbouring building (a private apartment separate from the hotel, and so not their responsibility). The 69 rooms and suites are furnished to a high specification with beds of Egyptian cotton and duck down duvets by Frette, limestone bathrooms with chrome and glass accessories, wifi access (£20 for 24 hours) and fresh fruit, tea and coffee and shoe shine.

Other Eton Hotels in London are The Colonnade, 2 Warrington Crescent, Little Venice (+44 (0)20 7286 1052) and The Academy, in Bloomsbury (+44 (0)20 7631 4115).

Price Standard rate for a queen room is £270.

London facts

• At the last count (in 2002), there were 186,001 hotel beds in London, and 93,248 rooms. They were in 1,508 hotels, B&Bs and guest houses.
• 46 per cent of visitors in 2002 were in London on holiday; 24 per cent on business and 24 per cent visiting friends and relatives.
• Predicted visitor numbers for London in 2005 were 27.35 million.
• Spending in London is predicted to be over £9 billion in 2005.
• The first half of 2005 was very strong for London with spending up 12 per cent, so even though the bombings on July 7 will affect predicted spending in the second half of the year, because the first half was so strong the £9.35 billion is still on track.Statistics from Visit London survey, 2002

London hotel prices

For comparison purposes, we have included rack (published) rates for each hotel. We also show best internet rates for all hotel rooms obtained on September 21 for one-night occupancy on a future midweek date (Thursday October 20). In each case the hotel’s own website booking engine was used or, where not possible, telephone reservation. All rates exclude VAT and breakfast except where stated.