London Hotels Insight provides up-to-date, independent advice for your perfect stay in London. We research guest feedback, meet management and identify hotels at the top of their game.
Which London hotel suits your style?
When Anouska Hempel opened the first "boutique hotel" (Blakes), little did she realise what she was unleashing!
While some London boutique hotels like the Hempel are totally Zen – cool minimalism, white space, almost austere in design – others are at the opposite end: crammed full of antiques, upholstery and vibrant colour.
And what’s in fashion seems to swing from one pole to the other from year to year. Then each of us has our own personal taste to consider as well – do you prefer minimalism or grandeur? Open space or homely furnishings?
The most extreme example of a distinct hotel style may be Rough Luxe – a deconstructionist’s dream or Piranesi nightmare, depending on your taste.
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Rough Luxe is ideal for those who like their luxury a little bit rough at the edges or "backpacker chic"
Old paint and plasterwork has been part-stripped and part-preserved, creating a romantic patina (if you like it) or the feeling of a run-down tenement (if you don’t) – all mixed with photos of baroque palaces, Gilbert & George prints and rather over-the-top furniture. With just 9 rooms, it could easily be a boutique B&B – a whole category unto itself.
Hazlitt’s in Soho and The Rookery are sister hotels and also have a very definite character to their antique furnishings.
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Four-poster beds and retro quirkiness run riot at Hazlitt's which is designed very much in the "antique boutique" mould
These hotels feel like something from Harry Potter, with little doors and staircases that might lead anywhere, shiny copper plumbing, ‘bathing machines’ and 4 poster beds (my friend who is a professional ‘declutterer’ would have a nervous breakdown if I sent her to Hazlitt’s!).
The Milestone is a 5 star boutique hotel in Kensington which also does “traditional” design, but it presents its rooms in a less cluttered and arguably more user-friendly manner than Hazlitt’s. Founder Bea Tollman gets personally involved in ensuring that each room is uniquely furnished and the hotel’s outstanding guest reviews suggest her taste is spot on.
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The atmospheric Safari Suite at the Milestone Hotel in Kensington: consistently ranked in the top 5 London hotels on TripAdvisor
The Sanderson was designed by Philippe Starck, so you’d expect a playful but refreshingly contemporary design – and that’s exactly what you get.
Vibrant colours including lime green and lip-gloss red, it’s neither zen nor baroque but an intriguing mix – layers of curtains everywhere, and a sense of the theatrical, yet with an utterly unchintzy feel. St Martin’s Lane hotel is under the same ownership and has a similar feel; unsurprisingly, it’s where many media people stay when they’re in London.
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Philippe Starck's Sanderson Hotel goes the whole hog when it comes to minimalist design - and media types seem to enjoy staying there
Neither the Sanderson nor St Martin’s Lane currently make the top 100 on TripAdvisor, which some might say suggests style over substance. The Soho Hotel and Covent Garden Hotel by Firmdale manage to hit both nails on the head and are modern design hotels with substance – they do however (bafflingly) insist on charging a king’s ransom for WiFi.
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The Soho Hotel bears the signature of co-founder Kit Kemp's exquisite taste and has one of London's best hotel bars to boot
Definitely at the hedonistic and opulent end of the design spectrum is the new W Hotel in Leicester Square. It even has glitterballs, which I suppose are now seen as post-modern and ironic rather than naff.
Black leather and strong red hues in the public areas create an ambience part Gothic and part gentleman’s club. However, the rooms are lighter and more sparing, so you don’t have to be a full-on Goth to stay here.
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Brace yourself for glitterballs galore at the W London!
The Zetter has drama too, with its huge spiral staircase, but it’s a drama made out of light and space – far more Zen style, though it has a lightness and humour that I find some other hotels don’t possess.
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The Zetter has a witty, lighthearted style and a fine gourmet restaurant too
I suspect that while one or two readers will be either ‘Zen’ or ‘Baroque’, most of us sit somewhere along that spectrum. So while what’s ‘in’ and what’s ‘out’ from year to year may vary, we’ll probably find one of those hotels that mixes and matches elements of both more to our liking.
And that surely explains why most ‘design’ hotels now seem to be doing just that – not going all the way to minimalism, but at the same time ‘chucking out the chintz’ and keeping a distinctive contemporary vibe. And we still cry out for great service dammit!
Few boutique luxury hotels achieve the “best of both worlds” better than Hotel 41 – currently flying high on TripAdvisor. It has elements of grandeur within a wonderfully evocative private club atmosphere – but rooms are restrained and understated; full of contemporary lines and light, yet laced with witty retro touches like the humorous 1920s prints in the rooms.
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A "Junior Suite" at Hotel 41: a hotel which strikes a guest-friendly balance between modernity and grandeur...plus it has free WiFi too
Thank goodness the days when “5 star” meant pelmets, English hunting prints, Louis XVI armchairs and doilies on the tea table have gone for good!
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Photo credits: Blakes Hotel, Rough Luxe Hotel, Hazlitt’s Hotel, Milestone Hotel, Sanderson Hotel, The Soho Hotel, W London Hotel, Zetter Hotel, Hotel 41.
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Want to stay at Covent Garden, but until they get with it and change their WIFI policy will be choosing somewhere else, unless I can get a great deal. They just don’t seem to hear.