Despite this similarity of feel, the 60 suites are markedly different to the 275 bedrooms. Treatment of the bedrooms is described by the hotel as 'classic with a modern twist' and as 'reflecting the colours used in a stately home'. Presumably this is the hotel reading of what is wanted by overseas visitors, but it does result in very conservative, even slightly old-fashioned rooms, in stark constrast with the suites which are modern and stylish and yet more classical than the standard bedrooms.

The style of the furniture in the standard bedrooms is traditional, with a heavy mahogany stain as standard.In this respect the rooms are disappointing and do not compare with, say, the InterContinental Berchtesgaden. 'Classical' and 'traditional' can also mean old fashioned. Fortunately here this is not something that is apparent in either the technology in the rooms (flat screen TV's for example) or in the bathrooms.

Meanwhile the suites have a proper sense of the dramatic. Classical yes, but strongly contemporary with their imaginative use of veneers and the best bathrooms I have seen in any London hotel, certainly putting to shame the feeble efforts to create a high standard at a newly refurbished rival hotel up the road.

"[the suites are]strongly contemporary with their imaginative use of veneers and the best bathrooms I have seen in any London hotel"

The bathrooms in both the standard rooms and the suites are strong in their use of materials and provide the latest in bathroom technology, from walkthrough showers with rainheads and body jets (why doesn't every five star hotel offer both of these?)to the imaginative use of marble, stone and composite materials.