Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Hotel reviews: what was new in 2011


Hotel reviews: what was new in 2011



This year, as London limbered up for the Olympics, thousands of extra London hotel rooms were created, with more to follow in 2012.

The openings that made the biggest headlines included the unveiling of the St Pancras Renaissance following the long-overdue restoration of one of the capital's most glorious buildings. A three-year make-over of old favourite The Savoy was also completed, while the American chain W attempted to bring sexy back to Leicester Square via its in-room waterproof vibrators.

Perhaps the most eagerly awaited opening was The Savoy, a relic from a "Golden Age" of travel that was refurbished at a cost of £210 million, and is now welcoming back upmarket guests to the Strand.

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Our London expert Sophie Campbell reviewed the grand dame and gave it an impressive Telegraph rating of 9/10. She described the rooms as being "large and fresh, safely traditional without being frumpy", and praised the "attentive, unobtrusive staff". Gordon Ramsay reopened the hotel's "uber-stylish" Savoy Grill restaurant, while The American Bar "managed Deco glamour and (just) views of the Thames."

 

The rebirth of the St Pancras Renaissance, Gilbert Scott's masterpiece, was finally unveiled in May. Our hotel guru Fiona Duncan stayed the night and revelled in the "magnificent grand staircase, the ornate ladies' smoking room, the gold leaf and stencilling, the tessellated floors and romantic murals, the Gothic stonework and the soaring, lofty proportions".

 

Meanwhile, the W London was the first of the W chain's hotels to open in the UK, settling into a translucent building on the corner of Leicester Square. Our reviewer Adrian Bridge described the interiors as "playful" with "soothing furnishings, lighting and silky curtains – and a 'munchie box' containing food, drink and a waterproof vibrator." The Spice Market restaurant "sizzled" but the hotel's location was "noisy" and it was £7 for a bottle of sparkling water from the mini-bar. He gave it 7/10.

 

Other significant openings included the Zetter Townhouse, a sister to The Zetter in Clerkenwell but different in style, a "tour-de-force", according to Nigel Tisdall, with a "lounge, bar and dining room dressed theatrically in a jumble of Victoriana that includes a stuffed kangaroo, armchairs upholstered with sacking, and walls crammed with oil paintings, curios and old photos."

He also reviewed the Corinthia, a grand 294-room hotel in Whitehall with "an excellent location and resolutely high standards", and London Syon Park, a new five-star hotel opposite Kew Gardens that disappointed with its "astonishingly naff notes" in bedrooms and an "almost criminally inappropriate" design.

Read these reviews in full

New York

New York's fashionable Nolita district welcomed the Nolitan, a 55-room boutique property. It is "chic and stylish without being insufferably hip", our New York expert said, rating it 7/10. It offers "all those niche amenities of a scene hotel – design restaurant, large lobby, skateboards and bikes for hire - yet remains understated and unpretentious."

 

The Mondrian SoHo also spread wide its doors, revealing an interior based on Jean Cocteau's 1946 film La Belle et la Bête. The hotel is owned by the Morgans Group and currently has an exhibition of photographs by Sol LeWitt of lower Manhattan printed on vinyl on an external wall.

Paris

In Paris, the "fiercely fashionable" Mandarin Oriental opened on the smart rue Saint-Honoré, attracting "very glamorous, very thin French couples and impeccably groomed families", according to our reviewer Francisca Kellett. She said the hotel has an "army of staff" who remember guests' names, while rooms that are "plush and warm, with heavy fabrics, modern prints and vast, deliciously comfortable beds, make this a good choice in winter". She rated it 7/10.

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