Hand-painted trompe l’oeil marbling and chandeliers give The Lanesborough’s Withdrawing Room its elaborate character, with Wellington Arch framed beyond the windows. That taste for Regency decoration carries through the hotel’s individually furnished rooms and suites, each with dedicated butler service around the clock. Interior designer Alberto Pinto directed the renovation of this historic mansion at the edge of Hyde Park, where the setting puts Knightsbridge and Sloane Street shopping within easy reach. There is good reason to linger inside, too: chef Shay Cooper’s Lanesborough Grill centers its modern British cooking on seasonal produce from across the country, while the Library Bar keeps a collection of rare spirits.
The Lanesborough ... In fact, A-listers like Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Cher, Madonna, and even the late her majesty the Queen have all stayed there.
A hidden door to a whisky room, comic illustrations around a crimson bar, and a drawing room wrapped in a hand-painted mural give The Londoner its particular personality. These spaces form The Residence, a trio of rooms reserved for hotel guests—a distinctive centerpiece for a 350-room property spread across 16 stories on Leicester Square. The West End setting carries through to The Stage, where Champagne and live music share the bill, while the rooftop bar takes its cues from Japanese drinking establishments. With a wellness retreat and Mediterranean cooking at Whitcomb’s also under the same roof, the hotel gives guests plenty of reasons to linger between excursions into the surrounding theater district.
Since The Londoner (from $571 a night) opened in the heart of Leicester Square’s theater district in 2021, it has attracted a parade of notables including Ryan Gosling, Adele, Patrick Dempsey, Sylvester Stallone, Ed Sheeran and more.
Royal blue in the lobby, a grand staircase and rooms furnished with silks and antique art give the Ritz Paris its richly layered character. César Ritz chose a private mansion on Place Vendôme for the hotel he opened in 1898; he and his wife, Marie-Louise, approached it as a vast private home, mixing periods and French decorative traditions. That residential idea still gives shape to a stay, from individually styled accommodations to the wood-paneled Salon Proust, where books and armchairs frame afternoon tea. Outside, the Grand Jardin extends the hotel’s sequence of salons into greenery, with magnolias, a fountain and wooden alcoves along a trellis gallery.
