Travel
Originally published on Thursday, 20th December 2007
Hotel Heights
Less glitzy than its sister Mayfair hotel, Claridges, the venerable Connaught has always been rather more quietly moneyed and discreet. Not for much longer, it seems.
Picking up on Mayfair's renaissance, with restaurant du jour, Scott's, and Marc Jacob's eponymous store just a stone's throw away, the Connaught's cool £60 million nip and tuck couldn't be more timely. Expect all the ancient details rebuffed, plus a new glass atrium alongside the hi-tech details that the super-rich expect wherever they lay their millinery.
But that's mere pocket change compared to The Savoy's new facelift, which is scheduled to take at least eighteen months. Costing a scant £100 million, in hotel terms that's an eternity to remain 'dark'.
Whilst most of us might be nervously awaiting a property crash, there seems to be plenty of people who will always be rich no matter what happens to the markets. And since they're hitting London in even greater numbers these days, glam hotels like these can afford to remain closed while sprucing themselves up, content in the knowledge that the moment they re-open their newly polished doors, the droves will be waiting.
The Connaught now taking reservations
The Savoy reopens in 2009
