Eurostars

Luxury Travel

ME London
Chic Suite

Size: 40 square metres
Price: £408 (about A$685) per night
Website: melia.com

ABOUT THE HOTEL
This is hip. From the jellyfish holograms inching up the grey marble prism in reception through to the queue for Radio, the rooftop bar, this is a pad where you may feel out of place without designer threads. Situated in the triangular Marconi house, an iconic Aldwych address, this was the original home of the BBC where the first radio broadcast was made in 1922. 

Today it’s London’s capital of culture between the Strand and Fleet Street and just next to Australia House. One can pop across the road to the West End shows, to the latest bar or restaurant or join the throng of people inside the hotel.

UNIQUE FEATURES
ME by Melia offers each guest an “Aura Manager” described as “dedicated to making your stay truly unforgettable, satisfying your wishes, and anticipating your needs.” They even offer guest styling tips. Prepare to be overwhelmed.

THE SUITE EXPERIENCE
Step inside away from the charcoal marble hallway into your white leather panelled room complete with choice of lighting from pink, violet, red, blue or green, or mix the colours using the space age electronic panels in this 40 square metre art form. The technology continues through to the desks with built in iPads and the two 46 inch IP interactive TVs with Sony PlayStations.  A luxurious feather bed sits aside a triangular prism window and the funky bathroom has a revitalising Bali shower and bath, sliding walls and an array of products to stash in your suitcase.

DINING
Bookings are essential if you are to sample Radio with its rooftop views over the Thames, from Tower Hill to Battersea Power Station, and linen day beds, many of which come with either rockstars or models who occasionally arise to froth around the glass walled bar. Downstairs, and slightly more accessible, is the popular Marconi Bar featuring twisted chrome poles from floor to ceiling, music and a groovy vibe. The bar shares the stage with STK, a sleek steakhouse with dinner DJs and an eclectic cocktail list. Competing for business is the more cheerful Cucina Asellina looking out on to the streetscape through wide arched windows. It offers Italian fusion food, which is fresh and light against a background of suspended wine bottles.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO UPGRADE
The Passion Suite is almost twice the size of the Chic Suite and has incredible views including the London Eye or Big Ben through to the London Bridge and the Thames. There’s a separate lounge with a dining area and 24-hour butler service.

INSIDER TIP
If you’re staying for three nights, book the complimentary 30-minute foot, hand or neck and scalp massage which comes with the suite and is done in the suite. 

The Merchant Hotel / Belfast
Junior Suite

Size: from 36 square metres
Price: £290 (about A$487) per night
Website: themerchanthotel.com

ABOUT THE HOTEL
Semi-Dickensian concierges in top hats, a harmonious blend of Victorian grandeur and art deco-inspired sleek modernity, a location second to none, a rooftop gym, and sumptuous rooms with Belfast views has earned this hotel the accolades of Hotel Accommodation of the Year at the Northern Ireland Tourism Awards 2012 and Best UK Hotel in the prestigious International Hotel Awards. For those who like to shop, the hotel features Harper, an exclusive fashion boutique and Northern Ireland’s only stockist of Valentino, Celine and Christian Louboutin.

UNIQUE FEATURES
If you’re after true VIP service, this is the destination for you beginning with your airport pick up in a shiny black Bentley and finishing with one of the world’s most expensive cocktails. In 2007 The Merchant won the Guinness World Record for the World’s Most Expensive Cocktail when they served up a £750 (about A$1,260) Mai Tai. The drink sold out in less than a year. Twenty cocktail concoctions of a rare 50 year old Jamaican rum, Appleton Estate Jamaican Reserve, costing £450 (about A$756) each are being offered this year and if you’re quick you may be able to purchase one.

THE SUITE EXPERIENCE
There are five lavish suites with sixteen foot ceilings, damask silk panelled walls, rich wall carpets and marble bathrooms with deep freestanding baths. All suites have an array of antique furniture and art and two have fully restored antique fireplaces.  You can choose from suites named Brian Friel, Seamus Heaney, C S Lewis, Philip Larkin or Louise MacNiece, all literary figures with Belfast associations. 

DINING
It’s worth dining in the Great Room purely for the ceiling; the incredibly ornate dome is filled with neo classic golden sculptures and is practically the Irish equivalent of the Sistine Chapel. Ireland’s largest chandelier, commissioned from local Irish crystal producer Tyrone hangs above, the jewel in the crown of this incredible room. The menu serves the best local produce reflecting the changing seasons and the wine list is one of the best in Ireland.

SPA
The spa offers signature treatments like the caviar and champagne facial and the tea ceremony, but don’t miss the latest in natural botox. It’s the only spa in Belfast to offer the Heaven Bee Venom Mask facial, favoured by Victoria Beckham and Dannii Minogue. Guests have use of the deluxe hydroptherapy area featuring hydro pool, rock sauna, aroma steam room, relaxation area and complimentary herbal teas. Products used are our very own Sodashi and Europe’s Kerstin Forian.

Bulgari Hotel & Residence / London
Junior Suite

Size: 61 square metres
Price: £900 (about A$1,533) per night
Website: bulgarihotels.com

ABOUT THE HOTEL
Britain’s most expensive hotel (with the cheapest of the 85 rooms available at a mere £850/A$1,427 a night) is just around the corner from Harrods and across the road from One Hyde Park, which boasts London’s most expensive flat at A$211 million. The hotel is in a new building and sinks six floors underground where you will find a ballroom, a 47-seat cinema and the glittering lap pool and spa. This jewel reflects the Bulgari family’s silversmith ancestry with silverwork apparent from the chandeliers through to the polished steel bannisters. The bling is balanced with granite, oak and onyx.

UNIQUE FEATURES
The Cigar Sampling Lounge is unique in an anti-smoking society and in a London five-star hotel, so you can taste Edward Sahakian’s private collection of cigars stored in individually controlled humidifier cabinets. These babies include the Cuban Davidoff Dom Perignon at £700 (about A$1,175) each and the slightly less pricey Cohiba Sublimes Ltd Edition 2004 at £360 (about A$605).

THE SUITE EXPERIENCE
Forget the showers of onyx, the silk wallpaper, the Murano glass chandeliers, the vintage Moroccan carpets from the Beni Ourain tribes, the 24-hour butler service, the heavenly toiletries and the custom built minibar resembling a luxury traveller’s trunk, what this suite has which is above all the finest in the world is the bed. Truly this was like sleeping on the puffiest cumulus cloud
in heaven. The mattress is from Sealy’s Posturepedic collection – I am going to buy one right now, as well as the Roman linen that is 100 per cent cotton palin satin with a 300 thread count and the goose down and feather pillows with 195 thread count made from 100 per cent cotton woven till.

DINING
Il Bar is all granite and silver and leads the diner down a sweeping staircase to Il Ristorante where head chef Robbie Pepin offers an authentic Italian menu stylishly presented. This is London, so naturally there is an afternoon tea menu filled with scrumptious traditional assortments such as a variety of cucumber, smoked salmon, tomato, egg mayonnaise, melon and bresaola, and peronata with goats cheese sandwiches, scones, pastries, champagne and tea.

SPA
One of the largest luxury hotel spas in London, this incredible mecca features ice fountains, cooling showers, 11 treatment rooms, a fully equipped wellness centre and a nail salon. If you happen to have your tutu, it won’t go amiss at the Ballet Barre classes co-ordinated by in-house ballerina, Nathalie Schyllert. There’s also London’s first luxury foot clinic by Margaret Dabbs and a full hairdressing salon.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO UPGRADE
There are 23 suites, and all provide butler service. The top of the line are the Bulgari Suites I–VII, each with a king size bed, a bathroom with combined steam and shower room, a dining room for 10 and spectacular views. Bulgari I is the largest but Bulgari VI and VII have terraces with amazing views through to Hyde Park. The entire top floor can
be booked for complete privacy from £30,500 (about A$51,224) per night.

INSIDER TIP
Bring your bikini. No expense has been spared on the 25-metre pool. Covered in iridescent green glass tiles, it sits next to the relaxation pool with floor to ceiling gold glass, a waterfall, whirlpool bench, beds and Bisazza mosaics. Next to the lap pool are four poster Balinese cabanas where guests can experience privacy at the touch of a button. 

The Thief / Oslo
Apparatjik Suite

Size: 40 square metres
Price: NOK9,000 (about A$1,578) per night
Website:

ABOUT THE HOTEL
The Thief opened in January this year and is Oslo’s grooviest hotel. Owned by Petter Stordalen, a 50 year old Norwegian billionaire who zips around in a biofuel powered Ferrari, it’s on the car free peninsula of Tjuyholmen (or Thief Island) where the city’s thieves were hung in the 18th century. Inside innovation is everywhere from the knitting clock which knits a stitch each time the knitting needle hands click on the hour through to the moving artwork in the lifts and there are even sculptures in the fire stairs.

UNIQUE FEATURES
Owner Stordalen is a private sponsor of the Astrup Fearnley Museum next door and his guests not only enjoy free admission to the museum, but also can enjoy artworks borrowed from the collection to create one of the most exciting galleries in a hotel. A £1.7m Andy Warhol painting, Ladies and Gentlemen, hangs nonchalantly in the restaurant, whilst Niki de Saint Phalle’s steel-and-polyester sculpture Le Grand Rossignol floats in the sitting area, valued at around  
£560,000.

THE SUITE EXPERIENCE
The Apparatjik Suite allows video art, music and art designed by the band Apparatjik to spice up your stay. If you haven’t heard of Apparatjik, maybe this is not the hotel for you. They’re a supergroup consisting of bassist Guy Berryman from Coldplay, guitarist/keyboardist Magne Furuholmen from A-ha, singer/guitarist Jonas Bjerre of Mew and producer Martin Terefe. Artefacts from their world include a Bolshevik Box with a 12 inch vinyl copy of “We Are Here”, a turntable to play it on; a set of eight individual original Apparatjik art prints which were produced at Atelje Larsen in Helsingborg, Sweden; disco-ball textiles, pixel-patterned blankets, a roof-mounted projector showing Apparatjik’s video art and disco balls in the bathroom and lounge. There are also books by Apparatjik and a selection of albums by their favourite artists.

DINING
Fru K, the hotel’s restaurant features sustainable ingredients sourced from local farmers and fishermen. The menu is sparse and filled with interesting combinations such as pickled and fried mushrooms with a Fjelldronning unpasteurised cheese. As Tjuvholmen is a culinary hotspot, there’s plenty of waterfront restaurants close by. Be warned – they eat early in Oslo so it’s difficult to find anything open after 10pm.

SPA
The Spa will be launching in 2014.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO UPGRADE
The 160 square metre Oslo Suite has a roof terrace with 360-degree views; it’s like being on the roof of Oslo and almost out on the fjord. Inside there are three collages by Sir Peter Blake, a curved alcove with rainforest shower in the Vittorio and Polaris marble. You have an individual fireplace, bar, dining room for eight, separate bedroom and walk-in closet. 

The Athenaeum / London
Green Park Suite

Size: 49 square metres
Price: £440 (about A$739) per night
Website: theathenaeumhotel.com

ABOUT THE HOTEL
Even Charles Dickens noted the extravagance of the interior of Hope House, as The Athenaeum was formerly known when it was built in 1849. A hotel since the early 1970s, it’s a haven for visiting celebrities with Joan Collins often spotted sipping champagne in the bar whilst Harrison Ford and Marlon Brando frequented the restaurant. Spielberg even installed his own edit suite in The Athenaeum apartments and it was here that he edited ET and Indiana Jones. Today, it’s a perfect location for families with 465 acres of park virtually at your doorstep. The hotel’s mantra is “Your London Home” and it’s just that with a discreet, quirky English character all rolled into a friendly package.

UNIQUE FEATURES
The hotel art is quirky from the cockney King and Queen in the shimmering pearly buttons covering the reception wall to the definite British toy soldiers and figurines displayed in each room.

THE SUITE EXPERIENCE
Choose between a Parkview or Mayfair Suite, one with a generous open plan layout or the other with a separate sitting room, perfect for families. Your children will want to return again and again once they see the suite packed with board games, bird seed, bikes and scooters, and kites to fly in the park. There’s also a complimentary minibar with a dedicated drawer of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream. What I really loved was that The Athenaeum sent me a questionnaire prior to arrival, asking for my favourite things in food, drink and movies and voila, when we arrived they were all there to greet us; milk chocolate dipped strawberries, peach iced tea for my son and our favourite DVD. It’s these little touches that impress the most.

DINING
Whether it’s breakfast, dinner or lunch, the food in the main restaurant is fresh and tasty with definite British influences. The restaurant also offers to cook you what you want if you don’t find anything you like on the menu, perfect for fussy eaters, and children eat free when dining with an adult. Afternoon tea is served in the Garden Room and was voted the best afternoon tea in London in 2012 by the Tea Guild. You can also grab a snack at one of the world’s premium whisky bars, which is housed at The Athenaeum, and has more than 270 varieties available.

SPA
Downstairs, away from the hustle and bustle of Mayfair, is The Athenaeum Spa offering bespoke treatments from REN Skincare. My favourite is the “What’s Not to Love”, a 60-minute body massage which is a fusion of Shiatsu, Swedish and naturopathy using REN rose product. Superb for reviving after a long flight.

INSIDER TIP
If you’re travelling with the family, have The Athenaeum book the Harry Potter Tour package which is one of London’s most popular attractions. Tickets for the Warner Bros Studio Tour – The Making of Harry Potter are sold out for months in advance but The Athenaeum has a private stash. Visit the Great Hall, fly on a broomstick, and learn how to cast magic spells.