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At any given time, London plays host to a humongous number of visitors from all over the world – so, naturally, it makes sense that the city also boasts plenty of exceptional places for them to stay. From five-star beasts to exquisite boutiques, the capital has hotels of all kinds – there’s a reason Time Out’s definitive ranking of London’s best hotels stretches to a massive 95.
And now one of those hotels has been named among the best in the entire world. In a recent ranking of the planet’s 22 finest hotels, National Geographic included a London establishment alongside villas on Caribbean islands and resorts in the Himalayas.
Raffles London at The OWO was one of the esteemed 22. In the historic building of Winston Churchill’s Old War Office, the hotel opened in 2023 as the latest outpost of global luxury hotel chain Raffles, which began in Singapore but now operates 18 hotels around the world.
Raffles was only one of three European hotels in the list, alongside boutique Berlin hotel Wilmina and Albanian mountain town hotel Albergo Diffuso Kruja.
NatGeo described Raffles London: ‘The circa-1906 Old War Office (OWO) has been transformed into a luxury hotel with oak and walnut panelling, mosaic floors, and a castle-worthy central marble staircase.
‘Stay in clubby guest rooms carved out of the grand building where Winston Churchill hammered out problems during the First and Second World Wars.’
Sounds nice, eh? Unsurprisingly, rooms at Raffles London don’t come cheap. You can expect to pay the best part of a grand for even the lower-priced options here. There’s a reason it was also included in a list of the ‘world’s best’ hotels by deluxe travel brand Luxury Travel Intelligence (LTI).
You can find out more about National Geographic’s full list of the best hotels in the world here.
If you’re after a hotel in London, you’re in the right place. Here at Time Out we’ve got a hotel list for every occasion, from the city’s finest budget hotels to the glitziest five-star ones. As well as, of course, our general list of the best hotels in London.
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