HOTELS • September 2021
London’s best business hotels: reviewed by Members
With out-of-towners wading in for meetings and many locals still seeking respite from the home office, it’s high time we examine London’s business hotels. And who better to check them out than the Exec Club’s very own worker bees? Here, six deadline-strapped Members let us know if they really can get the job done…
YOTEL London, Clerkenwell
Who’s checking in: Hannah Ralph, editor of The Club
Best place to work: On the bar at Komyuniti – the hotel’s quiet but welcoming social space. Order a coffee (you can also fetch one from the grab-and-go station) and get cracking. Once you’re done, rally the workmates to join you for £6 cocktails available between 5-7pm Monday to Friday.
Best room: They’re all spotless and furiously functional, but you want the VIP suite, the biggest, which has a desk. Plus, from £186 a night, it costs a fraction of the typical city centre rates.
Tech credentials: Wi-Fi runs with a spaceship-esque efficiency and the 24/7 self-service screens are a breeze. TVs come with Chromecast and even the beds are smarter than average – adjustable with the press of a button.
The Clermont, Charing Cross
Who’s checking in: Matt Fox, CEO of Snaptrip
Best place to work: The meeting rooms are brilliant (if you’re a small company like ours, try the corporate package), but sinking into one of the enormous armchairs by the main reception is my favourite spot for tackling emails. I’d work by the bar, but it’d be too tempting to start on the cocktails!
Best room: You want a gorgeous room to enjoy once the nine to five is over, and here you get it. Make sure to book on the fifth floor – where living areas easily double as meeting rooms and windows deliver incredible views across central London.
Post-work drinks: You’re a five-minute saunter to Covent Garden so you can always head there, but the hotel bar feels incredibly intimate and classy. Plus, it has beer on tap – something you don’t get in most hotel bars.
The Hoxton, Southwark
Who’s checking in: Fin O’Neill, designer at WeTransfer
Best room: What entry-level rooms lack in size they more than make up for in style, with crittall-style windows using handmade glassware in a nod to the neighbourhood’s old glass-blowing factories. Snug, the second room category, has a little coffee table that would sit a laptop happily.
Best place to work: Spread across five floors is The Hoxton’s workingfrom_ work space, where you can set up camp and enjoy bottomless hot drinks with a £30 day pass. Other options include the ‘Desk Hop’ (£300 a month) and ‘Side Hustler’ (£75 a month) for night owls and weekend workers.
Post-work cocktail: Albie, the hotel’s ground floor restaurant, is a treat (and another good spot for working before the dinner-time rush). But you’ll want to woo clients at Seabird, the rooftop hotspot with an all-day oyster menu.
The Standard London, King’s Cross
Who’s checking in: Rosie Wood, producer at CLM
Postcode perks: The Standard London is slap bang in Zone 1, directly opposite King’s Cross St Pancras station, home of more Tube lines than any other station in the capital. Can’t get more connected than that!
Best room: You could throw a whole Christmas party in one of its brand new Townhouses (there are two), but the King of Kings rooms are our favourites for a quick stay. Take your calls in the window nook overlooking the station for the best backdrop bragging rights.
Best place to work: The Austin Powers-approved Library, a groovy space filled with mid-century lamps and chairs. There’s a ‘no laptops after 6pm’ policy, but no one comes to bother you if work spills over. Laptop closed and it’s up to glam restaurant Decimo via the famous red pill lift (pictured) where a measure of coffee-infused mezcal awaits.
Kimpton Fitzroy London
Who’s checking in: Jamie Campbell, brand ambassador at Edrington UK
Best place to work: In a discreet corner of Fitz’s, the hotel bar that doubles up as a set piece from The Great Gatsby. Pull up a velvet Chesterton and settle in for a productive morning of admin and Zoom calls.
Best room: At 68sqm, the Corner Suite features an expansive sitting room ideal for small meetings, an elegant roll-top tub and a leather-trimmed desk that looks out over Russell Square Gardens. The room also comes with Apple TV and a yoga mat if you’re feeling virtuous.
Tech credentials: Wi-Fi strength is solid throughout and there’s even green screen technology available during virtual calls to help replicate the atmosphere of physical events.
Treehouse, Marylebone
Who’s checking in: Ellen Bright, account manager at Iris
Best place to work: Honouring the hotel’s namesake, meeting rooms are all rustic wood, artfully placed succulents and sprawling climber plants. They’re quiet (thanks to sound-proofed glass doors), have HD screens built into the walls and are bookable for solo calls, team sessions and more.
Best room: The Lookout King is the way to go. You get a Nespresso machine, filtered water taps, an HD Smart TV and sweeping views of the city. Once you’ve popped down to hotel restaurant Madera for the ceviche trio and a guava margarita (or three), sleep will come easily thanks to the king-size bed and blackout shades.
Tech credentials: In the room, there are USB sockets at the bedside, digital newspapers, a hotel app, Bluetooth speaker, desk and a daybed at the window, where you can take your calls with a view.
This article has been tagged Destination, Hotels
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