Actor Robert De Niro Plans To Bring His Hip And Homely Hotel Style To London’s Covent Garden

 by PJ Cunningham

Robert De Niro is following up on his successful entry into hotel ownership in New York by opening another luxury premises in London.

Robert De Niro at Cannes Film Festival 2016. Image by Getty Images

The Oscar winning actor’s Greenwich Hotel in Tribeca adds a touch of rustic quiet to bustling Manhattan. Now he wants to do the same with his plans for the plush Wellington Hotel in Covent Garden. His New York premises has become a popular destination for such big screen stars as Kate Hudson, Kristen Stewart and Jennifer Lawrence. In the hotel’s restaurant, locals have to work hard to get on the reservation list as the A listers wine and dine. Nearby, others eschew the food area to relax in a Japanese ryokan-styled spa and swimming pool encased with a roof made of wood 250 years old. With cosy open fires for guests to warm themselves at and relax during the cold winter evenings and an open air cocktail courtyard for summer months, the hotel isn’t so much hip, as homely and tastefully laid out.

De Niro and his business partners plan to bring similar styled facilities to London. The 83-room luxury Wellington Hotel is also expected to include a central courtyard, a spa, two restaurants and a café. If the project gets the green light from Westminster City Council, building on the hotel should begin next year and be finished within a two-year time-frame. In a statement, De Niro promised that the hotel would honour the heritage of its immediate are while bringing to London what they had managed to do in New York. The Wellington would be the latest in a list of boutique hotels opening in the English capital in the past few years.

Read more: http://www.lonelyplanet.com/news/2016/05/19/robert-de-niro-open-luxury-hotel-london/#ixzz496hCx7W9

The Lanesborough London, By The Numbers-Britain's Most Expensive 'New' Hotel

Courtesy The Lanesborough

One of London's iconic luxury hotels has reopened after an extensive 18-month renovation. Learn just how much detail went into the transformation.

When The Lanesborough closed its doors at the end of 2013 to undergo top-to-bottom renovations, the first thing the five-star Hyde Park hotel did was auction off all of its old furniture. Next, the hotel was reduced to its shell. That's when the real work began. Mindful of the building's landmarked, Grade II-listed status, leading interior design studio Cabinet Alberto Pinto, and architects ReardonSmith sought to update the Lanesborough experience without drastically changing its signature style. The result? Anelegant Regency-era look in the guest rooms, accompanied by a mix of modern and traditional amenities, and meticulously designed public spaces. Here's a look at just how much painstaking detail and attention went into The Lanesborough's new look.

Courtesy The Lanesborough

A pastel dream of a room at The Lanesborough.

Months it took to renovate the hotel: 18.

Craftsmen hired to work on the hotel : More than 300.

Guest rooms to transform: 93, including 43 suites.

Sheets of hand-painted gold leaf found throughout the hotel: 42,000.

Original stencils are showcased found in the guest rooms and within The Library Bar: 5,500, each hand-crafted by Dolby & Taylor.

Hours spent stenciling to perfection: 2,000.

Different design schemes for the guest rooms: 5.

Amount of bed canopies in each room: 14, with over three million hand stitches on the highest quality fabrics.

Size of The Royal Suite: 4,800 square feet with seven bedrooms and bathrooms, two living rooms and a dining room that reflects attention to Regency period detail.

Sony tablets for adjusting the lighting, drawing the curtains, or ordering room service: 93 (one for each guest room.)

Included in the personalized stationary for guests to use during their stay: 5 business cards and 5 A5 personalized writing paper. (The hotel can also provide A4 paper as well.)

24-hour butler granted to each guest: 1

Written by Juliana Shallcross, www.cntraveler.com