ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS: London luxury with a twist at One Aldwych

GM Janine Marshall

London’s new-look One Aldwych is designed to have a homey feel. If only most people’s homes were so nice. Located a stone’s throw from Covent Garden in the heart of the British capital where the West End meets the city, the hotel is now fully open again after a full-scale renovation that saw the property closed earlier in the year.

“It feels comfortable,” general manager Janine Marshall told me over coffee in the hotel’s stunning Lobby Bar recently, suggesting that the previous version of the hotel could “feel a little cold.” However, the fact that it took the property 21 years to embark on its first serious makeover reflects the fact the it was pretty posh in the first place.

“I can only imagine what it looks like now – it was unbelievable before,” one former guest told me.

But such is the attention to detail at the independently owned member of The Leading Hotels of the World that management was unwilling to fall behind in the competitive London market.

For example, Marshall laughed that when it comes to food in the city, “patrons are fickle! It’s sexy fish one day and something else the next,” meaning that customer tastes are always changing. So, the hotel engaged hospitality designers for the refurbishment who specialized exclusively in food spaces to compliment the 86 rooms and 16 suites being coloured by noted designer Robert Angell (duelling designers is considered uncommon).

Marshall says the renovation was also a chance to critically assess two decades worth of guest experiences and correct any flaws – such as bathrooms that some guests considered too dark.

Indeed, the hotel pressed key travel partners for their opinions before work began, taking suggestions such as ensuring rooms had the latest technology, rainshowers and vanities for women guests. But the top suggestion, Marshall says, was “get the light right.”

As such, the hotel now feels light and bright throughout, including the bathrooms.

When it opened in 1998, One Aldwych was a trailblazer (luxury hotels were found in Knightsbridge, not Covent Garden), as well as in its shunning of “the dripping deluxe of the ‘80s” in favour of “embracing the subtler stealth wealth style of the early 21st century.” Now, two decades later, the refurbished hotel is meant to feel “residential, not like a hotel,” though still decidedly elegant.

However, with a mandate to also create nooks and crannies and eliminate spaces where patrons might feel “exposed,” the hotel has a whimsical, borderline quirky feel, prompting Marshall to declare, “We’re still a five-star, absolutely, but we’re not stuffy.”

Witness the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-themed afternoon tea served in Indigo restaurant, which uniquely includes candy floss.

More than 350 pieces of art (all on site since day one) are sprinkled throughout the hotel, though some in new places – such as the imposing “Boatman with Oars” sculpture now presiding over the Lobby Bar, and the “Head of Dionysus” sculpture at reception, which is so heavy that it required the floor in its new location to be re-enforced. And greeting guests upon entry is the hotel’s signature paper-maché dog, Spencer, now joined by a sidekick, Lizzie (so named because it is wrapped in banknotes featuring the face of Queen Elizabeth).

The new design and décor also embrace the building’s location and Britishness, being a landmark triangular building that was once home to the Morning Post newspaper and at one time provided an office for Winston Churchill.

Of course, there are all the requisite amenities a top hotel requires –restaurants (the aforementioned Indigo, which is dairy and gluten-free, and the informal Eneko Basque Kitchen & Bar from three-star Michelin Spanish chef Eneko Atxa); a Health Club with state-of-the-art equipment in a 24-hour gym, 18-m. chlorine-free swimming pool with underwater sound system, sauna, steam room, and three treatment rooms; plus a private lounge for hotel guests (and featuring a toy box for youngsters).

Service, it must be said, is equally impeccable. It’s the kind of establishment where staff – “chosen as much for their emotional intelligence as for their professional skills” – are likely to remember your name on second reference without asking.

Marshall also assures that “all the key members of staff who were here before (renovation), have returned.”

Such details allow One Aldwych to be fresh yet familiar. “When we reopened, our guests found the hotel with its original soul intact,” says Marshall, adding, it is simply “more polished, more detailed – and very elegant.”

Of course, one need not stay at the hotel to experience it. Both Indigo and the Lobby Bar (with new specially created cocktails) also welcome locals and drop-ins, and street-facing Eneko is one of London’s go-to restaurants.

CANADA

Marshall estimates that Canadians constitute about two to three percent of One Aldwych’s current clientele, but such is the belief in the market potential of Canada that the hotel has recently appointed Newmarket-Ont.-based Canlink Travel (www.canlinktravel.com) as it’s representative in this country to help generate both leisure and business guests.

To that end, the GM touts the hotel’s location as being a key selling point. Facing the Strand cultural corridor, it’s only a few minutes’ walk to trendy Covent Garden and the recently regenerated area’s boutique shops, pubs and restaurants; Trafalgar Square (and the National Gallery); and a little further to Buckingham Palace and Piccadilly Circus, or across the Thames to the South Bank. Homesick Canadians will also find the Maple Leaf pub just around the corner.

Conveniently, there are approximately 30 West End theatres in the vicinity (including “The Lion King” at the Lyceum Theatre next door) plus the Royal Opera House, for which the hotel can arrange discount tickets and tours.

And there’s one more reason Canadians will love One Aldwych, says unstuffy Marshall. “Because,” she laughs, “we are absolutely fabulous!”