Review: Sheraton Grand London Park Lane hotel, part of Marriott Bonvoy
This is our review of the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane hotel, part of Marriott Bonvoy.
To be exact, this is our second review of the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane – we covered it back in 2016 and liked it. The hotel recently underwent significant renovations, so when we were invited to review it as part of a series to highlight the current Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card enhanced 60,000 points sign up offer, we felt it was worth revisiting.
The Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card sign up bonus is currently tripled to 60,000 points when you spend £3,000 in the first three months. The offer ends on 26th May and you can read more about it here.
History and location
Just a year away from its 100th birthday, the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane opened in 1927 as the Park Lane Hotel. It is an Art Deco stalwart of the London hotel scene.
With a facade that looks out over Green Park and just a few minutes’ walk from Green Park tube station, it’s very much a central London hotel. Highly-rated Mayfair restaurants are in close proximity (including the excellent Hide, a few doors up) and visiting Buckingham Palace requires a short saunter through Green Park.
There are two entrances to the hotel. Taxis will usually take guests down a side road to the back of the hotel where reception is located.
Arrivals on foot come to the Piccadilly entrance. This is slightly understated, flanked on one side by the hotel’s pub The Smith and Whistle, but staffed by charming and smartly dressed doormen.
Checking in at the Sheraton Grand
Much of the renovation that took place over the last few years focused on restoring the hotel’s central atrium, sensitively renovating the space in keeping with its Art Deco heritage.
The entrance to the hotel now opens into a calming lobby area, with a view through to the Palm Court. This is a multi-purpose lobby / bar / afternoon tea area, with its iconic crowning glory – an original stained glass dome ceiling.
(This is not your typical Sheraton hotel, you will have realised by now.)
At the end of the atrium is a beautiful bar area which always seemed to have a few guests enjoying a coffee or glass of wine throughout the day and evening.
I understand why – warmly lit, with comfortable seating and beautiful fixtures like a stunning alabaster chandelier over the bar, it was a really enjoyable place to sit.
I had arrived at the front of the hotel so wandered through the atrium to find reception, tucked away at the back.
It was very quiet when I arrived so I was immediately checked in and greeted by the customer services manager who helpfully showed me the lifts which are a little tucked away.
The Grand Park View Suite
My room was a Grand Park View Suite, located on the 5th floor and overlooking the park.
(Regular readers will know that we don’t request suites for HfP reviews. We generally take a room which is a couple of levels up the pecking order. Frustratingly, due to high occupancy, I was not able to see a cleaned standard room during my brief stay.)
The room opens into a small entrance hall with large wardrobes lining one side, ideal for coats and luggage, along with a large mirror and two comfortable chairs. These were ideal for enjoying the view of …. well, a wardrobe.
I jest. It was actually very useful for my bag-carrier-in-chief (husband) to sit and check golf scores whilst I photographed the suite.
From the entrance hall, you enter the lounge area of the suite, with a large sofa area facing a huge tv built into the wall.
The lounge has two windows with views over Green Park.
There’s a small dining table and chairs in one corner.
A desk, set up for working is in another corner, with a supportive chair and plenty of sockets.
The silver walls you can see here emulate the Silver Gallery – the stunning entrance to the hotel’s grand ballroom (image below), where the walls are lined with silver leaf.
The desk is also where you can find the coffee machine, nicely set up with milk bottles.
Whilst these must be UHT as they didn’t need to be refrigerated, it was a positive change to see something other than those awful plastic capsules of milk you still get, even in the smartest of hotels.
Through to the bedroom, you’ll find a large bed, resplendent with a velvet chaise lounge at the foot of the bed. The windows also had a lovely view towards the park.
The bed was incredibly comfortable with soft linens and plush pillows.
Sockets were Rhys-standard-approved, easily accessible of either side of the bed, both UK three prong sockets and USB.
Art Deco inspired décor gave the room enough personality for it to be memorable without being tacky. The large mirror behind the bed and chaise longue gave the room a luxurious feel, and although I wasn’t a fan of the swirly carpet, overall I liked the design a lot.
Leading from the bedroom to bathroom was a triple wardrobe, providing plenty of storage plus the usual useful bits like an iron, ironing board and bathrobes.
The bathroom design jarred a little with the rest of the suite as it felt less contemporary.
The marble features gave an austere sense to the room and the bath looks like it may date back several decades, if not to the original hotel – really large and imposing.
That said, it functioned relatively well – plenty of space for moving about, a separate bath and large shower and a largish basin area with plenty of space nearby for toiletry bags and the like.
The bathroom was dim but well lit where it mattered. The pendant light in front of the mirror was a attractive and there was an additional adjustable, ring-lit, magnifying mirror, ideal for shaving or make-up.
Toiletries were by Penhaligon’s and smelt lovely.
A few little bits in the bathroom didn’t work perfectly. The first was that there were no toiletries by the bath, and the only shampoo / conditioner / body washes were in refillable bottles in the shower.
Big tick for sustainability, but these are effectively locked into the shower. If you fancied a bath, you wouldn’t be able to use them to wash your hair.
Shortly after we arrived, my husband took a shower and I soon found a large puddle of water on the bathroom floor. I did what any loving partner of 17 years would do – rolled my eyes and assumed he’d clearly been waving the shower head around like a lunatic. This smugness ended when I flooded the bathroom myself half an hour later.
The shower featured an overhead rain shower head and a separate adjustable shower head. All great with excellent pressure, but the positioning of the adjustable shower head meant that it almost always hit the shower door. A gap underneath the door resulted in a large puddle of water on the floor.
Neither of these things would stop me either recommending the hotel or staying again, but might be easy to fix which is why I mention them.
Dining at the Sheraton Grand
There are two restaurants at the Sheraton Grand. The Smith and Whistle pub serves light bites and pub food such as burgers.
Mercante is the hotel’s main restaurant and serves Italian cuisine, where we ate dinner. It was quiet so we were pleased to get one of the restaurant’s best tables in a window nook.
You can see the park from this table but it’s also generally a great place to see and – as it turned out – be seen, as a friend spotted us in the window!
There’s a good mix of Italian food including antipasti, pizza, pasta and meat dishes.
I started with burrata, which was fresh and creamy.
My husband went for the ‘small’ serving of spaghetti carbonara, freshly cooked then stirred into a giant pecorino cheese by your table.
It was a fun spectacle, made popular by Instagram-popular restaurants like Circolo Popolare, but it was also delicious and full of flavour.
I had a main of beetroot risotto with blue cheese and hazelnuts.
I really enjoyed this – the beetroot sweetness came through without it being too earthy and the pairing with cheese and hazelnuts, was really good.
My husband enjoyed a steak which was seemingly good quality and cooked perfectly.
I thought the food was really very good at Mercante. I am used to being underwhelmed at hotel restaurants and when I saw it was quiet, I was nervous, but it was impressive with a clearly talented kitchen.
Breakfast is also served at Mercante. Whilst we popped in to see what the executive lounge was serving, we decided to return.
Breakfast is served from the internal part of the restaurant, which was nice, but slightly gloomy compared to the bright front-facing room, so I recommend carrying your brekkie that little bit further for the ambience.
Breakfast items were all as you’d expect.
There’s a fruit bar, pastries and breads, a cold meats and cheese section for European guests and a self-serve hot food area.
You can also order omelettes to order.
The coffee is, as coffee seems to be at many five star hotels, tolerable (notable exception – The Londoner in Leicester Square, I had excellent coffee there).
Gym at the Sheraton Grand
There’s no pool at the Sheraton Grand but there’s a gym. It’s not huge, but there is plenty of space for a workout.
This was a good set of free weights and kettlebells.
Executive lounge
The executive lounge is situated on the ground floor, opposite the reception area.
It is rather tucked away and has only internal windows so isn’t the brightest space. It is a decent size, with a dining room, plenty of small tables to work from, some cute booths and even a small meeting room you could hire by the hour.
I didn’t try any food, but what I saw looked fresh and regularly replenished. You would have access to this if you were a Platinum or higher member of Marriott Bonvoy, or you can book a room which comes with access.
Conclusion
I was slightly concerned that I’d find the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane a little stuffy and old-fashioned but my impression was far from the case.
The renovations of the central ground floor spaces have been very well done, clearly managed by a team passionate about finding the balance between preserving the hotel’s iconic Art Deco features and bringing the hotel up to date.
Although the rooms have not been fully renovated, I felt (carpet aside) that they were still attractive and comfortable. I can tell the housekeeping team are very competent and couldn’t fault the cleanliness.
The food at Mercante was a really pleasant discovery and I’d like to return, even if just to enjoy the beetroot risotto, which I’d then follow with an after dinner cocktail by the beautiful bar in the Palm Court.
Combined with the excellent location, the Sheraton Grand London Park Lane is a great central London hotel and a world away from your mental image of what a Sheraton hotel would be.
Rooms start from £350 at the moment, although in peak months you are looking at £400 to £500. Points rates are relatively consistent at 90,000 to 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night although you can see them in 70,000s off-peak. This is in line with our 0.5p target for a Marriott Bonvoy point.
Remember that the Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card sign up bonus is currently tripled to 60,000 points when you spend £3,000 in the first three months. The offer ends on 26th May and you can read more about it here.
The card also comes with 15 Elite Night Credits in Marriott Bonvoy, given you instant Silver status and putting you closer to Platinum – which unlocks executive lounges, nightly upgrade awards and guaranteed 4pm check-outs – which normally requires 50 nights.
Thank you to the staff at the Sheraton Grand Park Lane for their kind hospitality. Special thanks to Justin Pinchbeck, the General Manager, who took the time to tell me about the renovation process and show me the Silver Gallery.
The Sheraton Grand London Park Lane website is here.
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
60,000 points (to 26th May) and 15 Elite Night Credits each year Read our full review