The Lanesborough

The Property

Architecture & Setting

The building's Regency architecture is reflected in the hotel's interior, which the designer Alberto Pinto specified in a neo-Georgian idiom: hand-painted silk wallcoverings, antique furniture sourced for the property, fireplaces in most public rooms, and a ceiling height throughout the hotel that the original architects clearly intended to be noticed. The Library Bar is one of the best hotel bars in London — not for its cocktail list, though that is serious, but for the quality of a specific silence that old money and good wood produce together. The Lanesborough Grill, the principal restaurant, serves the kind of Anglo-French food that London does better than anywhere else in the world when it decides to try.

Service

Staff & Experience

The butler service at the Lanesborough is the most frequently cited reason guests return. Every butler completes a training programme specific to the hotel; the skills are not limited to pressing shirts and unpacking luggage (though both are offered without prompting). The butler manages restaurant reservations, car arrangements, ticket procurement, and the particular London knowledge — of tailors, of galleries, of markets, of clubs — that a good concierge carries but rarely shares unprompted. The butler will share it. The spa is small by the standards of comparable properties but effective: the Spa by ESPA offers six treatment rooms and a vitality pool that is genuinely used, not decorative.

Rooms

What to Book

The 93 rooms and suites at the Lanesborough range from the Classic Rooms at 30 square metres — smaller than comparable properties but finished to a standard that makes the size irrelevant — to the Royal Suite at 526 square metres with a private butler pantry, dining room for eight, and direct access to the hotel's private garden. The Belgravia Suites, on the first and second floors, offer the highest ceiling heights and the most complete period detailing. The Regent Suites are named for the Regency period and furnished with pieces acquired from the original St. George's Hospital period. Room WiFi is among the fastest in London. This should not need to be mentioned for a hotel at this price point. It does need to be mentioned.

Booking

How to Book It Correctly

The Lanesborough takes reservations through its own website, through the Oetker Collection portfolio (its current management group), and through all major booking platforms. The hotel is frequently at full occupancy during the London season — May through July — and during major events including the Chelsea Flower Show and the Royal Ascot racing week. Suite categories require earlier booking; the Royal Suite is sometimes available on shorter notice than the named suite categories below it, as it attracts a specific client profile. Corporate rates and extended-stay arrangements are available; the hotel's sales team is reachable directly for bookings of three nights or more.

• 1.Request a room facing Hyde Park Corner rather than the rear courtyard — the view of the Wellington Arch is worth specifying.
• 2.Book directly with the hotel for the full butler briefing prior to arrival — they will ask for dietary preferences, pillow firmness, and newspaper preferences in advance.
• 3.The Library Bar is reservable for private hire of two hours for groups of up to twenty — one of the finest small private venues in London.

Property Details