Some hotels are for those on business, some for the weary, others for lovers. …At Sloane could only be for the latter. Though it exists to provide food, drink and shelter, its foremost — or is that dominant? — concern is surely seduction.
Seduction, but nothing lascivious: there are no wink-wink, nudge-nudge flourishes, no crude leather furnishings, no tactless statues. It is not making a spectacle of itself. Discretion is preferred. Witness the outside: a handsome red-brick, white-windowed Victorian mansion block, it has no signage; for those who do not know, there are no clues beyond a doorman rocking on his heels. Through floor-length curtains, there is nothing so prosaic as a reception: in its place is a candlelit library under Arts and Crafts lanterns, black bookcases filled with photography bibles, a scattering of games. Antique vases sit on top of the cases, etched with scenes of Greek naughtiness. The room is dominated by a long table at which staff sit at their laptops, as stylish as the room they work in. You feel better about yourself on walking in, as if their good looks might be catching.
It is not exactly new, …At Sloane, having launched in late 2023, but whether it had opened yesterday or a century ago is, by design, almost impossible to know. The hotel is a ménage à trois of efforts between Earl Cadogan, whose Cadogan Estate owns the building, French hotelier Jean-Louis Costes — of Hôtel Costes, perhaps the chicest place to stay in Paris — and François-Joseph Graf. Graf is an interior designer who began his career at the Palace of Versailles, and soon put together the extraordinary home of the late Pierre Bergé, co-founder of Yves Saint Laurent. Graf is known to be exacting, and so it was here: in the library-cum-reception, the ceiling is in part painted to show the clouded London sky. It took the artists three attempts to satisfy him. “They kept painting it blue,” I’m told. “And he kept saying: ‘But in London, the sky is grey.’” Graf got his way.
Graf wanted, he says, to ban “every ostentatious sign of luxury, preserving only those details that exuded true quality and charm”. It is hard to argue with: here there are 50 fabrics, custom-made for the hotel; 21 different designs of carpet; 19 different curtain types. There are reproductions of light fittings from the late-1800s; hand-painted trompe-l’œil (marble fireplaces that are, in fact, wood); leaded windows made by the same company that did the stained-glass of Chartres Cathedral. But I suspect Graf and Costes also wanted to do something else — to bring, top of mind, what is done behind closed doors.
See the staircase that leads to all 30 bedrooms. It is a gallery — 1,000 black and white photos show beautiful people glittering, famous lovers together, the occasional nude. Or see the bar, so low-lit it is like sitting in mist, where chairs are close to the ground — to better show off legs — and tables are close together, so conversations might be struck up and secrets shared. Mirrors are everywhere, to catch glances. Or see the rooms, where great romances are shown — portraits of Burton and Taylor, say — and encouraged: in the well-stocked mini bar, much of it gratuit, are boxes with toys and an edition of the game Pillow Talk. The lighting includes and option for “Love”, flatteringly low, hiding flaws. Everything from the music to the telly can be controlled without leaving the bed, as though they suspect you might never want to. Some rooms even have a secret second exit for discreet comings-and-goings. “We call it the mistress door,” they say, smiling in understanding.
Those who do make it out from the sheets will find a restaurant upstairs, though room service seems to be encouraged. It is a restaurant for the mind that is elsewhere, with a menu that might suit any whim — there is dim sum, but also snails, but also pasta, a club sandwich, veal steak. The wine list has only the good stuff (admittedly, at a price only new lovers won’t blanch at). Comfort and ease is the thing — have what you like, get back to each other. A hotel to seduce in, but also to be seduced by.
Rooms from £600. 1 Sloane Gardens, SW1W 8EA, atsloane.com
