- A Hong Kong-Singapore rivalry has been teed up with The Peninsula and Raffles both recently opening in London. We paid them a visit
To borrow from the popular British saying about buses, in this case you can wait years for an Asian grand dame hotel to come to London, and then two open in the same month.
When the original Peninsula and Raffles hotels opened, their owners had aspirations for them to be the finest “east of the Suez”. Now, arguably two of the most venerable, storied and luxurious hotel names in the world, with their roots in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively, have just opened their first British properties.
That both were delayed, and then had their openings in September, fuelled even more speculation over these properties belonging to brands that already compete directly in Istanbul, Manila and Paris.
The simultaneous launches have the British capital abuzz with talk of billion-pound budgets, and room rates that start at more than £1,000 (US$1,200) per night. And that is for the “entry point” rooms.
Raffles Hotel began life in Singapore in 1887 as a modest 10-room bungalow, and it wasn’t until the early 1900s that it became the grand hotel we know today.
The four Sarkies brothers named their establishment after the founder of modern-day Singapore, Sir Stamford Raffles, the name being designed to attract British travellers, then the world’s most moneyed wanderers, resident historian Leslie Danker told me ahead of the hotel’s 125th anniversary.
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Over the years, the hotel was extended and upgraded, becoming a magnet for sociable expats, rich travellers and even royalty. English writer Somerset Maugham described the property as “standing for all the fables of the exotic East”.
“We are one of the oldest hotel groups still in continuous operation,” Clement Kwok King-man, CEO of parent company Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, told me in 2022, “listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange with the Kadoorie family still the majority shareholders.”
The Pen, as it became known, soon attracted wealthy expats and American film stars with its grandeur, comfort and service. (Today, one of its big luxury draws are the VIP helicopter rides that take off from its rooftop.) The Peninsula’s first overseas property opened in 1976, in Manila, in the Philippines, and the new one in London is its 12th.
“We have a long-term vision to expand on a measured and selective basis, entering into the most important cities in the world,” says Kwok.
“The Peninsula’s philosophy is to have only one hotel in each city.”
Raffles’ first foray overseas came more than 100 years after its original’s inauguration, with two properties opening in Cambodia in 1997.
Raffles is no longer family run and since 2016 the brand has been owned by Accor, under which the aim has been to open in “key international locations”, with London’s being the 20th Raffles.
“Opening Raffles London within this historical building [people working within its walls helped conduct British forces in the two world wars and during the Cold War that followed] is an incredible highlight and marks one of the most important moments in the history of the brand,” says Omer Acar, Raffles’ CEO.
The massive OWO complex in Whitehall is part-owned by the Indian conglomerate Hinduja Group (Raffles Singapore is owned by Qatar-based Katara Hospitality), which has “experience in the restoration and renovation of historic buildings”, says a Raffles representative.
Members of the Hinduja family were present at the flashy opening party in September, rubbing shoulders with London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the British royal family’s Princess Anne. Our spies tell us that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak also nipped in but managed to evade the cameras.
So how do the two new hotels square up?
The Peninsula
Location
On Hyde Park Corner, in Belgravia, an exclusive residential area with the boutiques and department stores of Knightsbridge in one direction and Mayfair and Bond Street in the other.
First impressions
The hotel is a gleaming, nine-storey new build. The main entrance has a sleek bronze and glass canopy leading into a cobbled courtyard. Two 120-year-old Japanese maples – chosen more than three years before the opening date – have been planted at its centre and were blessed by a Shinto priest.
The familiar Pen number-plated Rolls-Royces are on standby here along with other cars from the hotel’s luxury fleet. Apparently, Michael Kadoorie brought his own cars to test the slope of the underground car park.
Mirroring a feature in the Hong Kong flagship, a pedestrian entrance on Hyde Park Corner opens straight into The Lobby restaurant, which is full of chatter from guests dining throughout the day.
Pairs of large stone lions guard all the entrances to the hotel and white-uniformed pages with pillbox hats and gloves greet guests.
There appear to be many more Asian faces among the staff at The Peninsula than among those at Raffles.
Rooms and suites
Impressively spacious – even the smallest rooms (from £1,300) are 51 to 53 square metres (549 to 570 square feet).
Grand Premier Park rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing a view of the Wellington Arch and the twice-daily procession of the Household Cavalry, the soldiers in their gleaming armour and plumed helmets.
All rooms come with the signature Peninsula touches, including the foolproof technology via touch screen, the development of which has been overseen by Kadoorie since the flagship revamp in 2013.
The light-filled rooms are decorated in calming colours and sumptuous fabrics, and have mahogany-panelled dressing rooms complete with Dyson hairdryer and nail varnish dryer.
In the onyx bathroom there’s a “spa” button, which switches on the privacy sign outside the main door, dims the lights and plays relaxing music. Rooms also have valet boxes so you can have your laundry picked up and dropped off without being disturbed.
Come January, four signature suites will open on the highest floors with balconies or terraces, all with sweeping views over 18th century Apsley House, which is owned by the Duke of Wellington and is partially open to the public as a museum and art gallery. The Peninsula Suite will include a screening room and gym.
Restaurants and bars
Claude Bosi, who oversees the top-floor restaurant, Brooklands (named after the birthplace of British motor racing and aviation), has won two Michelin stars for three restaurants in Britain. He also shares Kadoorie’s passion for cars, we are told.
Aptly, his current two-star restaurant is in South Kensington’s Michelin House, constructed as the first permanent British headquarters and depot for the Michelin Tyre Company.
Guests rise to Brooklands in an ultra-chic hot air balloon; well, that’s how the lift is decked out, anyway. But before that is the 1933 Napier-Railton racing car in the vestibule, the first loan of several from the Brooklands motor museum.
The rooftop bar, with its curved, creamy leather banquettes and gear-lever sticks with which to call the waiter, has a view of the London skyline and gives guests a glimpse of Buckingham Palace and its gardens.
On the other side, past marquetry depicting vintage racing motors and propeller planes, the restaurant has a leafy vista of Hyde Park.
In warmer months, the outdoor terrace will be open for dining, but there, guests won’t be able to sit beneath the scale model of Concorde that hangs inside.
The modern fine-dining restaurant focuses on British ingredients, with dishes such as Devonshire skate with smoked eel and red pepper, Lake District lamb with mint and pastrami, and English apples with meadowsweet.
At the heart of the hotel, on the ground floor, The Lobby covers all-day dining including breakfast and afternoon tea.
The Peninsula Boutique is similar to the one at the Hong Kong hotel – selling chocolates, teas, seasonal gifts such as mooncakes and teddy bears – but it has an attached cafe, which spills out onto Grosvenor Crescent and was at full capacity, including pavement tables, when I visited one weekday mid morning.
Within this delectable cocoon of a restaurant, Dicky To Kwok-kim, a Hongkonger who has moved to London and is a long-time Peninsula chef, serves Cantonese food, including dim sum, albeit with an emphasis on British and Irish ingredients: à la carte dishes such as Blythburgh pork either barbecued, roasted or in sweet and sour sauce; Highland beef wok-fried with black bean sauce; lo hei salad with Loch Duart salmon; and Silver Hill Peking duck.
Fitness and well-being
A spa, a 25-metre swimming pool and a fitness centre over two subterranean storeys are due to open in mid November.
Raffles
Location
On Whitehall, the political centre of London, down the road from Downing Street and the Houses of Parliament in one direction, and Trafalgar Square in the other.
First impressions
The OWO is a vast neo-baroque building that was home to the state war department and the Secret Service, and served as the military headquarters. It was previously not open to the public, but now smiling doormen welcome guests at the main entrance. And the marble staircase that once only the top brass could ascend now leads to the top suites.
At the foot of the stairs, two small stone lions bookend the balustrades. Claims abound that the nose of the lion on the right-hand side as you ascend was rubbed for luck by wartime prime minister Winston Churchill, when he arrived each morning, and by military men summoned for meetings to find out whether they were being promoted or court-martialled.
Rooms and suites
The smallest guest rooms (starting from £1,100) are a diminutive 31 square metres and overlook an internal courtyard.
There are various categories of suite, most of them contemporarily and neutrally decorated like the guest rooms, but the heritage suites are the stars here, with vast rooms, elaborate oak-panelled walls and antique fireplaces. The prices are as soaring as the decorative ceilings, at between £18,000 and £25,000 a night.
The Haldane Suite, the former secretary of state for war’s office, named after the inaugural incumbent, Richard, has the plum position overlooking Whitehall.
The Granville (named after Christine Granville, the alias of a glamorous Polish spy) doesn’t have the view but feels cosy, with a four-poster bed and a moodily lit show-stopper bathroom with copper stand-alone bath.
The Churchill Suite is the former Army Council Room, where many difficult decisions were taken and the heaviness of history is palpable.
Restaurants and bars
Café Lapérouse, housed in a purpose-built pavilion in the courtyard, serves classic French fare.
As well as the Singapore original there’s a London version, in which Sipsmith Raffles 1915 gin is mixed with lime leaf tea, strawberry, London honey, blackberry and raspberry eau de vie and cherry bitters.
As you might expect, The Spy Bar is hidden away, speakeasy style, behind an unmarked door in the basement. Half an Aston Martin DB5 hangs behind the bar – in front of a mirror, which appears to make it whole – a nod to the fact that not only did spies frequent The OWO but so did James Bond author Ian Fleming, as the assistant to the director of Naval Intelligence.
A Japanese restaurant overseen by sushi master Endo Kazutoshi is due to open on the top – or 6th – floor in the first part of next year.
Fitness and well-being
Four serene subterranean floors include a 20-metre pool, a gym, treatment rooms and a spa run by French beauty brand Guerlain.
