London's Most Considered Hotels

The standard against which London hotels are measured. Claridge's Art Deco interiors remain among the finest in the city, the service is genuinely exceptional, and the sense of occasion — from the moment you arrive — is unmatched. The Fumoir bar is one of the great rooms in London.

• The Fumoir — one of London's finest bar rooms
• Davies and Brook restaurant by Daniel Humm
• Suites designed by Diane von Furstenberg and others

Carlos Place's finest address operates at a register all its own. The Connaught is quieter than Claridge's, more intimate than The Savoy, and possessed of a particular calm that is very difficult to manufacture. The bar — with its Agwa trolley and Ago Perrone behind the counter — is reason enough to visit.

• The Connaught Bar — consistently ranked among the world's best
• Hélène Darroze at The Connaught, two Michelin stars
• The spa, among the most considered in London

The Beaumont occupies a 1926 building on Brown Hart Gardens and has the feel of a private club that happens to have rooms. The Colony Grill Room is one of the best hotel restaurants in London — the kind of place you return to for the cooking as much as the atmosphere. Smaller than its neighbours, and better for it.

• The Colony Grill Room — exceptional American brasserie cooking
• The Gatsby Bar, intimate and beautifully appointed
• The ROOM suite — a sculpture by Antony Gormley

The Dorchester Collection's more contemporary sibling sits directly on Park Lane with views over Hyde Park. The rooms are among the largest in London, the CUT steakhouse by Wolfgang Puck is genuinely excellent, and the whole operation has a modernity that the older grand hotels cannot always match.

• CUT at 45 Park Lane — the best steakhouse in London
• Park-facing suites with exceptional views
• The Bar — a serious cocktail programme in a beautiful room

The former Midland Bank headquarters on Poultry is one of London's great adaptive reuse projects. Nine restaurants, a rooftop pool, a spa, and a members' club — all within a Lutyens-designed banking hall of extraordinary grandeur. The scale is remarkable; the execution, largely, matches it.

• Nine restaurants across different cuisines and registers
• The rooftop pool and terrace
• The banking hall — one of London's great interior spaces

Kit Kemp's Soho property is the most playful hotel on this list — and deliberately so. The interiors are bold, the bowling alley is genuinely fun, and the rooftop terrace is one of the better-kept secrets in the neighbourhood. A hotel that takes design seriously without taking itself too seriously.

• The rooftop terrace — a genuine Soho secret
• The bowling alley and games room
• Kit Kemp's signature interiors throughout

The Oetker Collection's Hyde Park Corner property is among the most formally grand hotels in London — and one of the most quietly exceptional. The butler service is the best in the city, the Library Bar is a room of genuine distinction, and the Regency interiors have been restored with a care that is increasingly rare.

• The Library Bar — one of London's great hotel bars
• 24-hour butler service, the finest in London
• The spa, with its extraordinary pool