Sunfinder Vacations

A busy hotel in the centre of London activity, with an Oxford Street location that's ideal for executives or vacationers with shopping on their agenda. Guests enter the Art Deco-style foyer on the street level and ascend an escalator to an expansive lobby with stained-glass ceiling, marble floor, black lacquer cabinets, and other Asian-accented furnishings.

Large and busy, the hotel has a city-center feel that attracts both business and leisure guests. The lobby is bustling and organized. Updated throughout, the hotel still retains much of its 1930s character, with original marble paneling on the wide corridors and stone façade.

Vacationers rub shoulders with suited executives in the T-shaped marble lobby of this distinctive hotel, where Winston Churchill used to stop for drinks in the mahogany-paneled bar. The interior blends elements of classic decor—chandeliers, polished marble columns and floors, oil paintings, and plasterwork ceiling—with contemporary comforts.

Entrepreneur Ian Schrager and internationally famed designer Philippe Starck transformed the interior of the 1950s Sanderson building in 2002. Salvador Dali’s crimson “lip” sofa, illuminated white-silk drapery, and ambient video images set the tone in the bright, white lobby. The lobby leads past the baroque Purple Bar to the Long Bar, where chic guests, most dressed in black, mingle with media types.

Since 1906, the Ritz has dominated Piccadilly. Reminiscent of a French château, the Louis XVI-style interior is adorned with Ionic columns and Belle Epoque furnishings. Stepping inside the lobby's three-story rotunda with its leaded glass ceiling is like entering a fairy tale. Yet the Ritz is warm and welcoming, and executives, celebrating couples, and families breeze in and out, undaunted by the hotel's glamorous pedigree.

Flanked by two major West End theaters, and less than 1 mile from the city center, the Waldorf straddles the theater and business districts, offering a convenient location for both vacationers and corporate travelers. Built of Aberdeen granite and Portland stone, this hotel has dominated the graceful west crescent of the Aldwych since 1908, and its imposing façade is one of London's architectural icons.

Dating back to 1856, this large Victorian hotel features an impressive lobby area with a grand sweeping staircase, stained glass windows and chandeliers. On entering the hotel, the reception and concierge desks can be found on the left. Guests can take a seat on one of the oversized red leather chairs and admire the building's decorative archways and ornate cornicing. The clientele is predominantly business guests during the week, with British and international leisure travellers taking advantage of the hotel's prime location at the weekends.