Historic war office used by Winston Churchill is transformed into luxury Raffles London hotel

A recent report ten years in the making recently boldly selected The World’s 50 Best Hotels. So what makes a great hotel?

An iconic cornerstone of London’s landscape, the city’s Old War Office building is set to settle into a brand-new identity this month. Sold to the Hinduja group in 2016, the building is opening its doors to the public once again, this time revamped into the Raffles London at The OWO. This will be Raffles Hotels & Resorts’ first location in the United Kingdom. Rаffles’ hotels are known for bringing together impeccable hospitality, design, and exclusive environments, and The OWO is no exception. Storytelling and preservation are the focus here, and Raffles properties allow guests to spend their trip basking in history.

The current generation of high-spending hotel guests don’t care about your thread counts, fruit baskets or pillow chocolates, says the CEO of one of Accor’s most ornate hotel brands. Raffles boss Omer Acar states that repeat business in luxury hospitality is achieved through intangible, romantic metrics such as personalization, respect and appreciation of ones’ time.

The One&Only Mandarina was recently named the number-one hotel in North America by the new global ranking of The World’s 50 Best Hotels 2023. The list was announced at an awards ceremony in London and includes hotels across six continents worldwide. This list marks 50 Best’s first ranking in the travel space.

In the distance, the verdant North Downs stretch out for miles, the chalk hills gently undulating until their ridges merge with the horizon. Closer, still, are fields of white lacey Cowslip and wild yellow Woodsorrel which dot the landscape with pops of colour. It’s hard to believe that we’re a short drive away from central London.

From harbor-front Hong Kong glam to old-school European luxury, a just-released list of the best hotels on the planet offers a handy guide to traveling the world in high style – or at least assembling a list of dream accommodations. 

One day in 2021, Megan Clawson was walking home from a night out when she was inspired to record a video on her phone.

It turns out that luxury London hotels are like buses. You wait ages for one to open, and then two, or in this case several, come at once.

With its mild, pleasant climate, charming English Channel island Jersey, just off the coast of Normandy, is an excellent weekend break destination as it’s a very short flight from London. The landscape is varied, from rugged coastlines to pristine beaches and the history is fascinating, with castles, including Elizabeth Castle, where King Charles II hid during the English Civil War and bunkers from German-occupied Jersey in World War II. As a tax haven, it’s probably better served than similar islands of its size, with some lovely hotels, shops and good restaurants, including one with a Michelin star.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Tuesday, September 12. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Overlooking the English Channel is a small resort town bedecked with freestone facades and half-timbered houses. English is heard everywhere, from the Art Deco Westminster hotel to the lighthouse, which, on the occasion of the late Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee, was lit up with Her Majesty's favourite colours. The bells of city hall chime in an echo of Big Ben, and it was just announced that the town's airport will soon be rechristened after Queen Elizabeth II.

London is a vibrant, culturally diverse and perpetually evolving city made up of a series of interconnected, but independent, neighborhoods. In all, London is broken up into 32 boroughs that make up what is known as Greater London. Within those 32 boroughs there are roughly 48 neighborhoods as some straddle between two boroughs.