“Understated” isn’t a word you usually associate with London’s Knightsbridge district, home to some of the city’s glitziest shops, hotels, and residences, so it’s something of a pleasant relief to step into the sleek, mahogany-paneled lobby of Bulgari’s new London hotel, a stone’s throw from the southern reaches of Hyde Park.
The hotel, which opened at the end of May, is the fourth in the Bulgari line – a line that has so far also stretched to Milan, Bali and Tokyo. The group had long been eager to find a location in London I’m told, but had decided to hold out till the right location came up (something that’s far from guaranteed in London’s heart!). It will have been worth the wait, for there are few locations that would be better suited to the kind of hotel you might expect from Bulgari. Park aside, it’s in the midst of one of London’s premier shopping districts, but in an area less laden with top-notch hotels than Mayfair.
It’s clear as soon as you enter that they’re intent on creating a relaxed and unpretentious atmosphere. The lobby, where you can drink, relax or even order your meals, is filled with comfy plunge-into sofas and armchairs by luxury modern Italian furniture maker B&B Italia (they’ve done the furniture for the entire hotel).Staff are friendly and welcoming. In the far corner there’s cosy seating around a fireplace, soft music and lighting. There’s a counter with a selection of hunger-inducing cakes for tea, and, rather sweetly, some jars of multi coloured sweets, which you can take away with you in ribbon-tied bags (“We want people to actually take them!,” I’m told). There are few obvious signs of the Bulgari brand apart from a display of diamond-encrusted jewelry on rotation from the company’s shop on nearby Sloane Street, and a few pieces of silver from the Bulgari family’s own collection, ranging from the 17th century to present times. Interestingly, it turns out that the family’s roots lie with the Boulgaris, a family of Greek silversmiths who moved to Italy in the late 19th century.
The rooms and suites
The silver theme is picked up across the hotel. At the centre of its bar (again unpretentiously named “Il Bar”) stands a rather magnificent, hammered silveresque bar shaped like a ship which is designed, like the rest of the hotel (and other Bulgari hotels), by Milanese architect and interior designer Antonio Citterio. Citterio has also given the hotel a nautical theme(given the city’s nautical links), and there’s signs of this throughout – including in the substantial yacht-like mahogany paneling throughout the hotel, including in the rooms.
The hotel is relatively small by central London standards with a total of 85 rooms priced from 600 pounds a night (excluding breakfast) upwards. 30 of those are suites. I visit the most opulent of them - the 12,000 pound-a-night Bulgari I, a breathtaking 220 square metre complex of rooms including a huge lounge, replete with a well stocked library and a fireplace (you can turn it on yourself or ask the butler to help); an 8-seater dining room; a state-of-the-art kitchen with its own temperature controlled wine fridge, and of course a luxurious bathroom with its own steam shower.
All the rooms are sumptuously-kitted out: silken heavy curtains patterned with a 19th century Bulgari design; bedside lamps based on the firm’s iconic silver candlesticks; black marble bathrooms, and a drinks and coffee cabinet done in the style of an old-fashioned Bulgari travelling trunk. Each is kitted out with a 42-screen television. There are nice little touches such as both towel and fine-lined dressing gowns to lounge around in and a natural sea sponge by the bath, not to mention all the fine Bulgari green-tea scented toiletries and candles. The beds are predictably melt-into-able, with fine, soft Italian linen, and the windows are, to my relief, triple glazed so you don’t hear a thing from the busy park-side road below.
Dining and amenities
In keeping with the rest of the hotel, the food is unpretentious – focusing on simplicity and good ingredients (there are even pizzas and burgers on the dinner menu for fine food weary visitors). The staff are friendly, and helpful at selecting a dish, or a drink to suit. For lunch, I try a delicious pasta dish with a tomato sauce bursting with flavour, and three very pungent types of goat’s cheese. For dinner, held in a softly lit dining room descended into by a grand steel staircase, I try the restaurant’s signature dish, a delicious sea bass in a gently flavoured broth, and a selection of simple but tasty antipasti. As you’d expect there’s a huge selection of fine wines, especially from Italy. The hot chocolate, made in house from melted rich, dark, Italian chocolate is a desert in itself. The meal ends with a playful touch: I’m brought a crumbly-nut-filled cookie with a hammer on a wooden board, and told it must be broken and shared, an Italian tradition. Being a fan of hotel breakfast buffets, I felt slightly let down that breakfast was al-a-carte, though the disappointment fades rather rapidly given the delicious selection of fresh breads and fruit (including fresh mangoes!) that I sample.
The most spectacular part of the hotel is undoubtedly the underground, two-floor spa with a 25 metre swimming pool tiled with green and gold mosaics, and a mini-waterfall-fed Jacuzzi. They’re surrounded by four poster loungers that make you feel far more like you are in Bali than London. There are a good number of treatment rooms with heated beds, some with their own baths and steam rooms to relax in and there’s a sizable gym, and relaxation area. I also visit the 47-seat home cinema, which can be used for screenings but can also be rented for a family movie night. Thanks to David Puttnam (the producer of ‘Bugsy Malone’, ‘Chariots of Fire’) who chairs the hotel’s board, it’s got top-notch 3-D technology including 4K-resolution. I later noted the sizable selection of DVDs that can be rented in your rooms from classic Federico Fellini films to Harry Potter. There are other little surprises: discretely located up a set of stairs near the bar, I chance upon the hotel’s cigar tasting room, stocked with a large selection of fine Cubans. And, as one might also expect, an array of business facilities, including two boardrooms, private offices and dining rooms.
Overall, this is a pricey hotel, even by London standards, but it is luxury that you get for the price you pay - understated and stylish in a way that only Italians seem to be able to achieve. And in a city that can often seem cold and far too hectic, it makes a strikingly warm and laid-back base.
What: Bulgari Hotel London
Where: 171 Knightsbridge, London
How much: GBP 600 pounds (Rs. 53,000) a night upwards, per room, per night