The Best Room at ... The Beaumont
Our column "The Best Room At" offers a glimpse inside some of the most charming, luxurious, and iconic properties around the world.
Tucked away on a quiet street in leafy Mayfair, The Beaumont has all the trappings of a grand London hotel. It’s stately, it’s polished, but it also holds a secret. Among the property’s 72 luxurious rooms and suites is something unexpected: ROOM, a 745-square-foot suite that mixes the hotel’s trademark Art Deco style with a one-of-a-kind sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley inside of which lucky guests can actually stay.
Here, managing director Duncan Palmer explains what makes ROOM so special, and why guests at the Beaumont—in ROOM or just a room—keep coming back.
What do you consider to be the best room at the property and why?
Our very best is the Roosevelt Suite. It’s a spacious suite at the top of the hotel that has a wonderful view looking toward the City of London. Because the Beaumont is in a residential neighborhood, you can really take full advantage of the terrace like you would at home. As far as a suite that’s the most unique, then we’re talking about ROOM. It’s a one-of-a-kind accommodation; it’s a piece of art, an inhabitable sculpture by Sir Antony Gormley. The artist wanted to leave the Art Deco feel that we have across the Beaumont in the suite in some way, so you step across the threshold of a white marble bathroom into ROOM. It has a 30-foot ceiling clad in fumed oak and has one very large window through which you can see the sky. It’s a room for contemplation and will guarantee you a quiet night’s sleep. It’s a bit away from the world outside, and it’s really a perfect place to get away from it all.
How much does it cost per night?
ROOM begins at around £1,000 per night.
How would you describe the guests and the vibe at the hotel?
The Beaumont is a very discreet hotel, it’s a place for guests who are private, who’ve arrived in life and appreciative tranquility. Rather than staying in a hotel with 200 rooms and too much traffic in the public area, staying at the Beaumont, where there are 72 rooms and suites, feels almost like a club. A majority of our guest are from the U.S. We have writers, we have artists, we have lawyers, and financiers. We attract guests who are looking for a quiet location where they can do their business or mix it with pleasure. These are people who want to be comfortable and to relax, but they like to mix with similar people. Our guests want personalized service, and it’s the service that we offer that brings them back again and again.
What feeling about the city do you hope to impart to guests?
We want them to discover all the many layers that make London such an exciting, vibrant world city that never bores. With our wonderful location, they can walk everywhere. Within minutes they will discover historic buildings that have been inhabited by the great and good (and not so good) over the ages; grand squares; exciting restaurants; independent, entrepreneurial boutiques; extraordinary art galleries; museums crammed full of treasures and quiet residential streets that can be explored at leisure.
What is one thing about the hotel that you think first time visitors will find surprising?
That for our size—only 72 rooms—we have such a range of outstanding facilities, such as one would expect in a much larger and grander hotel. This includes two popular restaurants, a bar, a dining and cigar terrace, a large spa with hammam, and a well-equipped gymnasium.
What do you think gives the hotel such a unique identity?
The Beaumont is a felicitous mix of beautifully designed and laid-out spaces that make people feel supremely cosseted. We also have a staff that really knows how to listen; there’s a personalization to each stay.
What’s a local attraction that you always recommend to guests?
The Wallace Collection is a mere 10-minute walk from the hotel, through the streets of Marylebone. Located on Manchester Square, Hertford House, once the London residence of the marquesses of Hertford and Sir Richard Wallace, holds an internationally outstanding collection built over two centuries and bequeathed to the nation in 1897. With free entry, it is a pleasure to explore its outstanding array of 18th-century French art, many important 17th and 19th-century paintings, including works by Titian, Velazquez, Rubens and Van Dyck, medieval and Renaissance works of art, and one of the finest collections of princely arms and armor in Britain.
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