The Londoner Hotel

The Londoner is unique. And fabulous. My daughter and I only had a single night here this visit, (the end of a week-long stay in a questionable Airbnb for her to attend Italia Conti Drama School in Woking) this was a treat to have a luxury night in London before heading home, and taking in a show. The first thing everyone cites when you mention The Londoner is ‘Great Location’. It’s true. Of all the other top 5-star hotels, only The Savoy comes close on central location, and even they cannot rival Leicester Square for a central location. The others are typically over in/around Mayfair; beautiful, and beautiful traditional hotels but a little off-centre. A 5-minute radius of The Londoner brings in everything from the entire West-End, Covent Garden, National Gallery, Regent Street, Soho and Picadilly Circus. But it isn’t just location The Londoner has to offer. The self-styled ‘Super Boutique’ hotel can comfortably stand toe-to-toe with the established elite, but does so in a style serving as an antithesis of those more established, dare I say sometimes ‘stuffy’ elite. A less in-your-face flavour of luxury to appeal to a broader and perhaps slightly younger clientele. Service remains second to none, the luxurious cosseting is modern, but exemplary and so very unassuming. You feel immediately special, but also invisible when required. I don’t think I have stayed in a hotel that appears to have so many ‘front of house’ staff. Whenever you get near the reception area, there is always a dedicated member of the team to attend to you, all impeccably dressed. Our check-in was seamless. Our room ready, early, and a welcoming upgrade to a junior suite. The room was beautifully appointed, not the largest of rooms I’ve stayed in but on par with its location. Light and airy, beautiful panelling, capacious, hidden storage, two large floor to ceiling windows, subtle lighting and temperature already set at the preferred level enquired of us on confirmation. The hotel also provided more than sufficient coat-hangers (a rare trait and personal bugbear of mine!). The bathrooms are an experience. Their ‘blue-bottle’ green high-shine tiles, modern design and fittings, the best shower I have experienced for years and the pièce de resistance, the automatic toilet. I won’t give full, graphic details but automatic seat raising and lowering (and heating) were only the begins of the ‘service’. Alongside an impressive array of hotel toiletries, the bathroom also had plenty of space for our own toiletries (another personal bugbear when there is minimal space for toiletries,…..and there are a lot when you travel with a 16yr old daughter!). The hotel had also beautifully accommodated my daughter and I sharing a room, and whilst a twin bed wasn’t an option (and is common in London), they created a ‘German Twin’ with two separate sets of bedding creating two separate sleeping zones on the super king bed, as if twin beds. And what a bed. I rate bed comfort with how difficult it is to awaken my daughter. I fitted in a gym visit before first stirring and her eventual ‘disembarkation’. Speaking of the gym, I don’t think I have ever trained in such a well-appointed and aesthetically impressive hotel gym, and I’ve used the gym in just about every hotel I’ve ever stayed in. Large & spacious, quality equipment, free-weights, resistance machines, functional training equipment plus a large studio. And despite being 4 stories* underground, it was filled with clean air and comfortably cool. (*yes, 4 stories down. A unique proposition of The Londoner is that to achieve the 16 floors the hotel needed, but comply with a maximum build height of 9 stories, the hotel goes down 6 stories underground.) The other much-loved function of The Londoner is ‘The Residence’, a private space offering a ‘Drawing Room’, cocktail bar and Whisky Room). The Drawing room is a haven of calm. Soft & hot drinks on tap with ‘nibbles’ (pastries & granola pots when we went in the morning), plus comfortable seating, newspaper, books and board games. The cocktail bar, the accurately named ‘Y-Bar’, is a beautiful space, one of the most quality bars I’ve experienced. Again calm, innovatively decorated (dark walls through which Andrew Rae's comic illustrations ethereally glow). I availed myself of 30mins there whilst my daughter washed her hair in our bedroom (see the above-mentioned toiletries comment) and had my go-to Negroni – my staple test of any bar. The drink was as impressive as the bar, and as traditional in construction as the bar’s décor was untraditional. I didn’t try the Whisky Room, but for a ‘Negroni Room’, but did enjoy a coffee at the public bar atop the hotel, ‘8 at The Londoner’ (unsurprisingly, on the 8th floor). An Asian influenced multi-zonal area. Indoor/outdoor, peaceful and appropriately zen-like, along with a restaurant & Asian cocktail bar, both of which I’ve earmarked for future sampling! The final space is The Stage, the lobby bar by a different name, but a very different concept. Champagne-centric, a now common modern, chilled vibe, fabulous live music and a wonderful space to while away an hour. All in all, The Londoner comfortably competes with the top luxury hotels in London. It’s self-titled ‘Super-Boutique Hotel’ really does seem apt, it definitely has the vibe of an intimate boutique hotel, just on a grand scale. It is a stunning hotel, modern, incredible attention to detail, beautiful and unique innovative touches everywhere and service befitting the best hotels in the land.

Myself and my girlfriend visited The Londoner this weekend. Wow! We were celebrating a special occasion so I wanted to make the visit extra special and they delivered. I wanted to have balloons, photos and chocolates in the room etc, so I emailed to enquire and got such a speedy response that they do not offer this service but if I order from a business and get them delivered they’ll be more than happy to set up the room for me and it was spectacular! Furthermore, upon our arrival we were told that we had been upgraded to the Penthouse suite! It was the best surprise and I cannot thank those who made this possible at the hotel. Ruby on front of house was exceptional, all staff were friendly and super helpful whenever you needed them! Big thank you to Calantha Babineau the Guest Relations Manager who gave us a special welcome to the hotel. Would recommend to anyone!!! 10/10 experience.

Wonderful hotel the staff looked after us nothing was too much trouble. Great position only a short walk to the underground . Will definitely stay again

Chose the Londoner because of its location near our theater, and because of the amenities it offers. This place was fabulous from the moment our cabbie gestured for someone to run down the block to get our bags. Modern, lush atmosphere and services that are all that. Excellent food, including an outstanding high tea. The Spa and Pool at the Retreat were among the best we ever experienced. Looking for an excuse to return soo..

I stayed at The Londoner on Tuesday night for my friends 40th birthday. It's a beautiful hotel. Quite pricey for me but definitely worth it. It's clean, lovely decor, very friendly and accommodating staff. We stayed in a deluxe city view room. We had a view of the London eye and the skyscrapers towards bank/Liverpool street. We didn't visit the restaurant/gym/swimming pool but we did go up the roof terrace for a cocktail. I didn't like the look of the Japanese inspired cocktails but they happily made me a Cosmopolitan instead. The views of the London skyline were beautiful. They also have an area called The Residence that is just for hotel guests with lovely plush chairs and sofas and tea/coffee facilities that are complimentary. We ordered the in-room breakfast. It was £29 (usually £39 we were told but unsure why we got it cheaper) We had pastries, seasonal fruit, a full English breakfast, jams, tea and Watermelon juice. Although I couldn't afford to stay here every time I visited London, I's certainly stay again for a special occasion.