The Lanesborough Hotel, London – hotel review

Suzannah Ramsdale steps back in time for a weekend to remember at one of London’s grandest hotels
1/23

Where is it?

Smack bang in the middle of Hyde Park Corner. A hop, skip and a jump from the park with views of the iconic Wellington Arch. It’s a busy road but rooms are triple glazed so you won’t hear so much as a brake screeching. Hyde Park Corner tube is 30 seconds across the road. Alternatively, hitch a lift in one of the hotel’s chauffeur-driven cars – our pick would be the Rolls.

Style

A Grade II listed building, the Lanesborough started life as the home of the Earl of Lanesborough before becoming St George’s Hospital (the hospital has since relocated to Tooting and has a Lanesborough Wing as a nod to its roots).

Everything about the Lanesborough hotel is grand, opulent and incredibly expensive (rumour has it its 2015 renovation cost in the region of £80 million). Regency in style, there’s gold-leaf gilding, hand-cut Wilkinson chandeliers, hand-stencilled wood panelling, trompe-l’oeil marbling and the largest collection of artwork outside a museum (among them Joshua Reynolds portraits). It’s like stepping back in time or straight into the fairy tale castle from Beauty and the Beast.

The Grand Hall
The Lanesborough Hotel

Despite the in-your-face grandeur, the hotel doesn’t feel stuffy. It even has a cute resident pet cat called Lilibet. From the doorman to spa receptionists, it’s the approachable staff who give the Lanesborough its home-from-home vibe – if your home was a neoclassical mansion, that is.

Facilities

The luxury starts a few days before your arrival. You’ll receive an email from the butler service (each room its own personal 24-hour butler) asking you for details of your wine preference, ideal room temperature, and the colours you’d like to have in the room’s floral arrangements.

The luxury continues down in the spa. Hidden away (we needed a very helpful member of staff to help us find it), the subterranean retreat has a hydrotherapy pool with loungers, separate male and female sauna and steam rooms, a Painting Room for manis and pedis, five treatment rooms and a Bodyism gym.

It’s the only spa in the UK to offer a range of four signature treatments from Tata Harper, known as the ‘queen of green’ because of her dislike of toxins and synthetics. Try the Tata Harper Grounding Yogic Facial for a full body and mind re-set. Osteopath Garry Trainer is the spa’s resident back-cracker extraordinaire, Anastasia Achilleos herself is on hand for facials and Suzanne Martin is the go-to eyebrow tamer.

The spa's hydrotherapy pool
The Lanesborough Hotel

Food & drink

The hotel’s Michelin-starred restaurant Celeste is befitting of a hotel as stately as the Lanesborough. The powder blue dining room is lit by sunlight shining through the glass domed roof by day and twinkling crystal chandeliers by night. Head chef Darcio Henriques uses seasonal British ingredients to whip up his take on European classics like celeriac tagliatelle with truffle emulsion, comté and mushroom purée or poached stone bass with roasted parsnip and fish jus. Afternoon tea is excellent with,prices starting from £60 per person.

Home to cognacs dating back to the 1770s, The Library Bar is a classic bar with a resident pianist playing nightly. Or take your cognac to go in The Garden Room, the hotel’s cigar bar. During our stay they had sold a £10K cigar – it’s just that sort of place.

Celeste
The Lanesborough Hotel

Extracurricular

With such a central London location, the city is yours for the taking. Head to Harrods and Harvey Nichols for a new season wardrobe update (the hotel offers a style consultation with a Harvey Nichols personal shopper), book a table at Ronnie Scott’s for late night jazz, or walk to Kensington Palace and then take in a concert at the Royal Albert Hall.

Which room?

No two rooms are the same, but all come with their own 24-hour butler, Roja Dove toiletries in glass bottles and complimentary outfit press on arrival. TVs are hidden behind paintings and the wonderfully over the top décor continues in all rooms. The seven-bedroom Royal Suite is one of London’s most expensive hotel rooms (prices start at £25K per night). Not a pop star or head of state? The very lovely signature rooms start at £605 per night.

One of the rooms in the Royal Suite
The Lanesborough Hotel

Best for

Romantic getways and high spend shopping weekends.

Details

Rooms at The Lanesborough start from £615.00 per night (inc VAT) on a room only basis. oetkercollection.com/hotels/the-lanesborough/

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