LONDON - My home-away-from home during my three-day stay in London has been the Metropolitan Hotel, a stylish modern hotel favored by rock bands and fashionistas that, remarkably, manages to be long on warmth and short on attitude.
Operated by Como Hotels and Resorts and opened in the mid-1990s, the Metropolitan is located on Old Park Lane, across from Hyde Park. It occupies a distinctive glassy cube amidst a cluster of hotels, including a highrise, fortress-like Hilton, an InterContinental and a Four Seasons (currently closed for remodeling). The original Hard Rock Cafe is a block away. The Green Park and Hyde Park Corner tube stations are walking distance from the hotel. COMO also runs the delightful Halkin Hotel in London, and the Metropolitan Hotel in Bangkok.
I had a comfortable third-floor room overlooking busy, busy Park Lane and the eastern edge of Hyde Park. The usual joggers, dog walkers and horse riders have been joined by a temporary 'Winter Wonderland' exhibition of shops and night time lights put up for the season. My guestroom had a spacious bathroom with separate tub and shower, a nice, long desk, comfortable bed and free Internet hook-up - a boon for the traveler, especially a business traveler like me. Small surprises await in the desk drawer: A package labeled Indulgences includes, among other things, a mini-vibrator and a condom. Hey, the Metropolitcan cares, and wants you to have a good time.
But while the guestrooms are comfortable and large for London, the Metropolitan sells more than rooms. Indeed, the hotel is a favored haunt of Londoners as well as visitors. The capital's first Nobu restaurant is on the property, dishing up nouveau Japanese cuisine, and the Met Bar is a frequent venue for parties and events. Jo James, the hotel's high-energy public relations person, told me it had originally been conceived as a whisky bar, but evolved into a private members bar. The Met Bar often invites people it has in mind to become members, but travelers can become members, too, James said. After 9 pm, the bar is members-only, though anyone can have a drink in the spacious, welcoming lobby at virtually any hour.
Indeed, activity at the Metropolitan goes on pretty much 24/7, as it is a favorite of night owls. When I did a late check-in shortly after 11 p.m. on a Wednesday upon my arrival from Lisbon, the Met Bar was going full-blast and a number of other travelers were checking in and out, too. To ease the stress from all this activity, the hotel offers its spa program, Shambala, which James describes as not just about pampering yourself, but detoxifying the body and building a healthy lifestyle through nutrition, yoga and other types of work-outs.
Modern, of-the-moment hotels often age badly and date quickly, but this does not seem to have happened with the Metropolitan. It is still a very popular, lively hotel that has kept its edge in an intensely trend-conscious metropolis.
For more information: Web: www.metropolitan.london.como.bz. Telephone: 011 44 20 7447 1000.
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Hotel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Hotel. Show all posts
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
'Tis the Season in Londontown
LONDON - As I look out the window of my parkview room in the Metropolitan Hotel, I see flashing lights of green, red and blue illuminating the trees of Hyde Park. They are part of a big seasonal display, complete with artificial snow, in the famous park during the long approach to Christmas and end-of-the-year holidays.
I haven't seen London so done up in Christmas gear before, though I have been here at this time before. Big shopping arteries such as New Bond Street sport overhead electronic bows and ribbons, and name-brand shops such as Fortnum and Mason have holly and boughs from Christmas trees in front. At the posh Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly - or in Piccadilly, as the Brits say- glittering seasonal decorations abound. I am mainly window-shopping this far ahead of Dec. 25 - for me, as an American, the season doesn't really begin until after Thanksgiving - so all this is eye candy, but it's still fun.
I am not a churchy person, but I do enjoy the cultural, non-commercial side of Christmas, and London, a world center of art and culture, has that covered, too. The British, like those other masters of Christmas, the Swiss and Germans, open up churches to all for music and art celebrations of the season. One such moment provided a highlight of my current visit to London.
Like most visitors, I had been outside St. Martin-in-the-Fields many times, standing on the steps between its dignified columns to gaze out over London and take-in the sights of Trafalgar Square. But, oddly, I had never gone inside. I rectified that last night, to hear a program of, chiefly, Vivaldi compositions played by the accomplished Feinstein Ensemble. The church pews were hard enough to challenge anyone's faith, but the acoustic renditions of Vivaldi with flute, recorder, oboe and other sonorous instruments were inspirational. To complete the picture, St. Martin's lights were dimmed and the beautiful, vaulted interior was lit largely by candlelight.
When I left the performance for the nighttime walk back to the Metropolitan, I felt I had been blessed, not in the overt religious sense, but simply by virtue of being enveloped by such loveliness.
Christmas in London can do that.
I haven't seen London so done up in Christmas gear before, though I have been here at this time before. Big shopping arteries such as New Bond Street sport overhead electronic bows and ribbons, and name-brand shops such as Fortnum and Mason have holly and boughs from Christmas trees in front. At the posh Burlington Arcade on Piccadilly - or in Piccadilly, as the Brits say- glittering seasonal decorations abound. I am mainly window-shopping this far ahead of Dec. 25 - for me, as an American, the season doesn't really begin until after Thanksgiving - so all this is eye candy, but it's still fun.
I am not a churchy person, but I do enjoy the cultural, non-commercial side of Christmas, and London, a world center of art and culture, has that covered, too. The British, like those other masters of Christmas, the Swiss and Germans, open up churches to all for music and art celebrations of the season. One such moment provided a highlight of my current visit to London.
Like most visitors, I had been outside St. Martin-in-the-Fields many times, standing on the steps between its dignified columns to gaze out over London and take-in the sights of Trafalgar Square. But, oddly, I had never gone inside. I rectified that last night, to hear a program of, chiefly, Vivaldi compositions played by the accomplished Feinstein Ensemble. The church pews were hard enough to challenge anyone's faith, but the acoustic renditions of Vivaldi with flute, recorder, oboe and other sonorous instruments were inspirational. To complete the picture, St. Martin's lights were dimmed and the beautiful, vaulted interior was lit largely by candlelight.
When I left the performance for the nighttime walk back to the Metropolitan, I felt I had been blessed, not in the overt religious sense, but simply by virtue of being enveloped by such loveliness.
Christmas in London can do that.
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