Hotels in London

This article describes the hotels in London, England. Hotels are an important part of London's tourism industry.

History

Before the 19th century there were few if any large hotels in London. British country landowners often lived in London for part of the year but they usually rented a house, if they did not own one, rather than staying in a hotel. Numbers of business and foreign visitors were very small by modern standards. The accommodation available to them included lodging houses and coaching inns. Lodging houses were more like private homes with rooms to let than commercial hotels, and were often run by widows. Coaching inns served passengers from the stage coaches which were the main means of long-distance passenger transport before railways began to develop in the 1830s. The last surviving galleried coaching inn in London is the George Inn which now belongs to the National Trust.

A few hotels of a more modern variety began to be built in the early 19th century. For example Mivart's, the precursor of Claridge's, opened its doors in 1812 but, up to the mid-19th century, London hotels were generally small. In his travel book North America (1862), the novelist Anthony Trollope remarked on how much larger American hotels were than British ones. But by this time the railways had already begun to bring far more short-term visitors to London, and the railway companies themselves took the lead in accommodating them by building a series of "railway hotels" near to their London termini. These buildings were seen as status symbols by the railway companies, the largest businesses in the country at the time, and some of them were very grand. They included:

Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras

• The Midland Grand Hotel at St. Pancras (closed 1935; due to reopen as a Renaissance hotel in 2009/10)
• The Great Western Hotel at Paddington (now the Hilton London Paddington and the first of Britain's railway hotels)
• The Great Northern Hotel at King's Cross (closed for High Speed 1 works and planned to be rebuilt as a boutique hotel)
• The Great Eastern Hotel at Liverpool Street (Now the Andaz Liverpool Street)
• The Charing Cross Hotel at Charing Cross station
• The Great Central Hotel at Marylebone (now The Landmark London)
• The Grosvenor Hotel at Victoria

Many other large hotels were built in London in the Victorian period. The Langham Hotel was the largest in the city when it opened in 1865. The Savoy, perhaps London's most famous hotel, opened in 1889, the first London hotel with en-suite bathrooms to every room. Nine years later Claridge's was rebuilt in its current form. Another famous hotel, the Ritz, based on its even more celebrated namesake in Paris, opened in 1906.

The upper end of the London hotel business continued to flourish between the two World Wars, boosted by the fact that many landowning families could no longer afford to maintain a London house and therefore began to stay at hotels instead, and by an increasing number of foreign visitors, especially Americans. Famous hotels which opened their doors in this era include the Grosvenor House Hotel and the Dorchester.

The rate of hotel construction in London was fairly low in the quarter century after World War II and the famous old names retained their dominance of the top end of the market. The most notable hotel of this era was probably The London Hilton on Park Lane, a controversial concrete tower overlooking Hyde Park. Advances in air travel increased the number of overseas visitors to London from 1.6 million in 1963 to 6 million in 1974. In order to provide hotels to meet the extra demand a Hotel Development Incentive Scheme was introduced and a building boom ensued. This led to overcapacity in the London hotel market from the late 1970s to the mid 1980s. Construction then picked up again, but it was soon curtailed by the recession of the early 1990s and the reduction in international travel caused by the 1991 Gulf War.

The 1980s saw London (along with New York) start the trend of smaller boutique-style hotels. In the mid-1990s there was a major proliferation of new hotels being opened, including hotels of many different types from country-house-style hotels in Victorian houses to ultra-trendy minimalist premises. At this time some of London's grandest early-20th-century office buildings were converted into hotels because their layouts, with long corridors and numerous separate offices, were incompatible with the preference for open-plan working, but their listed status made it hard to get permission to demolish them. This period also saw the opening of the first five-star hotel in London south of the River Thames, the Marriott County Hall Hotel, and the first two in East London, the Four Seasons Canary Wharf and the Marriott West India Quay, which is also close to the Canary Wharf development. For many years there were no hotels at all in the City of London even though the financial firms of the City were one of the London hotel sector's most lucrative sources of custom. But in recent years over a thousand hotel rooms have opened in the City. Budget hotel chains such as Travel Inn and Travelodge have also been expanding rapidly in London since the mid-1990s.

One of the most expensive hotels in London is The Lanesborough. Originally a private address (Lanesborough House) in 1733 it was converted into St George's Hospital and began life as a hotel in 1991.

The oldest luxury hotel in London that is still privately owned is The Goring Hotel, having opened in 1910.

Hotels in modern London

Waldorf Hilton in Aldwych

Grange Holborn Hotel in Holborn

There is no official registry of hotel rooms in London, but the estimated the number of hotel rooms in Greater London in 2000 was put at 101,269. According to figures produced in support of London's 2012 Olympic bid, there were more than 70,000 three to five star hotel rooms within 10 kilometres of Central London in 2003. Interestingly the main growth was a huge rise in the number of rooms within the City of London, while Kensington and Chelsea actually had a small fall. This is comparing figures since 1981. The main concentration of luxury hotels is in the West End, especially in Mayfair. London's five star hotels are quite small on average by international standards. The largest has only 494 rooms and nine of them have fifty or fewer. The range is very wide, including:

• Traditional purpose-built grand hotels such as the Ritz, the Savoy and the Dorchester.
• Recent conversions of grand late 19th and early 20th century office buildings into hotels such as One Aldwych and the Renaissance Chancery Court.
• Townhouse hotels such as 13 Half Moon Street.
• Modern purpose-built chain hotels such as the Four Seasons London and the London Hilton on Park Lane.
• Modern boutique designer hotels such as the St Martins Lane Hotel.

Currently the most profitable hotels and those with the most consistently high room occupancies are hotels around the 5 major London airports. Heathrow and Gatwick are performing the best and becoming meeting and conference centres in their own right.

2006 was the year that environmentally friendly hotels started to become a marketing tool. Among the first to achieve certified levels were the Novotel London West and all the Marriott properties in the capital.

By the end of 2006 the boom in branded hotels which started around 2002 was well under way, with branded rooms accounting for around 70% of available accommodation at 71,000 rooms.

2007 saw the start of a building boom for purpose built hotels in the lead-up to the 2012 Olympic games in east London. Hotels are planned throughout London including at the new Wembley Stadium and around Docklands area. Many of these will be in the 4 and 5 star bracket supplementing the 2/3 star boom already ongoing with the likes of Ibis and Premier Travel Inn.

List of Five-Star Hotels in London

There are no official bodies that rate hotels. Most widely accepted bodies are the AA (in the past the RAC too) and the English Tourist Board. The ETB have recently changed their criteria to match that of the AA to provide consistency. Many hotels remain self rated.

Hotel	Location	Rooms	Notes
22 Jermyn Street	St. James's	22	townhouse hotel; owned by Togna family since 1915
41 Hotel	Westminster	20	boutique hotel
45 Park Lane	Mayfair	46	Sister hotel to The Dorchester due to open in 2011
Andaz Liverpool Street	City of London	267	Victorian railway hotel built as Great Eastern Hotel; reopened 2000
The Athenaeum Hotel and Apartments	Mayfair	123	modern
Baglioni Hotel	South Kensington	67	occupies a group of Victorian houses
The Bentley London	South Kensington	64	occupies Victorian buildings
The Berkeley	Belgravia	214	modern building; opened 1972. Roof top pool.
Blakes Hotel	South Kensington	51	occupies a group of Victorian houses
Brown's Hotel	Mayfair	117	occupies eleven townhouses
Capital Hotel	Knightsbridge	49	modern
Carlton Tower Hotel	Knightsbridge	220	modern
Charlotte Street Hotel	Fitzrovia	52
Churchill Hotel	Marylebone	445	modern
Claridge's	Mayfair	203	London's most aristocratic hotel; founded 1812 and rebuilt 1898 Art Deco.
The Connaught	Mayfair	92	traditional grand hotel
Courthouse Hotel	Soho	116	occupies a classical former magistrates court
Covent Garden Hotel	Covent Garden	58	English country house style
Dorchester Hotel	Mayfair	238	opened 1931; art deco exterior and "Georgian country house" rooms
Draycott Hotel	Chelsea	35	occupies three 1890s houses
Four Seasons Canary Wharf	Canary Wharf	142	opened c. 2001
Four Seasons London	Mayfair	220
Franklin Hotel	Knightsbridge	50	opened 1992 in four Victorian houses; English country house style
Goring Hotel	Victoria	71	built 1910; traditional English style
Grange City Hotel	City of London	307	opened this century, near to [[Tower of London]
Grange Holborn Hotel	Holborn	200	opened in a new building in the late 1990s
Grange St Pauls Hotel	St Pauls	433	opened in 2010
Grosvenor House Hotel	Mayfair	494	built 1928; most rooms of any central London 5 star hotel
Halkin Hotel	Belgravia	41	modern
Hempel Hotel	Bayswater	40
InterContinental London Park Lane Hotel	Mayfair	447	modern
The Landmark London	Marylebone Road	299	Victorian grand hotel; opened in 1899 as a railway hotel
Lanesborough Hotel	Knightsbridge	95	grand hotel opened in 1991 in converted 19th century hospital.
Langham Hotel	Marylebone	429	London's largest hotel when it opened in 1865
Le Meridien Hotel Piccadilly	Mayfair	266	traditional grand hotel
The London Hilton on Park Lane	Mayfair	450	modern; London's tallest hotel
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London	Knightsbridge	200
Marriott County Hall Hotel	South Bank	200	occupies part of the neo-baroque London County Hall.
Marriott Grand Residence	Mayfair	49	built 1926
Marriott London Grosvenor Square	Mayfair	221	early 20th century neo-Georgian
Marriott London Park Lane	Mayfair	157	built as apartments in 1919
Marriott West India Quay	Canary Wharf	348	built 2004; 301 rooms and 47 apartments
The May Fair	Mayfair	406	electic-luxury design
Millennium Hotel Mayfair	Mayfair	348	early 20th century neo-Georgian
Montcalm Nikko	Mayfair	120	boutique
One Aldwych	The Strand	105	early 21st century interiors in an early 20th century neo-baroque office building
Park Lane Hotel (Sheraton)	Mayfair	307	traditional grand hotel
Plaza On The River Club And Residence	Lambeth	66
Radisson Edwardian Hampshire Hotel	Leicester Square	124	English country house style
Radisson Edwardian Heathrow Hotel	Heathrow	459	modern
Rafayel on the Left Bank	Battersea	65	London's first eco-friendly 5-star boutique hotel on the south side of the river next to London heliport;
Renaissance Chancery Court Hotel	Holborn	356	opened in the 1990s in a grand 1914 office building
Ritz Hotel	St. James's	133	opened 1906; French chateau style building; possibly the most famous hotel in the world and synonymous with Afternoon Tea.
Royal Garden Hotel	Kensington	398	modern
Sanderson Hotel	Fitzrovia	150	Ian Schrager minimalist hotel
Savoy Hotel	The Strand	207	traditional grand hotel; opened 1889 - first in London with en suite bathroom to all rooms. Closed in December 2007 for £100 million refurbishment. Opening 2010.
Sloane Hotel	Chelsea	22	occupies some Victorian houses
Sheraton Park Tower Hotel	Knightsbridge	181	modern
Sheraton Skyline Hotel at London Heathrow	Heathrow	350	Modern Style
Sofitel St. James	St. James's	186	opened c.2000 in a grand classical former bank headquarters
Soho Hotel	Soho	91
Stafford Hotel	St. James's	80	English country house style
St Martins Lane Hotel	Covent Garden	204	1990s Philippe Starck minimalism in a 1960s office block
Swissotel London, The Howard	near The Strand	189	modern
Threadneedles City Boutique Hotel	City of London	69	occupies a banking hall built in 1865
Trafalgar Hilton	Trafalgar Square	129	opened 2001; contemporary building behind a retained facade
Waldorf Hilton	near The Strand	303	grand hotel built in 1908;
Wyndham Grand Chelsea Harbour	Chelsea	160	modern; overlooks the marina at Chelsea Harbour

also see the Cecil Hotel
Cafe Royale (now closed) is to become part a new 5 star hotel at the south end of Regent Street
The Strand Hotel at 336-337 Strand will be a new 5 star hotel when it opens.

Hotels below the five star category are found throughout the city, but tend to be slightly further away from the key centres of activity. The largest concentration of mid priced hotels is probably in Bloomsbury on the northern side of the city centre. The largest cluster of hotels in the suburbs is around Heathrow Airport, most of which are modern chain hotels. The largest concentration of new hotel building is in east London around London City Airport in places such as Canning Town.

The developers of Shard London Bridge, which will be the tallest building in London if it is built plan to let part of it to a hotel operator.

Other notable hotels

• One of the more unusual hotels was the Sunborn Yacht, a floating hotel by the Excel centre in East London and constructed specifically for that purpose (it had no engine). The yacht was sold to the Lagos government to be replaced with a larger yacht at the same berth.
• The 3 star 1,630 bedroom Royal National Hotel in Bloomsbury is the largest hotel in the United Kingdom by number of rooms.
• The Hilton London Metropole in Paddington is the largest 4-star hotel in London and the United Kingdom. It has 1,058 bedrooms and extensive conference facilities.
• The Russell Hotel in Russell Square, Bloomsbury, which dates from 1898, has one of the grandest exteriors of any London hotel, but it is rated 4-star.
• The Guoman Tower Hotel (formerly Thistle) near Tower Bridge is one of the largest hotels in London with over 800 rooms, and is regarded by some as one of the ugliest and most insensitively located brutalist buildings in the city. However others find its location by St Katharine Docks and the Tower of London as quite relaxing and scenic.
• In 2005 planning permission was granted for the creation of a new hotel at St Pancras railway station. This will incorporate parts of the former Midland Grand Hotel, probably the most spectacular hotel building ever constructed in London, which operated from 1873 to 1935.
• The Regent Palace Hotel, which was located on the northern side of Piccadilly Circus, closed in December 2006. Notable as having been Europes largest hotel in terms of rooms numbers (1028) when it opened in May 16, 1915.
• worlds largest floating hotel will arrive in London in 2012.

Events

After the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot London hotels showed a drop in average room rate growth and occupancy growth. However this was not as steep as might have been expected since figures were compared to the previous years figures which were themselves affected by the July 7th London bombings of 2005. It is thought without those circumstances the real drop would have been something in the region of 20-30%. Strangely while figures showed a drop in bookings some major chains such as Intercontinental reported strong demand for hotel rooms in London as passengers became stranded in London unable to get a flight.

In November 2006 several hotels were subject to checks for radiation after former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko was poisoned with Polonium-210. Most seriously affected was the Millennium Mayfair where 7 members of staff were found to be contaminated with low level radiation.

November 2006 was also the month Dhiren Barot was sentenced by a British court to serve at least 40 years in prison for planning to cause explosions in London Hotels amongst a list of targets which also included the New York Stock Exchange and the World Bank.

January 2007 saw the first use anywhere in the world of Cryonite technology to kill bed bugs (freezes pests using a patented carbon dioxide snow) at a top London Hotel (un-named).

February 2010, a murder took place in the Landmark Hotel, of the most expensive hotels in London.

Facts

In March 2007 some of Londons' best known hotels were considered a “serious danger to health” by environmental inspectors. The hotels were the Savoy, the Halkin, the Langham and the Dorchester.

Figures for 2008 show London as the fifth priciest city in the world for a one-night stay

See also

• List of Hilton hotels in London