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The Berkeley

Wilton Place Knightsbridge
London, England SW1X 7RL
United Kingdom

 
GENERAL INFORMATION :

What to expect: This quiet, seven-floor hotel in London’s Royal Borough has views over Hyde Park. The lobby of the hotel features muted buttercup walls and two leather chaise longues lining a fireplace. The hotel attracts fashionable types, international film moguls and well-heeled shoppers, who meet over cocktails in Madonna’s favorite Blue Bar.

Amenity highlights: Petrus (opened September 2003) serves Michelin-starred French cuisine, while Boxwood Café is Gordon Ramsay's take on the upscale New York café scene. The Blue Bar, whose floors are lined with crocodile skin, serves cocktails to fashion designer John Galliano, amongst others. The Berkeley Spa has a feted rooftop pool and facials, while the hotel’s Cabinet shop sells designer goods.

Insider tip:Booking the Chef’s Table at Petrus guarantees a private dining experience. Only a glass partition separates guests from the Michelin-starred chef at work.

PROPERTY AMINITIES :

The Berkeley Health Club and Spa is tucked away at the top of the hotel. A gold-leaf and marine-blue reception gives way to five treatment rooms offering innovative Crystal Point and La Stone therapies. Up a flight of marble stairs is a 4-foot-deep (1.2 meters), turquoise-tiled pool with a retractable roof. The adjacent air-conditioned Health Club offers sweeping views over Hyde Park, flat-screen satellite TVs above every TechnoGym cardiovascular machine and an on site fitness instructor.

There are six meeting rooms ranging from a capacity of six for dinner to 400 for a reception in the chandelier-hung ballroom. The most appealing is the wooden-floored Mulberry Room furnished entirely in scarlet, gold and green Mulberry fabrics. Wireless Internet access is available in the banquet rooms.

Just off the lobby is The Cabinet. This glass and chrome cabinet features a changing array of up-to-the-minute luxury goods.

ROOMS :

This hotel has 214 guestrooms, all of which are individually furnished, with king beds, Irish linen, feather pillows and duvets. Cabinets enclose a minibar and TV console with a DVD, high-speed Internet access (surcharge) via personal laptop or the TV, international TV channels, digital-quality pay movies, music on demand, and radio—all available from simple remote controls and cordless keyboards. Two armchairs and an antique table provide a seating area. Leather-topped desks are equipped with multi-line phones and modern desk lamps. Double-glazed, opening windows overlook Hyde Park, St Paul’s Church or nearby mews houses. Italian marble bathrooms feature Floris toiletries, monogrammed bathrobes, slippers and towels, a power shower in the tub, magnifying shaving/make up mirror and shaving plug.

DINING :

Petrus - Hotel guests get priority booking at this exclusive and intimate Michelin-starred French restaurant. Tall burgundy-leather chairs offer comfort and subdued lighting completes the hushed, reverential atmosphere. Serves lunch and dinner. Sample dishes might include a carpaccio of foie gras served with truffle toast. A chef's table offers the chance to watch the chef at work.

Boxwood Café - London’s most famous chef, Gordon Ramsay, runs this stylish New York-style café. Ingredients, such as Norcia prosciutto and Arctic herrings, are seasonal and expertly sourced. Leaf green, bittersweet brown, and silver tea-paper decor reflects the Boxwood greenery, a classic of the English garden that changes to reflect the seasonal menus. Dark-wood latticed screens segment the split-level dining areas. A private dining room seats 16. Serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The Caramel Room - This lounge/café is open mid-morning until late evening. Aproned waiters discreetly serve afternoon tea, miniature doughnuts, Illy coffee or specialty champagnes. Subtle low-lighting, chocolate-colored walls and leather-studded chairs with faux crocodile skin backs add intimacy to this all-day lounge room.

The Blue Bar - Immediately to the left of the lobby and up a couple of steps, The Blue Bar is a cluster of pale-blue armchairs on a small square platform of black crocodile skin. Painted entirely in a blue tone called Lutyens Blue in honor of the original designer of the first Berkeley Hotel, the walls also have Chinese red silk light boxes and 18th-century cherub wood carvings. A cocktail bar of dark mahogany offers Gingerpine Cosmos, Orange and Lime Caiperoskas and a selection of malt whiskeys.