This hotel The May Fair, A Radisson Collection Hotel, is set in Mayfair, one of London’s two most prestigious residential areas. Indeed the hotel is right to champion its connection by splitting its name into the area’s original two words. Mayfair got its name in 1686 when King James II granted Royal permission for a fair to be held locally in the first two weeks of May.
This 5-star hotel is owned by Edwardian Hotels London: a group that owns and operates a portfolio of five-star hotels including The Londoner. The hotel was opened, almost a hundred years ago, in 1927 by King George V and Queen Mary. Indeed there’s a plaque proudly marking the occasion at the reception. The hotel was to become a venue for high society with its ballroom and cinema.
The location is perfect for in all directions there’s something to meander towards be it north to the department stores of Oxford Street, east to Theatreland, south to the St. James’ purveyors to aristocratic gentlemen, or west to the recreation of Hyde Park. Hail one of London’s signature black cabs and you’re sure to find something worthy of many a photograph.
The massive Art Deco exterior, unusually large for a London hotel, is an impressively solid edifice of eight floors and features a white stone façade with a central clock tower. While the hotel proudly boasts that it’s “known for its timeless elegance and charm” it actually has a successful mix of different eras as well as a multi-ethnic décor. The original Edwardian features are intact but there are also both modern and contemporary elements. The décor incorporates Asian and African artwork to lend it its global appeal.
As I entered it felt so spacious and uncluttered by décor, staff, or by guests. The contemporary lobby felt wonderfully cozy and residential with its neutral tones and soft lighting beneath its by Baccarat chandeliers. I loved checking in beside a plaque proudly displaying the hotel’s opening by King George 5th in 1927.
Of the 404 Rooms (with rates starting from $278 per night) there are, in ascending order of grandeur, Superior, Deluxe, Premium, Premium Executive, and Family rooms and then suites. Mine was a really eclectic stylish room in neutral tones and my bathroom felt luxuriant with its Sicilian marble flooring and Noble Isle products. From my balcony, I took advantage of the highly recommended breakfast room service as I looked over Berkeley Square famous for Vera Lynn’s wartime nightingale song.
The hotel’s May Fair Kitchen is, in effect, two restaurants in one offering, as it does, both a Japanese and an Italian menu. Under the copper lighting are low and high tables and a quieter end curtained off. A large, framed picture of a red circle referenced the Japanese flag. I loved the setting of chunky tree trunks with oak tops as alternatives to the marble-topped tables. All very natural, earthy, and grounding and lifted by the chirpy upbeat ambient music. Who doesn’t love an open kitchen as well as the option of al fresco dining? For such a large hotel the service is refreshingly personal and charming. I loved my yellowfin tuna sashmini ribbons, my kohlrabi salad, and my sea bass fillets and clams paired with my earthy white glass of Gavi di Gavi.
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Afterward, I crossed the lobby to reach the lively The May Fair Bar. It had just been renovated and had an elegance and understated sense of luxury. It felt both casual and smart: a rare quality with its creative and generous use of space in which I sat on a rounded, leather banquette to eat from the bar menu off my gleaming marble table.
Along with a gym sporting all the latest equipment there’s a spa with paintings, photographs, and frames giving it an oriental feel. Such a sanctuary for Central London with dim lighting to slow me down and soften my mood. Here, after a Moroccan steam bath, treatments, included hot stone massages on massive blocks of marble, using ESPA products.
The large Crystal Ballroom glistens with Baccarat chandeliers and the hotel also has its very own Theatre which fell under the ownership of Hollywood’s Danziger brothers during the 1950s and 1960s. There was once even a pool bar housing a real caiman crocodile. Swinging sixties indeed and in keeping with the times are the circular motifs in velvet fabric on the columns.
The May Fair Terrace, on the 1st floor, with its glass roof and outdoor air, was a former cigar room. Uber-cool metal curtains drip down to the smoothest of wooden flooring. There’s even a Palm Beach Casino adjoining the hotel.
What’s stood out for me about the May Fair, A Radisson Collection Hotel, was how charming the staff were, how inventive the Japanese menu and how ideal the location. A winning combination.
