In short… The Emory is Maybourne’s newest hotel in the city, overlooking Hyde Park, is high on design, wellness, service and total privacy, with the best urban wellness experience.
The vibe… One of the final projects of the late architect Richard Rogers, the Emory may not have all the traditional hotel signifiers–grand circular entrances with friendly staff out front. In fact, it doesn’t read hotel at all, but more cool apartment building—the kind of place where a 21st-century Bond would live. Given that it just opened in May 2024, and the sign-less entrance is down a nondescript small driveway, even the most seasoned taxi drivers usually don’t know it. While it has no lobby and you won’t see staff standing around everywhere, service is such a strong point of the hotel. Each room has a butler, and ours was so helpful—alerting us that included in our stay was the pressing of five articles of clothing, which we immediately took advantage of, and our shirts never looked better. She also walked us through their generous in-room minibar, all the contents of which are included—along with two cocktails per day, which can be delivered to the room.
The rooms… Notable designers were given different floors—Patricia Urquoila, André Fu, Alexandra Champalimaud, Pierre Yves Rochon, and Rigby & Rigby. Rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows that look over Hyde Park, and mine had a terrace you could sit on. On my second visit I was on a different floor, but both rooms, while stylistically quite different, had a similar ethos—lots of space and great views over the park. Lots of closets with leather details, two types of robes (thick and cozy or thin if you run hot!). A giant bathroom and, refreshingly, large dispensers of their product—no single use.
The food and drink… While you’ll find Jean-Georges’ restaurants in the other Maybourne group hotels, this is the first ABC Kitchen in London, and it’s incredible—like the greatest hits of ABCv, ABC Kitchen, and ABC Cocina. I had several lunches here (if you need to have meetings while in London, trust me, everyone will want to come to meet you here), and breakfasts. There’s a guests-only rooftop bar with the most incredible views, but until November 5 they have a pop-up bar with award-winning Tato, which is open to the public. For cigar smokers, The Humidor is probably the most elevated cigar lounge I’ve ever seen—it takes up half of the rooftop bar area, and is only for Maybourne guests (which also includes the Berkeley, The Connaught, and Claridge’s), and after spending an hour there with my husband and his cigar smoking friends, I can say that the extraction system is so good that none of our clothes smelled the next day. For croissant fans, there is a Cédric Grolet Patisserie right next to ABC. Technically it’s in the Berkeley (you can walk from the Emory into the Berkeley without going outside), which also has a lovely and quite intimate bar.
The spa/wellness… Surrene is their spa and health club, which is open to hotel guests and members.You can meet with a longevity expert doctor and get put onto a program, and then do check-ins on your next visit. They also plan to roll these services out to their other properties at some point soon. While I didn’t do any of that, I did have a magnificent treatment in a gorgeous room that was reminiscent of my favorite hammams, with simple, beautiful marble tables. The pool is so lovely, and they managed to filter some daylight into that room, so it doesn’t feel cave-like at all. I’m not a Tracy Anderson fan, but if you are, they have a studio of hers there. The gym has TRX and bands and all the usual machines.
Date of Stay… May 10, 2024 and September 14, 2024
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