Hotels we recommend
Where to stay in London
Two hotels in London we would book for a client, in Mayfair and Chelsea. One holds MICHELIN Keys. One of them books through a partner programme, which adds an upgrade where one is free, daily breakfast for two, a hotel credit and late checkout, at the hotel's own rate.
- Hotels
- 2
- With MICHELIN Keys
- 1
- With partner perks
- 1
- Newest
- 2021
The hotels
Mayfair
JW Marriott Grosvenor House London
1929 · 496 rooms
A 1929 hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair, built on the site of the former home of the Dukes of Westminster and Gloucester and facing Hyde Park across the road. Its Great Room, a former ice rink, is one of Europe's largest hotel ballrooms and still seats dinners for up to 2,000.
Marriott Luminous
Chelsea
Beaverbrook Town House
2021 · 14 rooms
The London house of Beaverbrook, the Surrey country hotel, opened in September 2021 in two restored Georgian townhouses at 115 Sloane Street, Chelsea, opposite Cadogan Place Gardens. Its 14 rooms and suites are each named after a London theatre, above a Japanese restaurant and an Art Deco bar.
1 MICHELIN Key
On our list
Hotels in London we rate but have not yet stayed in, drawn hollow on the map. The hotels above are first-hand; these are where we are going next. We book them as we book the rest.
Mayfair
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the quieter Maybourne house and its bar.
Quieter than its Maybourne sister, with the best hotel bar in London attached.
Knightsbridge
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, between Knightsbridge and Hyde Park.
Fronts Knightsbridge on one side and Hyde Park on the other, and holds Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, with two Michelin stars.
Strand
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for César Ritz's hotel on the Strand.
On the Strand, where César Ritz, its first general manager, counted electric light and en-suite bathrooms among his innovations.
Whitehall
Three MICHELIN Keys and No. 28 on the World's 50 Best; on our list for Churchill's Old War Office on Whitehall.
The Old War Office on Whitehall, once home to Churchill, where SOE spy candidates were interviewed in the basement during the Second World War.
Belgravia
Three MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Four-Star; on our list for the Peninsula group's London house at Hyde Park Corner.
Hyde Park Corner, opened 2023 — the Peninsula group's long-promised London house.
Mayfair
Three MICHELIN Keys; on our list for the Art Deco standard of London hotels.
The Art Deco standard against which every other London hotel argues.
Albemarle Street, Mayfair
Brown's Hotel, a Rocco Forte Hotel
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Olga Polizzi's rework of an 1837 Mayfair fixture.
A Mayfair fixture on Albemarle Street since 1837, reworked top to bottom by Olga Polizzi.
Knightsbridge
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Antonio Citterio's minimalist Bvlgari in Knightsbridge.
Antonio Citterio's minimalist Bvlgari in Knightsbridge: the brand's Milan gloss, moved to Victorian London.
Mayfair
Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for a tenth-floor spa and Yannick Alléno's Pavyllon.
The first Four Seasons in Europe, open more than fifty years, with its spa on the tenth floor and Yannick Alléno's Pavyllon.
Holborn
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for an Edwardian monument on High Holborn.
An Edwardian monument on High Holborn, once an insurance company's headquarters, between the City and the West End.
Knightsbridge
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Cédric Grolet's pastries on the doorstep of Hyde Park.
Knightsbridge comfort on the doorstep of Hyde Park, with Cédric Grolet as its pâtissier-in-residence.
Chelsea
The Cadogan, A Belmond Hotel, London
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Oscar Wilde's old haunt on Sloane Street.
On Sloane Street since 1887, a haunt of Oscar Wilde, and looking as fresh now as the day it opened.
Mayfair
Two MICHELIN Keys and Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the Park Lane grand hotel over Hyde Park.
The Park Lane grand hotel looking over Hyde Park, newly restored, and home to the three-star Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester.
Mayfair
45 Park Lane, Dorchester Collection
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Hyde Park views and contemporary British art.
Art Deco rooms on Park Lane, every one with a view of Hyde Park and contemporary British art on the walls.
Whitehall
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for the old Hôtel Métropole and its Baccarat chandelier.
Built as the Hôtel Métropole, later the Ministry of Defence, now a hotel again, with a Baccarat chandelier and a spa on four floors.
Soho
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Kit Kemp interiors and a 1950s bowling alley.
Firmdale's ground-up rebuild of a Soho side street, with Kit Kemp interiors, a 1950s bowling alley and a rooftop garden.
St James's
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for John Nash's Regency building and its underground pool.
A Regency building by John Nash in the theatre district, with an underground pool overlooked by a pewter bar.
Regent Street
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for the bar of Oscar Wilde's set on Regent Street.
For over a century the bar and restaurant of Oscar Wilde's set, now a hotel on John Nash's curve of lower Regent Street.
Mayfair
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for a quiet modern building on Hanover Square.
A modern building on Hanover Square with red-brick strips in its façade and more residences than rooms, which keeps it quiet.
Mayfair
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for an imagined 1920s New York members' club.
A 1920s Art Deco building between Grosvenor Square and Selfridges, done as an imagined New York members' club of the period.
Mayfair
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for David Chipperfield's rework of the former US Embassy.
The former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square, reworked by David Chipperfield as 144 suites, with a rooftop bar overlooking the original golden eagle.
Hyde Park Corner
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for a Regency mansion at Hyde Park Corner.
A Regency mansion at Hyde Park Corner, with round-the-clock butlers for every one of its 93 rooms and suites.
Marylebone
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for the 1865 hotel once owned by the BBC.
Opened in 1865 as the most opulent hotel in Europe, later owned by the BBC, and now back with Langham and restored.
Piccadilly
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for Louis XVI interiors on Piccadilly beside Green Park.
Louis XVI interiors on Piccadilly beside Green Park, and for over a century the standard for London hotels.
Mayfair
Two MICHELIN Keys; on our list for an Edwardian manor on Grosvenor Square.
An Edwardian manor on Grosvenor Square with 31 rooms, a public restaurant and a private members' club.
Knightsbridge
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for two Victorian townhouses on a quiet Knightsbridge street.
Two red-brick Victorian townhouses on a quiet Knightsbridge street, joined into a 28-room hotel with two staff to every guest.
Tower Hill
Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the 1922 Port of London Authority headquarters.
The five-sided 1922 headquarters of the Port of London Authority, opposite the Tower; its ballroom held the first UN General Assembly in 1946.
Westminster
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the family-run hotel a block from Buckingham Palace.
Opened in 1910 a block from the wall of Buckingham Palace, and still run by the family who built it, with its own garden behind.
Westminster
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for black-and-white rooms opposite the Royal Mews.
Twenty-eight rooms on the top floor of a historic building opposite the Royal Mews, done in black and white after the cartoonist SEM.
City of London
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Yabu Pushelberg's interiors at One Bishopsgate Plaza.
In the 43-storey tower at One Bishopsgate Plaza by Liverpool Street, with interiors by Yabu Pushelberg.
Marylebone
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for the whisky bar with guests' own bottle lockers.
An 82-room hotel on a quiet Marylebone street run on Japanese hospitality, with a whisky bar that keeps guests' bottles in lockers.
Southwark
Forbes Five-Star; on our list for Renzo Piano's Shard and a pool facing St Paul's.
On floors 34 to 52 of Renzo Piano's Shard, with an infinity pool looking across the river to St Paul's.
What to know
JW Marriott Grosvenor House London and Beaverbrook Town House. Each has its own page with the rooms, the restaurants and what booking through us adds.
Beaverbrook Town House (one MICHELIN Key).
Of the hotels we recommend, Beaverbrook Town House, which opened in 2021. JW Marriott Grosvenor House London followed in 1929.
Beaverbrook Town House: its rooms start at 26 square metres. JW Marriott Grosvenor House London from 20.
JW Marriott Grosvenor House London (Marriott Luminous). Booked through us, each adds a room upgrade where one is free, breakfast for two each day, a hotel credit and early check-in or late checkout when the hotel can give it, at no extra cost to you.
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