| |
Set in London’s “Square Mile,” the brand new Apex is ideally situated in the heart of the City’s business district. Five multifunction private rooms, each equipped with Wi-Fi, broadband, LCD projectors, offer business travellers the latest in technology. Indulge your senses in the sauna, try reflexology, reiki, and flower therapy at the fitness centre or simply drift off to sleep in your luxuriously appointed room. The restaurant Addendum is receiving rave reviews for its hearty fodder.
|
After a major refurbishment, it has quickly become one of the capital’s finest places to sleep, eat and relax. Intimate and charming, the interiors have been given the contemporary touch by Olga Polizzi from the Rocco Forte luxury hotel. All of the air-conditioned rooms have dual-line phones, voice messaging, broadband internet connections and digital flat-screen LCD televisions with interactive video on demand, minibar and safe. The Mayfair location makes it an ideal bolt-hole for Bond Street shopping.
|
A sumptuous hotel bang in the middle of central London, Charlotte Street is modern and youthful while maintaining high levels of service. Guestrooms are of a good size and feature all amenities for the modern executive, including wi-fi. Indeed, the hotel is aimed firmly at the business market, being home to a screening room and two luxurious meeting rooms. Oscar’s restaurant serves modern British food with a good slice of international influence, and the adjoining bar is popular with the local media crowd for post-work drinks.
|
This iconic bastion of British hospitality delivers impressive standards of luxury, style and service. The sumptuous, air-conditioned bedrooms are elegantly themed to reflect the Victorian and art deco heritage of the building. Culinary excellence is assured in Gordon Ramsay at Claridge’s, where impeccable service and dishes cooked with flair set exacting standards. The sleek cocktail bar is a popular meeting place, and the stylish foyer provides an eye-catching venue in which to enjoy the popular afternoon teas.
|
Conrad London is the only five-star, all-suite hotel in the capital. Located right on the waters’ edge in the secure and exclusive surroundings of Chelsea Harbour, Conrad London offers a fitness centre, a 17-metre swimming pool, an award-winning restaurant, bar and terrace right on the harbour, plus serene luxury and spectacular views. The conference centre features 14 different business suites with full AV equipment and high-speed internet access, designed to meet the needs of up to 200 delegates. The Conrad is conveniently located for the Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre and the Congress Hall at Olympia, as well as the fabulous attractions of Chelsea.
|
One of London’s finest hotels, the Dorchester is sumptuously decorated. Recently refurbished bedrooms are beautifully appointed and feature huge, luxurious baths in marble bathrooms (naturally). Leading off from the foyer, The Promenade is the perfect setting for afternoon tea or drinks, while in the evenings guests can relax to the sound of live jazz in the bar and enjoy a cocktail or an Italian meal. Other dining options include the traditional Grill Restaurant, while China Tang is the inspiration of international entrepreneur David Tang, owner of the China Clubs in Beijing, Hong Kong and Singapore, London’s celebrity hang-out Cipriani along with the exclusive Shanghai Tang fashion house. In this super chic restaurant art deco meets Shanghai nights, providing the most magical and lively backdrop while you indulge in fabulous cocktails and the finest dim sum.
|
The Four Seasons Canary Wharf positively oozes sophistication. Operating unperturbed by the prefabricated notions that haunt so many similar international hotel chains, this top-rate establishment is located in the city’s new financial epicentre. Its spacious rooms and suites offer spectacular views over the gentrified docklands, and there is private access to the Holmes Place gym and spa to de-stress after a meeting. This is the best option for a business visit, especially if you will be working in Canary Wharf, although you can be in town in 20 minutes by Tube on the snazzy Jubille line.
|
Excellent for business, Terence Conran’s Great Eastern delivers on every level, especially in terms of comfort and service. Aimed at and popular with the funkier generation of business clientele, rooms are equipped for work both on and off-line, and enhanced with CD and DVD players and libraries, while the meeting room has the capacity to hold up to 400 people. Dining options are happily plush—Aurora for fine dining, Terminus for brasserie fare, Fishmarket for seafood and Miyabi for top-notch Japanese, and there is also the George British grub.
|
Voted as one of the top five best UK business hotels in the 2005 Conde Nast Traveller reader awards, the five-star Carlton Hotel stands out as a destination in its own right. Located in bustling Knightsbridge and run by the award-winning Jumeirah hospitality group, the hotel offers rooms tastefully decorated in European oak and marble with outstanding views over the city and beautiful gardens of nearby Cadogan place. The hotel’s famous Rib Room and Oyster bar, open since 1961, serves choice chunks of traditional British cuisine to soothing sounds supplied nightly by the restaurant’s resident pianist.
|
Located on Charterhouse Square, in the bustling and bohemian Smithfield Market area, the Malmaison is on the edge of the City and a short journey from the West End. All rooms come with double queen or king-size beds, power showers, air conditioning, black-out curtains, cable TV, CD systems with CD library, two-line phones with voicemail, data ports, fast and free internet access, personal bars with drinks you’ll want to drink and nibbles. Wi-fi is available in the public areas. Affordable comfort in smart
|
An impressive and elegant hotel overlooking Hyde Park, bedrooms and suites are appointed to the highest standard, many with unrivalled views. Irish linen sheets and goose down pillows add to the luxury. There is a good choice of dining options—the Park Restaurant offers light, brasserie-style dishes, the sophisticated Foliage restaurant serves award-winning modern European cuisine, and the fashionable Mandarin Bar is good for light snacks and cocktails until late. The stylish spa is a destination in its own right, with booking essential. The nearby Berkeley hotel (7235 6000 www. maybournegroup.com) has one of the chicest bars in London, The Blue Bar, a Madonna favourite and designed by the infamous Mr David Collins. Go. But make sure you dress up and look the business.
|
This fashionable hotel boasts an enviable location in Knightsbridge’s chic shopping district, virtually opposite Harrods and Harvey Nichols. Thoughtfully equipped bedrooms are fully functional for business as well as having air conditioning, Bose CD players and radios. Business facilities are excellent—the six meeting rooms can cater for up to 120 people. The acclaimed Mju Restaurant and Bar has more than a touch of Pacific Rim about the menu, with a tempting degustation menu proving a popular choice. Wi-fi is available at a cost of £5 per hour in the public areas.
|
Über-chic urban hideout for the fashion conscious, No 5 Maddox Street is the accommodation equivalent of an Armani jacket. The large suites have a Zen design, minimalist lines, lots of space and bamboo floors. Each is kitted out with full tech and has a CD player and VCR. Its location just off Regent Street demands that you go out to dine at one of the fabulous establishments nearby. Ideally suited to long stays—indeed, so ideal that one might find oneself making excuses to stay a bit longer.
|
Located in a quieter area of the city and just a short stroll from Oxford Street, this reliable Radisson has five styles of bedroom, ranging from Oriental through to classical. Rooms are fully kitted out for work, while business services are excellent and include a mobile phone hire facility. The 11 meeting rooms have a maximum capacity of 400. The Portman restaurant offers a modern British menu. High-speed wi-fi access is available in your room and in public areas.
|
Overlooking Kensington Gardens, the Ramada’s main strong point is its location. While the building itself is no oil painting, inside the decor is standard and rooms are large, clean and comfortable. The four meeting rooms cater for groups of up to 100. Art’s Grill is fine if you’ve had a hard day and can’t be bothered to look for something else. We advise that, if you’re keen on food, you step outside and sample one of the many restaurants on the doorstep.
|
[address]es in London don’t get much prettier than 101 Knightsbridge, which is just a Prada-shod skip away from Harvey Nichols and a short stroll from Sloane Street and Harrods, so ideal for shopping. The top of the Sheraton offers excellent views over Hyde Park and the Serpentine.
|
Soho’s first 'deluxe’ hotel is from the same chic stable as the Charlotte Street and Covent Garden hotels, both of which are the capital’s hotels of choice for the discerning US celebrity. Their other South Kensington hotel, The Pelham, is beyond adorable. The interior is designed by Kit Kemp in a fresh, modern English style and comprises two drawing rooms with honesty bar, REFUEL bar and restaurant, two state-of-the art screening rooms (45/100 seats), three private dining rooms and a fully equipped gym with beauty treatment rooms and a personal trainer on site all day. The best thing is the size of the rooms, which are vast given the central location, and the private apartments come with separate entrance.
|
Sister to the equally fabulous St Martins Lane hotel, the Sanderson is another Schrager hotspot. The surreal, Alice in Wonderland-esque furniture in the lobby extends to the bedrooms, with oil paintings hung on the ceiling and rugs inspired by Voltaire’s handwriting. Appealing mainly to media and advertising companies, the boardroom is equipped with the latest audio-visual equipment, plus dressing and make-up rooms. Spoon restaurant, headed by the mighty Alain Ducasse, encourages diners to customise their meals according to their nutritional needs. The Long Bar is perfect for (expensive) cocktails and there is a stunning outdoor terrace which is open air in summer. Make sure you check out eth Light bar at St Martin’s Lane hotel too for a swinging Saturday night in the capital.
|
The Trafalgar is the Hilton group’s only lifestyle hotel and the decor is certainly different from other Hiltons around the world. Not so well kitted out for the business traveller as some hotels, although Internet access is possible through the television and connect cards are available for a dial-up modem. A small meeting room is available, and staff are willing and professional as ever in dealing with queries and requests. Basement restaurant Jago has yet to register on the London dining map but serves superb Asian fusion cuisine, and the Rockwell bar does a mean whisky cocktail. The location is fantastic, too, being right on Trafalgar Square itself (Nelson’s column looms above and the National Portrait Gallery is a hop and a skip across the square). There is a cute rooftop terrace that opens in summer offering some of the best views in London. Paris Hilton is not a regular sadly.
|
The Zetter is fashionable, chic and very reasonably priced. Housed in a converted Victorian warehouse with a spectacular central atrium over five floors, rooms are comfortable and there is a great modern Italian restaurant looking on to St Johns Square. Ideally located between the West End and City, The Zetter is within easy walking distance of Sadlers Wells, the Barbican, Smithfield’s, St Paul’s and the Thames. It was also voted one of the Condé Nast Traveller 'Top 50 Coolest new Hotels in the World’.
|
Threadneedles offers impeccable service and an air of sophisticated luxury in the heart of the City of London. Many of the original features of this fantastic banking hall were retained in the conversion, including the beautiful stained-glass central dome that serves as the centrepiece of the reception and sitting area—perfect for casual business meetings during the day. The guest rooms and suites personify contemporary living, with Egyptian cotton and duck down duvets from Frette. Overlooking the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange, the hotel is within minutes of the Lloyd’s building, the Strand, the Tate Modern, St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London and Shakespeare’s Globe.
|
In terms of location—central London with river views—and price (about £83 per room) the Travel Inn wins. Ideally suited to short stays or those more concerned with where they stay than what they stay in, it’s situated in the magnificent County Hall building, next to the London Eye and opposite the Houses of Parliament. All rooms are clean and comfortable, although there are no meeting facilities. Potter’s Bar restaurant provides fare for the hungry, but sitting on the South Bank as it does, it would be rude not to sample some of the restaurants nearby.
|
| |