London Hotels

• One half-block from Marble Arch and Hyde Park, this eight-story hotel is in London's bustling shopping district.
  
  
• The Thistle Marble Arch has 692 spacious guestrooms, all with climate control and high-speed Internet connection.
  
  
• Built in 1933, and renovated in 1998, this large hotel has 24-hour room service, air conditioning, and a fitness center.
  
  

GENERAL INFORMATION:
What to expect: A busy hotel in the centre of London activity, with an Oxford Street location that's ideal for executives or vacationers with shopping on their agenda. Guests enter the Art Deco-style foyer on the street level and ascend an escalator to an expansive lobby with stained-glass ceiling, marble floor, black lacquer cabinets, and other Asian-accented furnishings.

Amenity highlights: This air-conditioned hotel has 24-hour room service, a 1930s-themed restaurant, a coffee shop, and an atmospheric bar dedicated to American bandleader Glenn Miller, who in December 1944 spent his last night here.

Insider tip: All day, every Sunday, free speech flourishes in the northeast corner of Hyde Park, just 2 blocks from the hotel. In the 16th century, this was a site of public executions, where the condemned would speak freely in their final moments. Today, Speaker's Corner is a London institution.

PROPERTY AMENITIES:
Refurbished in 2001, Thistle Marble Arch's interior is modernised throughout, but the late Art Deco exterior is preserved, and the upper lobby retains its airy 1930s spaciousness. The hotel offers a fitness centre, business centre, a host of meeting rooms, and a theatre desk that will arrange tickets for West End shows. A wireless Internet sevice covers the entire property (surcharge applies).

ROOMS:
Thistle Marble Arch, London, opposite Hyde Park offers 692 spacious rooms. The rooms include wireless Internet access (fee), satellite television, direct-dial phones, tea/coffee-makers, in-room safes, trouser presses, minibars, and hair dryers.

DINING:
The Carvery - A large, relaxed restaurant with oak paneling, mahogany dining chairs, and a hand-painted tile mural depicting a 1930s party scene. A buffet breakfast is available in addition to a popular, international á la carte menu and carving station for lunch and dinner. Opens for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Glen Miller's Bar - Serving drinks and snacks from early evening until late, this venerable bar plays the showbiz theme with walls decorated with framed sheet music, vinyl disks, and pictures of its namesake, bandleader Glen Miller. It has retained many original features, including the black marble bar and the polished Art Deco fireplace.

CoMotion Brewshop Cafe - An informal coffee shop just off the lobby, with wood-and-chrome bistro tables and printed mural panels of 1930s photographs. Serves sandwiches, pastries, cookies, and a variety of coffees all day.