A hotel on may be the pinnacle of success on the Monopoly board, but who wouldn’t be equally enamoured by a series of suites spectacularly set in a steel and glass eyrie that hangs over in , like a real Master of the Universe’s lair? Of course, the Maybourne Hotel group already occupies two great swathes of W1 with Claridge’s and The Connaught, the benchmark of ’s five-star hotel scene, so old-school and reassuring. But the newest hotel in the group is a world away from that kind of silken elegance of wood-panelling and chandeliers. Although there is a lot of marble and polished stone.
.. The Emory is (expensively) understated yet (impossibly) elevated - a proper temple of design, as the last project the late Sir Richard Rogers worked on.
Aside from its illustrious architectural pedigree, it’s hard not to have sky-high expectations of the hotel scene’s newest spoiling sanctuary - a no-expense-spared opening that was always going to cause waves as a suite-only hotel (61, in total). But carry on regardless: the arrival sets the tone of your stay - slick - as the resident chauffeur whisks you straight into a cobbled enclave of Old Barrack Yard. (A blacked out limo is part of the stay experience for pick ups and drop offs - and airport transfers, too).
Pulling up to the entrance, the concierge and duty managers of course on hand to welcome you. (And what a welcome: they know exactly who you are.) I already spy the vast steel staircase with flashes of that infamous ‘R.
