Hotels
Where to stay in London, including the day-use rooms and the discreet options most hotel guides will not discuss. Prices and booking rules taken from each property’s own published information.
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Where to stay in London is the page to read first, because here the neighbourhood decides more than the hotel does. It sets out which districts suit which kind of trip, and what each one costs you in travel time at the other end of the day.
After that: the best hotels for the rooms themselves, the five star list for the top end, and day use hotels for the rooms let by the afternoon rather than the night, which is a real and badly documented corner of the market.
Check-in times, luggage storage and early arrival policies vary far more between hotels than the star ratings suggest, so they are quoted from the hotel rather than summarised.
Rosewood London: Dogs Are Welcome in Every Restaurant and Bar
Cats and dogs free of charge, in all food and beverage outlets rather than just public areas. Plus the pie counter that opens twelve hours a week, and the 72-hour prepayment rule.
The Standard, London: Dogs Stay Free
Where comparable London hotels charge 25 to 75 a night. Five venues all open to non-residents, the view from Decimo without a room, and the Hyatt takeover nobody announced.
The Connaught: Three Venues and the Only Aman Spa in London
Three places to eat and drink against the Savoy's nine, and the only Aman Spa inside a London hotel.
The Langham London: The Pub, the Cookery School and the Pool
Europe's first grand hotel, 1865. It has a British tavern, a cookery school and a health club you can join.
The Savoy: No Dress Code, But No Football Shirts
The most relaxed of the grand hotels, and parking is £22.50 for two hours against the Dorchester's £85 a day.
The Dorchester: Looser Than the Ritz, and the £85 Parking
Three Michelin stars and a far gentler dress code. Parking costs more than an extra bed, and dogs can join you at tea in a carrier.
The Ritz London: Where the Jacket and Tie Actually Applies
A tie is required for lunch but not for breakfast in the same room. Non-residents lose half an hour of breakfast.
The Ned: A Bedroom Does Not Get You on the Rooftop
Eight restaurants in the old Midland Bank hall that anyone can book, three spaces that need a member, and the line that costs people a room booking.
Three of London’s Nineteen Forbes Five-Star Hotels Are Townhouses Nobody Has Heard Of
Boutique is an unregulated word: Mandarin Oriental uses it for a hotel in a global group. The checkable version is the Forbes rating, and on it the Egerton House and Hotel 41 outrank the Ritz, the Peninsula and the Lanesborough.
Where to Stay in London: Zone 2 Costs Exactly the Same as Zone 1
TfL's own fare tool caps Zone 1 and Zones 1 to 2 at the identical 8.90 pounds a day, which kills the usual advice about staying further out. The areas ranked by what actually matters: the line, the noise and the Night Tube.
Elsewhere in the guide
Questions we get asked
Which London hotels hold a Forbes Five Star rating?
Nineteen across the city. Three of them are on Knightsbridge itself, the Bvlgari, the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park and The Egerton House, with The Berkeley a short walk away at Wilton Place. No other postcode in London comes close to that concentration.
Is a five star rating the same as five stars on a booking site?
No, and the gap is the most misleading thing in London hospitality. A booking site star is self declared or crowd sourced. A Forbes rating is an anonymous inspection against a published standard, which is why a small townhouse hotel can rate above names you would assume outrank it.
Can you use a luxury London hotel without staying there?
Yes, and it is the cheapest way to see the inside of one. The bars and lounges of the five star hotels serve the public, take walk ins, and nobody will ask whether you have a room. Afternoon tea does the same thing at a fixed price.