Corinthia London

Hotel review

For A Big London Treat stay here. An intricately restored grand hotel with a 21st century approach. It is ritzy, glitzy and glamorous in all the right ways; in short - a total class act. The legion staff have been fully drilled at Charm School (on hand just when you need them and engagingly conversational), the flowers are photograph-worthy – banks of glorioso lilies, tumbling displays of pink stocks, full blown roses, white hydrangeas.... The scale of the original 1880’s building is magnificent. Redesigned from scratch and opened as the flagship Corinthia property in 2011, there is simply nothing poky, overbearing or gloomy about it. All the bedrooms are fantastically spacious with high ceilings, big windows and luxurious marble bathrooms complete with deftly built-in television screens at the foot of each bath. The eye-popping £18,000/night penthouse suite with full panorama of the River Thames across to The London Eye is reportedly the biggest hotel suite in London. Superlatives abound! Sit under Baccarat’s massive full-moon chandelier (1,001 and glowing crystal baubles) beneath the soaring dome of the Lobby and take it all in. It’s smart and busy but not intimidating. The Northall breakfast is faultless - prepare to pay top dollar but you can settle in to your leather armchair and enjoy it for the morning and observe the London execs hard at work, or marvel in Massimo’s not only at your perfect plate of pasta but also at David Collins immaculate restaurant design. The ESPA Life more than deserves its Best UK Hotel Spa Award - the whole experience is just irresistibly seductive, all soothing sounds, smells and shiny surfaces; one never wants to leave. That applies to the hotel as well – but you if you can tear yourself away then Trafalgar Square, Regent Street and Convent Garden are mere minutes away.

Caroline Townsend Review published: 08/02/2019