This is what you get for £1,000 a night at The Peninsula London

THEN SIR MICHAEL KADOORIE, The chairman of The Peninsula Hotels’ parent company, The Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, speaking at the opening party of The Peninsula London in June, said it was the most challenging project he had ever overseen. Perhaps because it took decades to find a suitable location, or perhaps it was London’s notoriously restrictive local planning regulations, which mean new-build hotels of this size rarely make it from the drawing board to reality. The development is believed to have cost around £1.1bn.

Peninsula purists who’ve stayed at the Hong Kong flagship will immediately see the similarities. Upgraded London taxis (luxury, modified EV versions) and Bentleys join the usual Rolls-Royces in Peninsula’s signature greenery to deposit guests in a courtyard shaded by a 120-year-old Japanese maple. Inside, musicians perform from a mezzanine overlooking the lobby, where guests take afternoon tea surrounded by pastoral scenes in murals depicting Hyde Park, a minute’s walk from the Knightsbridge property. Elsewhere, the hotel’s helpful pages are a must-have in pristine white; Peninsula’s indomitable stone lions stand guard outside the property; and the colourful Canton Blue offers Londoners one of the surprisingly few venues serving up quality Cantonese cuisine in this food-obsessed city.

While Londoners went into raptures when the hotel’s opening publicity confirmed that starting prices for rooms would top £1,000 a night, many established hotels in The Peninsula’s comp set had quietly moved towards or around that four-figure price point in the wake of the pandemic. A key differentiator at The Peninsula is that its entry-level rooms, at 560 square feet, are among the largest in the city – and as that billion pounds shows, the Peninsula hasn’t skimped on quality.

Designed by Peter Marino (best known for designing a range of Chanel and Louis Vuitton boutiques), the master bathrooms are clad in buttery onyx, while the bathrooms are paneled in mahogany. While Peninsula classics like the signature valet boxes remain, there are also subtle tweaks that recognize how travelers actually use their accommodations today. Dining tables, for example, have discreet integrated power outlets so they can double as substantial desks.

But from a design perspective, I found the most striking locations to be at the top and bottom of the building. Below ground level is a multi-level wellness facility, featuring an elegant 25-meter pool, a gym, and minimalist treatment rooms, again clad in mahogany. During Margy’s collagen-firming facial, I was won over by the genuine expertise of my Japanese therapist. Her knowledge was so extensive that my consultation even covered the different ways I should care for my skin when traveling to destinations with hard versus soft water. (That said, sometimes ignorance is bliss. I have enough to worry about.)

The eighth-floor Brooklands bar and restaurant is reached by a wicker-covered lift that resembles a hot air balloon (a nice quirky touch). Paying homage to classic cars and aviation, the bar and restaurant takes its name from the world’s first purpose-built race track in nearby Surrey.

At the Brooklands by Claude Bosi restaurant, the most striking feature is a 13.6-metre-long Concorde suspended from the ceiling, but I was most taken with the restaurant’s cylindrical reception area, with its immaculately finished wooden marquetry depicting old-school racing scenes. Sound bounces off here in such a delightfully amusing way that I had to ask the hostess to apologise when I repeated banal phrases to repeat the effect after accidentally discovering it.

At Brooklands Bar, the eye-catcher is a glittering silver ceiling inspired by the design of a 1930s twin-engine bomber. And while the Peninsula London rises to a relatively modest height, the views from the bar’s terrace are some of the best in the city. With the private gardens of Buckingham Palace and the leafy Green Park on its doorstep, it’s unlikely that another bold new building will ever block the sweeping vistas of St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.

Rooms from £1,300; peninsula.com

BOOK YOUR STAY AT THE PENINSULA LONDON VIA BOOKING.COM

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Images courtesy of The Peninsula London.

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