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The Most Spectacular Hotels to Book in London

A new wave of landmark openings reminds the world that the capital city still knows how to build a great one

By Paul Jebara
Elegant hotel lobby with ornate columns, chandeliers, and floral arrangements, featuring plush seating and warm lighting.
Lobby at Claridge’s. Photo: Courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group

While the British invented the grand hotel, they mostly forgot to keep improving it. César Ritz opened the Savoy in 1889 with electric lights, en suite bathrooms, and a Frenchman named Escoffier in the kitchen, and London spent the next century writing the rulebook every other capital cheerfully plagiarized. Somewhere around 1985, the city set the pen down. Paris kept polishing its palaces, New York turned the hotel lobby into a cocktail-hour parliament, Hong Kong went vertical, Dubai went taller, and London, ever the gracious host, simply waved everyone through to the same buildings that had been doing the same things since 1932. The city wasn’t asleep, exactly. It was just very, very British about waking up.

That long pause is over, and the new wave of landmark hotel openings has been thrillingly disproportionate. Between September 2023 and March 2026 the capital absorbed six major luxury openings—more starchitect signatures than the previous half century combined—alongside a parallel wave of renovation work at the heritage anchors that finally caught up to what the new arrivals were doing.

The map is also shifting: Mayfair and Belgravia still dominate the count, but the gravitational pull is loosening at the edges in ways that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. Bayswater, long the realm of mid-tier chain hotels and the western edge of nowhere in particular, now houses the largest new luxury opening in the city. Whitehall, where tourists used to walk briskly toward the next photograph, is home to one of the most architecturally ambitious restorations in Europe. Fitzrovia and Soho—neighborhoods that for decades couldn’t quite sustain a five-star property—both gained one in the last 30 months.

London is, at last, designed again. Below, a dozen spectacular hotels that prove it.

Building with large windows and a bronze eagle sculpture on the roof, framed by leafy tree branches under a clear sky.
The Chancery Rosewood. Photo: Courtesy of The Chancery Rosewood
Dining room with circular table, upholstered chairs, modern pendant light, and abstract artwork on wood-paneled walls.
Guest suite at The Chancery Rosewood. Photo: Courtesy of The Chancery Rosewood
Elegant living room with a large sofa, armchairs, a coffee table, and natural light streaming through large windows.
Guest suite at The Chancery Rosewood. Photo: Courtesy of The Chancery Rosewood
Elegant bar with green stools, wooden counter, and bottles on shelves, surrounded by large windows and warm lighting.
Serra Bar at The Chancery Rosewood. Photo: Courtesy of The Chancery Rosewood
Luxurious indoor swimming pool with elegant lighting, surrounded by comfortable seating areas and modern decor.
Asaya pool at The Chancery Rosewood.

1. The Chancery Rosewood

Eero Saarinen’s 1960 U.S. Embassy spent its final decade as a Mayfair curiosity, a Cold War monolith of aluminum and travertine that even Grosvenor Square couldn’t quite forgive. Rosewood opened the building as a hotel in September 2025, after David Chipperfield Architects spent six years restoring Saarinen’s diagrid bones, and Joseph Dirand layered the 144 all-suite interiors in green marble, ivory velvet, and oxblood lacquer. Yabu Pushelberg handled the 12,900-square-foot Asaya Spa, conceived as a series of ritual chambers descending from the building’s hum. The art collection runs to 700 works, reportedly the largest in any European hotel, with commissions from Christopher Le Brun and Anthony Grace alongside Hockney and Peter Blake. 

Spacious hotel lobby with wooden reception desks, indoor plants, and a large circular skylight surrounded by greenery.
Dome bar at Six Senses London. Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses London
Luxurious indoor swimming pool with modern design, elegant lighting, comfortable lounge chairs, and lush greenery.
Pool at Six Senses London. Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses London
Rustic kitchen with hanging lights, wooden table and stools, adorned with baskets, flowers, and shelves filled with jars.
Alchemy Bar Workshop. Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses London
Modern hotel room with a large bed, abstract artwork, and a window view of a city structure.
Guest suite at Six Senses London. Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses London
Modern urban apartment buildings with large windows and a glass dome structure in the background under a clear sky.
Courtyard at Six Senses London. Photo: Courtesy of Six Senses London

2. Six Senses London at The Whiteley 

William Whiteley called his 1911 Bayswater department store the Universal Provider, and after three years of construction delays, Six Senses turned the surviving Edwardian shell into a 109-key hotel and 14-residence complex. Foster + Partners executed the masterplan and exteriors, EPR Architects served as architect of record, and AvroKO, the New York studio, threaded the interiors around the original iron staircase that Whiteley modeled on La Scala. The 24,800-square-foot Six Senses Spa includes London’s first 65-foot magnesium pool, a hyperbaric chamber, and a longevity clinic, all part of the brand’s aggressive push beyond ornamental wellness. Six Senses Place, the company’s first private members’s club, sits alongside the hotel rather than inside it, with its own programming and entrance. 

Modern dining room with wooden walls, round table, six chairs, contemporary art, and pendant light.
Suite by Champalimaud at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory
Modern living room with neutral tones, abstract wall art, and cozy seating arrangement near large windows.
Suite by André Fu at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory
luxurious hotel room with mirrored closet, plush bed, gold accents, and flowers on a round table next to a window
Champalimaud Sute at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory
Elegant private dining area with round table, set for a formal dinner, ambient lighting, and plush chairs.
ABC Kitchen at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory
Luxurious indoor pool area with tall columns, ambient lighting, and neatly stacked towels on shelves.
Surrene at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory
Modern living room with a curved beige sofa, gold coffee table, books, decorative glasses, and a vase of flowers.
Champalimaud Suite at The Emory. Photo: Courtesy of The Emory

3. The Emory

Maybourne’s first new-build in 50 years was also Richard Rogers’s last project before his death in 2021, and he and Ivan Harbour designed a steel-sailed 61-suite tower in Knightsbridge—London’s first all-suite hotel—painted in what the press kit calls Richard Rogers Pink along its central staircase. Champalimaud, André Fu, Pierre-Yves Rochon, and Patricia Urquiola each took two suite floors, turning the building into a vertical biennale of contemporary hotel design. Rigby & Rigby designed the penthouse; Rémi Tessier handled the public spaces, the Emory Bar, and Bar 33 on the rooftop. Damien Hirst’s Hidden Gardens paintings hang inside abc kitchens, the Jean-Georges Vongerichten venue that combines three of his New York concepts under one London roof, and Brian Clarke designed a stained-glass installation for the bar. The multilevel Surrenne wellness club holds a 72-foot pool, a cryotherapy chamber, and a longevity clinic across 30,000 square feet.

Modern bar interior with stools, marble counter, artistic ceiling lights, and abstract painting on wooden wall panels.
Little Blue at The Peninsula London. Photo: Courtesy of The Peninsula London
Cozy chair by large windows with a view of a historic monument and lush green trees on a sunny day.
Grand Premier Park Room at The Peninsula London. Photo: Will Pryce
Luxurious hotel suite with a king-sized bed, dining area, and large windows overlooking a cityscape.
Premier Room at The Peninsula London. Photo: Courtesy of The Peninsula London
Stylish lounge with modern decor, plush chairs, flower vases on tables, geometric ceiling design, and framed art on walls.
The Tasting Room at The Peninsula London. Photo: Courtesy of The Peninsula London
Elegant indoor swimming pool with lounge chairs, artworks on the wall, and a grid pattern ceiling creating a serene atmosphere.
Spa pool at The Peninsula London. Photo: Courtesy of The Peninsula London
Elegant hotel lobby with tall columns, chandeliers, grand piano on mezzanine, and colorful seating arrangements.
Lobby at The Peninsula London. Photo: Courtesy of The Peninsula London

4. The Peninsula London

Hopkins Architects built a Palazzo Farnese on Hyde Park Corner, and Peter Marino did the interiors, trading his fashion-house leathers for British craft and dressing every member of the 800-strong staff in custom Jenny Packham livery—a Peninsula first. When the hotel opened in 2023, King Charles III gave it a royal grand opening eight months later. The building holds 190 rooms and suites and 25 branded residences arranged around a central courtyard, with bespoke commissions from more than 40 British artisans threading through the property: Timothy Han ceramics, mahogany dressing rooms, honey-onyx bathrooms, and Marino’s own ice-cave 82-foot subterranean pool. Brooklands by Claude Bosi already boasts two Michelin stars on the rooftop, and the adjacent bar suspends a Concorde scale model overhead while rotating actual classic race cars below. 

Historic ornate government building with columns and domes under a clear blue sky.
Exterior of Raffles London at the OWO. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London
Elegant room with high ceilings, large arched windows, vintage furniture, and intricate wood paneling, city view outside.
The Churchill suite at the new Raffles London at the OWO. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London
Luxurious rotunda room with curved seating, elegant dining table, panoramic windows, and a scenic city view.
Raffles London at the OWO. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London
Luxurious hotel room with a large bed, elegant wallpaper, and a chandelier. A door opens to a bathroom with a tub.
Raffles London at the OWO. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London
Elegant interior with ornate pillar, red patterned rug, wooden reception desk, and decorative wall panels.
The concierge desk at Raffles London preserves many of the historic structure’s period details. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London
Luxurious indoor swimming pool with arched stone architecture, serene lighting, and relaxing ambiance.
Raffles London includes a swimming pool, vitality pool, sauna, steam room, and other spa sanctuaries. Photo: Courtesy of Raffles London

5. Raffles London at The OWO 

The Old War Office hosted Churchill, Lloyd George, T.E. Lawrence, and Ian Fleming before it became a hotel in 2023, which gives the building an opening weekend guest list any hotelier would envy in retrospect. EPR Architects restored William Young’s 1906 Edwardian palazzo, and Thierry Despont did the interiors—among his final commissions before his death the following August—threading velvet, oak panel, and marble through 120 rooms, 39 suites, and 85 Raffles Residences, the brand’s first in Europe. Suites are named for the spies and statesmen who occupied the building: Haldane, Granville, Lamb. Hand-laid mosaic floors and the original marble staircase have been painstakingly restored, and Mauro Colagreco runs three restaurant concepts inside, including the 23-seat Mauro’s Table chef’s counter that has become one of the hardest reservations in the city. 

Modern living room with sectional sofa, floral wall art, and open kitchen in the background.
Guest suite living room at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Modern spiral staircase with green steps and warm lighting, leading to an elegant dining area with contemporary decor.
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Modern open-plan kitchen and living room with a sofa, dining table, marble counter, and elegant decor.
Guest suite at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Luxurious modern bar with elegant lighting, red cushioned chairs, and well-stocked shelves at night.
Rooftop bar at the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Luxury indoor swimming pool with sparkling lights on walls and ceiling, and lounge chairs in the background.
Spa pool at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Mayfair
Chefs skillfully preparing dishes in a modern, elegant restaurant kitchen surrounded by set dining tables.
Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. Photo: Courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Mayfair

6. Mandarin Oriental Mayfair

The first new-build hotel in Mayfair in more than a decade opened in 2024 on Hanover Square, and RSHP designed a Vierendeel structure clad in burnt-red brick baguettes—the longest bricks in the United Kingdom, a fact the architects mention with some pride. Studio Indigo took on its first hotel project across the 50 rooms and suites, treating each as a couture jewelry box of emerald, maroon, and turquoise wrapped in de Gournay hand-painted Magnolia silk wallpaper that has been feng-shui-mapped to room orientation. Curiosity, the Tokyo studio led by Gwenael Nicolas, handled the lobby, atrium, restaurants, bars, and spa, and the result is one of the most cinematic public realms in any new London hotel: a rare green Ming marble entry, a binaural-biohacking subterranean pool spa that is the first of its kind in the city, and a hidden 14-seat Korean chef’s table tucked behind a secret door called Dosa. Seventy-seven private residences sit above, their tenants presumably very pleased.

Elegant living room with blue sofas, glass table, floral curtains, and decorative artwork on the wall.
The Dorchester. Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester
Elegant vintage-style lounge with plush seating, green drapes, warm lighting, amber lamps, and a portrait on the wall.
The Dorchester. Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester
Spacious living room with modern furniture, large windows, yellow curtains, and a green view outside.
The Dorchester. Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester
Luxurious hotel room with canopy bed, elegant decor, windows with garden view, and a vintage desk.
The Dorchester. Photo: Courtesy of The Dorchester

7. The Dorchester

The Park Lane grande dame closed for its most ambitious renovation since 1989 and reopened in phases between 2022 and 2024, which in luxury-hotel timekeeping counts as both a long absence and a remarkably efficient one. Pierre-Yves Rochon led the lobby, the Promenade, the guestrooms, and the spa, working in English-garden colorways with de Gournay hand-painted suite headboards. Martin Brudnizki delivered the Vesper Bar in glittering Roaring Thirties brass and onyx. The new Artists’s Bar comprises commissions from contemporary British artists: Ann Carrington’s mother-of-pearl Queen Elizabeth II hangs in the Promenade, and Ewan Eason’s gold-leaf Hyde Park map runs the corridor like a wayfinding device for the entire hotel. The result is 241 rooms and suites, recently re-shaped without losing the 1931 Curtis Green silhouette that has appeared in roughly every photograph ever taken on Park Lane.

Exterior view of a historic red-brick hotel with flags, balconies, and people walking by amidst parked cars on the street.
Claridge‘s. Photo: Courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group
Elegant restaurant interior with ornate columns, large flower arrangement, and luxurious chandeliers creating a classic ambiance.
Reading room at Claridge’s. Photo: Courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group
Elegant hotel lobby with classic decor, chandelier, checkered floor, and seating areas.
Lobby at Claridge’s. Photo: Courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group
Elegant living room with scallop-shaped chairs, a glass-topped coffee table, and pink curtains framing a large window.
Guest suite at Claridge’s. Photo: Courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group

8. Claridge’s

Brook Street’s Art Deco anchor earned its slot here through programming as much as architecture. André Fu spent five floors below ground building a Japanese-temple-inspired spa that opened in 2022, then returned for the Pink Room and a two-tier glasshouse Residence penthouse in 2024. Bryan O’Sullivan’s Painter’s Room remains one of the most photographed bars in the city, and the Claridge’s ArtSpace gallery and artist-in-residence program launched the same year, giving the property a rotating contemporary-art identity it never had before. The Christmas Tree commission, an annual benchmark of London taste, went to Daniel Lee for Burberry in November 2025, following Paul Smith in 2024, Louis Vuitton in 2023, and Sandra Choi for Jimmy Choo in 2022. For many, this property still represents the bar against which every other London hotel is measured, even by its competitors.

Luxurious vintage-style living room with floral wallpaper, elegant mirror, fireplace, and colorful upholstered seating.
The bar at Broadwick Soho. Photo: Courtesy of Broadwick Soho
Interior of a stylish bar with patterned tiles, leather barstools, and shelves stocked with various bottles.
Bar at Broadwick Soho. Photo: Courtesy of Broadwick Soho
Wall with eclectic framed art, green cushioned seating, wine glasses on table, floral wallpaper background.
Bar Jackie at Broadwick Soho. Photo: Courtesy of Broadwick Soho
Cozy restaurant corner with plush seating, decorative mirrors, warm lighting, and modern artwork on the cork wall.
Flute at Broadwick Soho. Photo: Courtesy of Broadwick Soho

9. The Broadwick Soho

Owner Noel Hayden wallpapered a 57-key Soho corner from floor to ceiling in tribute to his late mother and the family’s defunct Bournemouth hotel, and Martin Brudnizki, in his London hotel debut, ran with the assignment. The Broadwick opened in 2023, throwing Iris Apfel, Liberace, and a 1980s cruise-ship entertainer into one building: brass elephant minibars handcrafted in Jaipur, palm-frond carpet, mirrored ceilings, onyx bars, and a sense of theatrical commitment that no other London hotel currently approaches. The art program runs to 350 works, including pieces by Francis Bacon, Bridget Riley, Andy Warhol, William Turnbull, Faye Wei Wei, and Casey Moore—unusually deep for a property of this size. ICA Studio raised the original structure with two new top floors to accommodate the program, and the rooftop bar Flute reads as the building’s thesis statement, lit and laughing.

Elegant restaurant interior with wooden accents, modern lighting, and neatly set tables ready for dining.
Brasserie Angelica at The Newman. Photo: Courtesy of The Newman
Luxurious hotel room with a four-poster bed, bedside table, and floral arrangement, leading to a bathroom with a robe.
Guest suite at The Newman. Photo: Helen Cathcart
Elegant bathroom with a freestanding tub, dark stone vanity, large mirror, and mosaic tile walls in neutral tones.
Guest bath at The Newman. Photo: Helen Cathcart

10. The Newman

The newest entry on this list opened in February 2026, the first hotel from Kinsfolk & Co. Lind + Almond conceived 81 rooms and a four-bedroom rooftop suite as a contemporary Art Deco love letter to Fitzrovia’s bohemian genealogy. Headboard curves reference Nancy Cunard’s bangles. Brass floor inlays in the basement Gambit Bar nod to Aleister Crowley. Bathroom tiling echoes the Gem Langham Court and Shropshire House facades next door, the kind of micro-detail that justifies the existence of named designers in the first place. The Nordic-style spa includes a halotherapy room, an ice lounge, a hydrotherapy plunge pool, and a Finnish sauna, with treatments by Nuori in its London hotel debut, Moss of the Isles, and Kloris CBD. 

Elegant living room with modern furniture, chandelier, bookshelves, artwork, and decorative pillows.
Guest living room at The Beaumont. Photo: Courtesy of The Beaumont
Elegant living room with a modern fireplace, glass coffee table, plush seating, chandelier, and large windows with curtains.
Living room at The Beaumont. Photo: Courtesy of The Beaumont
Elegant hotel room with a large bed, sitting area, artwork on the walls, and a window with curtains.
Guest suite at The Beaumont. Photo: Courtesy of The Beaumont
Dimly lit, cozy bar interior with a bartender behind the counter surrounded by shelves of bottles and art on the walls.
Bar at The Beaumont. Photo: Courtesy of The Beaumont

11. The Beaumont

Behind Selfridges sits a raised paving slab over an Edwardian electricity substation called Brown Hart Gardens, and on its quieter side, a hotel most of Mayfair walks past without seeing. Wafic Saïd owns the building, Corbin and King opened it more than a decade ago, and The Office of Thierry Despont handled the original interiors before returning to add a 29-room-and-suites wing at 2 Providence Court—among the architect’s last completed projects before his death the previous summer. Curated with Zuleika Gallery, the art holdings move from Braque, Miró, and Sonia Delaunay to Bridget Riley and commissions from Rana Begum and Luke Edward Hall, anchored by Antony Gormley’s Room, a 33-foot stainless-steel cuboid clad inside in fumed oak that you sleep within.

Aerial view of a lush courtyard with greenery, wooden decking, tables, chairs, and overhead trellis.
Terrace at The Mandrake Hotel. Photo: Courtesy of The Mandrake Hotel
Outdoor patio with wicker furniture, lush greenery, and ambient lighting in a modern, open-air setting.
Jurema at The Mandrake Hotel. Photo: Courteys of The Mandrake Hotel
Modern blue-themed room with purple chair and sofa, view of a bright bathroom with chandelier and freestanding bathtub.
Terrace Suite at The Mandrake Hotel. Photo: Courtesy of The mandrake Hotel
Modern lounge with leather chairs, dim lighting, digital art display on wall, and bar with stools on the left.
Theater at The Mandrake Hotel. Photo: Courtesy of The Mandrake Hotel

12. The Mandrake Hotel

Beirut-born collector Rami Fustok—son of the sculptor Bushra Fakhoury—opened the Mandrake on Newman Street as a continuously rotating wunderkammer dressed up as a hotel. Manalo & White converted a former office block, Tala Fustok Studio (Rami’s sister) handled the interiors, and Bureau Bas Smets—the Belgian practice now redesigning the public realm around Notre-Dame—built the courtyard with its three-story hanging garden of jasmine and passion flower. Inside, Dalí, Goya, Chagall, Clemente, Chihuly, and Lynn Chadwick share walls with Fable, a taxidermy hybrid by Cuban-born artist Enrique Gomez de Molina that presides over the Waeska bar like a chimera elected into office. Damu Spa anchors the lower floors with the Wavess Origin Pool—billed as the world’s first multi-sensory immersive pool—alongside the first hotel partnership with the Marina Abramović Longevity Method.