One of London’s most anticipated new hotels, the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, will open its doors on 3 June after several delays.
The 50-room offering, which also boasts 77 private residences, is the first new-build on Hanover Square, that quiet enclave off Regent Street, in more than a decade.
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The hotel was designed by renowned architects RSHP (the firm behind the City’s Lloyd’s Building and the ‘Cheesegrater’ Leadenhall Building) and its Vierendeel structure both complements the surrounding Georgian buildings, while still standing out as contemporary.
Interiors by Tokyo-based design studio Curiosity reflect the story of the hotel’s location, with the grey marble in the entrance hall a continuation of the pavement, and the green marble on the walls (a theme throughout) reflecting the greenery of the reborn square.
The Mandarin Oriental Mayfair’s opening is being guided by general manager, Susanne Hatje, who came to London in 2022 after nine years at the helm of the Mandarin Oriental New York. Hatje has been in the hotel business for 25 years and knows a thing or two about openings: she launched the Mandarin Oriental, Boston in 2008 as well as The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Hong Kong.
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Artworks by local British artists are on display throughout the hotel, including two sculptures in willow by London artist Julia Clarke. The interiors are rich in colours and textures, the group’s Eastern heritage cleverly weaved in throughout.
‘We believe very strongly that as a company a hotel cannot be successful when we don’t embrace the local community,’ Hatje tells Spear’s during an early tour of the hotel ahead of the official opening. ‘But also, we have the Oriental heritage and there are some touches that remind us of where we came from; that could be the orchid in the guest room, a pattern in the bar. But at the same time we must reflect and embrace where we are.’
The Mandarin Oriental Mayfair is the hotel chain’s second destination in the capital, and will serve as the more intimate sister to the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park.
Accommodation ranges from the entry level deluxe rooms, designed by UK-based Studio Indigo, to the 1,040 sq ft Mayfair suite, which boasts, unusually, a full-size kitchen, as well as a show-stopping central cloud-like sculpture that spills from the mirror above the dining room table.
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Michelin star chef Akira Back will bring his first UK restaurant to the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. In contrast to the sleek green marble, the ABar Lounge has a Mayfair private members’ club feel. There is also the Dosa restaurant chef’s table, which seats just 14 guests. Hatje describes the space, as a ‘stimulation of the senses through the food and the decoration but also through the finishing textures’, which are hammered silver.
The basement spa, also designed by Curiosity, will boast Mayfair’s largest swimming pool, a sauna, vitality pools, experience showers, steam rooms and a gym. It’s an impressive size for a hotel that boosts just 50 rooms.
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‘We’re going back to that concept of buying time,’ says Hatje of the bespoke approach to treatments. ‘So we’re really encouraging our guests to arrive and say, “You know what, I’ve got two hours. I’m feeling a bit stressed. My skin’s a bit tight or my shoulders and I want to achieve this and they will literally say, ‘we can do it”.’
The Mandarin Oriental Mayfair is opening at an exciting moment on the London hotel scene. The last 12 months has witnessed the unveiling of both the Peninsula London and Raffles London at The OWO, while Six Senses at The Whiteley, the Chancery Rosewood and the Waldorf Astoria Admiralty Arch are all scheduled for 2025.
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‘We are very fortunate to have the strong service culture of Mandarin Oriental, which is the foundation of the hotel,’ Hatje says on how it will standout from the competition. ‘You also have guests who want to be in Mayfair because of the art, culture and shopping around us… We definitely have the best location. And we have an offering which complements that. I think we will find that niche of the traveller who was looking for that [Mayfair] experience.’
Indeed, the Mandarin Oriental believes so much in London’s strength as a hospitality hub that it has a third hotel set to open in Bankside in 2028, ‘which will be entirely different again’.
