The epitome of discretion

Discretion is a wonderful quality for the world’s great hotels, but London’s newest Mandarin Oriental Hotel takes it almost a step too far.

“Where is it?” my taxi driver asks me as we edge past the traffic alongside the newly redeveloped pocket park Hanover Square in the city’s bougie West End and even more exclusive Mayfair. “It must be somewhere around here.”

I peer out of the window for any sign of a luxury hotel that’s become the toast of the English capital’s glitterati but can see nothing that fits the bill. We pull up and look again at the satnav. “It says it’s right here,” the driver says, jabbing at a little red dot on the screen. “It really can’t be far.”

I go to touch the door handle and am startled by a young man, dressed in a gorgeous fawn overcoat with smart black panels, black lower sleeves, a black belt and a jaunty black cap, racing up to it to wrench it open. “Good morning!” he says, stepping back. “Welcome to the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair.”

I look around and he gestures towards the modern nine-level building behind him. I’d thought it was an office block. It’s pretty featureless and I feel an initial stab of disappointment.

The Mandarin Oriental’s first London hotel is a Grande Dame of a place at Hyde Park; a beautiful 1889 Edwardian-style piece of old-world glamour with striking red brickwork, Ashlar stone and theatrical roof turrets. Its newer little sister in Mayfair, however, the one I’m now standing in front of, is quite different. It opened in just 2024, and is a stark contrast, with a restrained contemporary façade of glass and steel. But as I look harder, I can see it’s probably designed deliberately not to stand out from its historic surroundings, and it does, truth be told, fit in seamlessly with the four-storey townhouses to its side and the 300-year-old Georgian square and green spaces opposite.

The doorman follows my eyes. “Wait till you come inside,” he says, gathering my luggage. “It’s absolutely beautiful.”

He’s right. It opens like an Aladdin’s Cave into a sumptuous low-lit lobby with a leather-lined receptionist desk, hovered over by staff in equally cutting-edge uniforms. Then we move further inside, into a wide-open, triple-height, light-filled space with the star of the show, a gorgeous Ming green marble circular staircase, winding up and out of sight.

The theme of the public spaces is earth, wind and water, I’m told, and there are numerous artworks, like the massive timber laser-cut vortex wall and wooden layered sculpture by UK artist Charlie Whinney, so redolent of the curved timber of boats, that bring the areas to life.

I’m eager to see my suite, and I’m escorted there by one of the staff in another incredibly smart uniform, this time a formal grey suit but with magnolia petals floating down the front, in a lovely combination of east and west that the hotel group itself embodies. Again, it’s style and restraint at its very best.

I find out later that all the uniforms were designed by Nicholas Oakwell’s company NO Uniform, which seeks to symbolise brand values through clothing for all the top UK hotels and stores. This area of London is a centre of art, fashion and culture, and it’s obvious that the Mandarin Oriental has tried to incorporate that wholly into every aspect of its design and operations. And it has succeeded.

“It’s important that we embrace the local area and community,” says Susanne Hatje, the German-born Mandarin Oriental executive who helped set up this hotel, and who trained for a while at Melbourne’s RMIT. “We like to take the traditions of Mandarin Oriental service and heritage and marry them with what the location can offer, in this case great fashion, tailoring, and jewellery designers.

“I think our guests are people who appreciate the finer things in life, who like friendly hospitality and good service, and also have a taste for elegance and discretion.”

My guestroom, one of just 50 in this boutique hotel, is certainly elegant, lined in a delicate silk House of de Gournay wallpaper, hand-painted and embroidered with magnolias, an echo of the trees of Hanover Square outside. Those magnolias are also repeated in the pattern of the deep-pile rugs.

The colour scheme is made up of different shades of blue and a rich cream, which I find extremely fresh and relaxing. It’s kind of subtle and understated yet incredibly elegant. I sink into the cream sofa, with its blue cushions, while tossing my jacket onto the blue sofa with cream cushions.

This is exactly the decor of loungeroom I’d love to have in my own home – if only I had a home that was put together by some of the world’s top interior designers, in this case the acclaimed UK-based Studio Indigo.

The bathroom too is a dream, furnished in marble with a deep, luxurious bathtub as well as a walk-in shower. There’s even a polished walnut-topped make-up table in the room; they’ve thought of everything. And this is very much the secret of the success of this Mandarin Oriental. It feels as relaxed, and as convenient, as home, only much, much smarter.

For some people, it is actually home, too. There are 77 private apartments within the building that can be rented out by their owners, if they choose, when they’re not actually in residence.

It’s still much smaller than the 141-room and 40-suite Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park – “We’re the little sister,” staff tell me – but that’s what helps give it even more of a premium intimate feel.

Another of the major attractions of the hotel is its proximity to many of London’s great sights and experiences. Right by the Elizabeth Line Tube station, it’s so easy to get around with trains, buses and taxis.

Green Park is only a short walk away, as is the Duke of Wellington’s splendid mansion packed with treasures, Apsley House. Hyde Park is also close, along with Marble Arch, Bond Street and some of the capital’s finest shopping. The British Museum and Kensington Palace are also only a 15-minute wander.

One guest I chat to in the bar that evening says it’s his home away from home when he visits London from his home city in Paris. “I love it,” he says. “Every time I walk across the threshold, I feel as though I have made it. It makes you feel special. It’s small enough to feel very personal, but big enough to have all the facilities of a much bigger hotel.”

Those facilities are certainly a notch above. In the same area as that magnificent staircase, lofty sky roof and timber sculpture is the Atrium Restaurant, serving breakfast and lunch, with waiters in yet another smart uniform.

Next door is Mazarine, offering seafood-focussed classical French cuisine with a contemporary edge for both lunch and dinner. The chef is Thierry Laborde, who trained under Alain Ducasse at Le Louis XV. Another reason, no doubt, that my Parisian drinking buddy loves to stay here.

There’s also the 50-seat Hanover Bar and outside terrace on top of the hotel, with fabulous views of London, as far as Hampstead Heath and the London Eye, while there’s also a late-night music lounge, Esmeralda’s, which buzzes from 8pm till late on Thursdays to Saturdays.

Another crowning glory is the spa and wellness area, with a stunning indoor swimming pool, lined with lights and over a mosaic floor that can change from light to dark, day to night, as you swim its 25-metre length. There’s also a spacious state-of-the-art gym, a steam room, sauna and spas, with a full menu of wellness treatments.

There’s always an element of fun, too, with Mandarin Oriental’s hotels. Each one around the world has its own individual fan – the group’s global emblem. For the Mayfair hotel, its fan has been designed by British fashion legend Vivienne Westwood which shows two figures dancing against the background of Hanover Square.

There’s even a handmade chocolate replica presented to greet guests in each room but, I’m sorry to admit, that really didn’t last long enough to be properly admired …