London Calling & the Cribs in America
Posted by Anthony on February 5th, 2009At Mr & Mrs Smith, we love London, and not just because we live here. The thing is that, since we all have homes to go to, it’s rare that the Smith team gets the chance to stay in any of our city’s own luxury hotels (although we are partial to the odd cocktail at the Haymarket or an after-office dinner at High Road House). To remedy this state of affairs, this month the editorial squad wrestled a hotel-hunting trip from the hands of Smith’s usual boutique bloodhounds, Katy and Mary, and set off to explore the capital.
Our esteemed editor Rufus went forth to scout out the Sanderson, one of the original London boutique hotels, which first brought the unstoppable pairing of Ian Schrager and Philippe Starck to attention of the city’s style kings and queens back in 2000. Just north of Oxford Street, Sanderson occupies a grade II-listed building. But the difference between exterior and interior couldn’t be more, erm, Starck. Outside, it’s all concrete and Cold War-era austerity; inside you’ll find oversized statement furniture, a buzzing, catwalk-like bar area and a playful vibe that extends throughout the entire property.
Rufus was quite impressed, in other words.
Lucy, meanwhile, went to investigate Kit Kemp’s fun South Ken townhouse Number Sixteen, which she declared ‘as refreshing and tasty as a cup of Earl Grey on a spring morning’ and ‘as pretty as an iced cupcake’, which put us all in the mood for elevenses.
I turned up on the doorstep of Knightsbridge Hotel, another Kit Kemp-styled boutique B&B, (just behind Harrods), had a snoop around the tactile-textured rooms, admired the fab floral fabrics, put my feet up in the lovely dolls’ house library, and gawped in envy at the sleek, fully stocked, cocktail wizard’s fantasy of an honesty bar.
After heading back to Smith HQ, comparing notes, and confirming that our three urban hideyholes were all more than worthy of being added to Mr & Mrs Smith’s London boutique hotel collection, and introduced all three to their new home on the Smith site lickety split.
These three luxury pads aren’t the only London additions this month, though. Tamara and James not only sequestered themselves away for a cinematic stay at the Charlotte Street Hotel (you can read their anonymous review here), but also got a peek into Rough Luxe (left) – the new art-packed paean to shabby-chic in King’s Cross – a thrilling design statement and then some.
We’d also like to introduce the newly revamped St James’s Hotel & Club – a sexily spruced-up gentlemen’s club with rooms moments from Mayfair, and the Yang Sing Oriental – a slice of eastern elegance in the heart of metropolitan Manchester – which Rufus has also reviewed.
Stepping out of the city, we’ve rooted out two rural retreats amid Devon’s rolling downs, both of them ideal for weekend country jaunts. Whitehouse is a gorgeous Georgian hotel in a pretty seaside village, where you’ll find reassuringly rustic chunky wooden beds, untreated floorboards and the most welcoming atmosphere on the Devonshire coastline. Higher Westcott Farm, reviewed by The Archers’s Louiza Patikas, is a 300-year-old Devon Longhouse perched on wuthering fringes of Dartmoor that just happens to serve sublime home-cooking from an ex-Conran restaurateur.
And, over in the US, we’ve launched hotels in two new destinations: Boston and San Diego, home to stately 
city stay, the XV Beacon and the design-savvy delights of Ivy Hotel, respectively. The City of Angels also gets a fresh boutique hotel injection this month, with the arrival of the bold, bright, beautiful and brilliant Oceana Santa Monica, and the Manhattanite apartment-style Palihouse Holloway.
That’s all we have time for on tonight’s episode, but check back next month for a new selection of special places to stay in Spain, Italy, South Africa, and three of Jupiter’s moons.
And remember, you can check out new additions to Mr & Mrs Smith at any time on our new hotels page on the main site.
Update: I’ve just learned the interstellar hotels have been put on hold for contractual reasons, but we’ll keep you posted. Watch this, ahem, space…
Thanks for sharing the information. Possessing such comparative information helps to get the best deal according to our budget. The Hempel Hotel and Le Méridien Piccadilly may also good boutique hotels to stay in London; I have been at both of these and was impressed with tailor made packages being offered by both.
By Shubhranshu
On February 12th, 2009
[...] heck, even mention it to people you hate, and we promise to keep on publishing our travel tips, hotel low-downs, sexy fashion features, insider interviews, and all the lovely other stuff that earned us the [...]
By Vote Smith (please)
On March 4th, 2009