The first new five star hotel south of the river since the Shangri-La at the Shard a decade ago officially opens next week.
The Park Hyatt London River Thames is the latest top tier hotel to throw its doors open to guests in a remarkable sequence of luxury launches in central London since the Peninsula at Hyde Park Corner just over a year ago, followed by Raffles London at the Owo a few weeks later.
In total several billions of pounds are being invested in the fastest expansion of London’s luxury hotel offering in history with further high end locations such as the Chancery Rosewood, and the Admiralty Arch Waldorf Astoria next year.
The Park Hyatt, which has its opening ceremony on 8th October, is the first UK presence for the brand since the Hyatt Carlton Tower in Knightsbridge was renamed the Jumeirah Carlton Tower in 2001.
It is also the first full scale five star luxury hotel to open in the Nine Elms regeneration area between Vauxhall and Battersea best known as the location for the new US Embassy.
The 18th storey hotel will launch with an introductory nightly room rate starting at £555 although this is expected to stabilise at around £695, well below the £1000 plus mark that has become the new normal across the river in the West End.
Facilities include a 20 metre pool on the wellness floor, unusual for central London in that it is eight metres wide and on the first floor in natural light. Hotel pools are typically narrower and below ground level.
The hotel, designed by architects KPF, soars above the river in an 22 storey skyscraper next to the far taller St George Wharf Tower, one of the highest residential buildings in Europe. The 203 room hotel, including 34 suites, occupies all the floors up to the 18th level with serviced branded apartments above. A ballroom will have capacity for up to 820 guests.
There will be four restaurants including a still unnamed Cantonese flagship in a nod to the building’s Chinese ownership. There is also a “wine library” designed by Studio Moren with 1300 different wines on offer that combines as a tea lounge and is called TAMISé.
The downstairs Nine Elm bar is illuminated by an installation of 400 tulip shaped bulbs in homage to the area’s history as the site of the New Covent Garden fruit. vegetable and flower market, which moved south of the river from Central London in 1974.
Specially commissioned art includes Charlie Whinney’s ‘Ebb and Flow’ in the hotel lobby inspired by the neighbouring river Thames,
Gorka Bergareche, vice president of operations for luxury hotels in Europe, said he hoped the hotel would offer an “understated, home from home” atmosphere for global travellers. The project took seven years to bring to next week’s opening, although Covid delayed construction.
