London: Where to Stay: Luxury: The Lanesborough

The Lanesborough

An American’s vision of grand London, this five-star property was opened by Texan Caroline Hunt as a Rosewood hotel in 1991 and is now a St. Regis hotel. Located in a Regency building that once housed St. George’s Hospital, the Lanesborough, which has 49 rooms and 46 suites, commands a prime spot in Knightsbridge on Hyde Park Corner, facing Apsley House. While its majestic exterior was preserved, the interior was gutted. When the hotel first welcomed guests, its Regency-style rooms were the most expensive in the city. Everyone agreed that the marquetry-inlaid bedside tables, lush flower arrangements and beds crowned with silk swags dramatically evoked splendid British country estates, but many Anglophiles were horrified by the opulent furniture throughout and the false leather spines on the shelves in the Library Bar, off the lobby. Americans including Larry Hagman and Michael Jackson and carloads of corporate executives didn’t seem to mind, though—perhaps because there is no English reserve to the all-out bowing and scraping before guests. Mahogany paneling and tassel-edged silk curtains adorn even some of the hotel’s bathrooms, lest a young master of the universe momentarily forget just how important he is while stepping out of the shower. Other attentive touches are personalized stationery and, for every guest, a private butler who thinks of things like coffee delivered shortly after your wake-up call and hors d’oeuvres if you have pre-dinner visitors. The Lanesborough may not feel truly British, but the service is caring and the location conveniently central, just a few blocks from Harrods and the easy jogging paths in Hyde Park and Green Park. Rooms from $670.

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