The English capital isn't just home to the UK's government and the Royal Family, it's also a second home for many of the wealthiest people in the world, attracted by London's status as a center of finance and trade. But if you haven't got a palace, a mansion, or a million-pound flat of your own, you're left to choose between dozens of London luxury hotels. Thankfully they're up to the task — the luxury hotel was more or less invented here, at the Savoy, and after generations of innovation they're still among the best anywhere in the world.
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Mayfair
London is a lot of things to a lot of people, and it's got a diversity of hotels to match. Mayfair in particular is, among other things, one of the hedge-fund capitals of the world. Put frankly, there's quite a lot of money discreetly hidden discreetly away behind this neighborhood's doors. And in 45 Park Lane the neighborhood's got a hotel to match, a hotel that, however fantastically luxe, manages to maintain an air of self-composed, stylish understatement. With just 46 rooms and suites (surely that's no coincidence) 45 Park Lane is boutique-sized, even as it offers a grand-hotel experience. More...
46 Rooms
1 Verified Review
18 
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Knightsbridge
The Wellesley is a glamorous place, very clearly inspired by the Jazz Age, but with a slick contemporary veneer — an aesthetic that, especially considering the Gatsby revivals of late, feels timely — and fresh, too, in a sea of more traditional luxury boutiques.The Art Deco interiors, recently reworked with '20s-era design materials faithfully in hand, are sleek but old-fashioned, appropriate to the period: expect a doorman with a top hat guiding you through a lobby with decorative hardwood fixtures, elegant archways, surfaces so gleaming you see your own reflection everywhere, and a high-contrast lighting scheme so dramatic that it feels like it's always cocktail hour. More...
263 Rooms
13 Verified Reviews
52
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Mayfair
In days past the Connaught was as old-school as can be, a bastion of country-house pomp in the heart of Mayfair. Today, after extensive renovations and a redesign by Guy Oliver, it's less the archetypal country manor and more the archetypal London luxury hotel, which sounds like a dismissal but isn't actually; these interiors won't shock you with their originality, but the muted colors and clean lines, along with judiciously preserved traditional references, project just the right atmosphere of stately seriousness. More...
121 Rooms
16 Verified Reviews
89
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Mayfair
Claridge's is by any lights one of the best hotels in London, and it's almost certainly the poshest. Even today, this Mayfair landmark luxury hotel — where the crowned heads of Europe came to wait out the Second World War — remains splendidly and timelessly Art Deco. Stroll past the black awning into an entry foyer with Lalique vases, gilded columns, a sweeping staircase ornamented with brass banister that is polished daily. The elevators are manually operated — not by the guests, either — and each contains a sofa for lounging. More...
203 Rooms
34 Verified Reviews
177
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Covent Garden/Holborn
It was a dark few years on the London luxury hotel scene while the Savoy was closed for renovations. This was, after all, the original luxury hotel, or at very least the original London luxury hotel, a hotel whose influence is positively Beatlesque, if you'll forgive the comparison — Beatlesque in the sense that everything that's happened in high-end hotels since the 1890s is arguably just a variation on a theme introduced by César Ritz, the Savoy's original general manager, who counts electric lights and en-suite bathrooms among his hospitality innovations. (Yes, that Ritz.) More...
268 Rooms
15 Verified Reviews
41
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Mayfair
The Dorchester is the grand hotel the way it ought to be. Not stuffy, but upright; not excessive, but opulent; and all in that country-estate style, transported to the city, which seemed to make so much sense at the time. The location is unbeatable, at least for leisure travelers, just across from Hyde Park, and the service is of the discreet and professional variety, treating A-listers and no-listers alike as though they were visiting royalty. More...
250 Rooms
15 Verified Reviews
30
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Knightsbridge
The Berkeley does not boast the longest list of royal guests, the most storied history, or the richest collection of antiques and old master paintings. Nor does it have nightingales or a location in Berkeley Square. What it does have is extreme comfort. It is not considered, by any means, to be the grandest or the most stylish hotel, but for many people, it's the best. Doormen and concierges call you by name, it's on the doorstep of both Hyde Park and Harvey Nichols, and getting a table at Marcus Wareing or Koffmann's (both in the hotel) is never a problem. More...
214 Rooms
29 Verified Reviews
159
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Bloomsbury
One can't help but feel this classic Edwardian monument, on High Holborn in the part of London between the City and the West End that we're apparently meant to start calling Midtown, was somewhat wasted in its former life as an insurance company headquarters. While the Belle Époque edifice remains in fine shape — there's a quarry's worth of marble in there — the old insurance-company interiors have been thoroughly reimagined by Tony Chi, of much Park Hyatt fame. The result is grand, confidently understated, somehow both contemporary and historically aware, somehow both quintessentially London and invitingly cosmopolitan. More...
306 Rooms
5 Verified Reviews
61
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Knightsbridge
Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, like any Mandarin, sets the bar rather high: it's astonishingly luxurious, impeccably staffed, and not at all hard on the eyes. Budget travelers steer clear, as conspicuous consumption is the order of the day — not only does Mandarin Oriental service come at a price, but the location is so near Knightsbridge's notorious shopping that you'll likely take home one more suitcase than you arrived with. Of course for most guests that's exactly the point. More...
194 Rooms
11 Verified Reviews
62
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Marylebone
One of London's original luxury hotels, the Langham opened in 1865, and was, at the time, the most opulent hotel in Europe. By the end of the Second World War it had closed, and was owned for a time by the BBC — but now that it's back under the banner of the (now Hong Kong–based) Langham Hospitality Group, it's been restored to its former glory, and is again a major player on the London luxury hotel scene. Tradition is very much the name of the game here, though it's not a strict reproduction of the original — the interiors have been subtly updated, but remain true to the Victorian spirit of the place. This means it's a fair bit less glossy and jewel-encrusted than some of London's more ostentatious hotels, and feels much more connected to the city's historical character. More...
380 Rooms
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