Michelin has been dishing out stars to the world’s best restaurants for 100 years now, and over the century its Michelin Guide has become the most esteemed, recognisable rating out there. But did you know that it’s also been recommending hotels since the 1920s? Despite those decades of testing out hotels, it wasn’t until last year that Michelin created a star-esque distinction to highlight the best of the best.
Michelin keys work largely in the same way as stars. Hotels are assessed according to five factors: architecture and interior design; quality and consistency of service; overall personality and character; value for the price; and a significant contribution to the guest experience in a particular setting. If a hotel impresses inspectors, they’ll award it one key for being ‘very special’, two keys for being ‘exceptional’ or three keys for being ‘extraordinary’.
There are 7,000 hotels across the globe in Michelin’s guide for 2025, and 124 of them are here in the UK. Including the latest additions (announced on October 8), our little island boasts 12 three Michelin key hotels, 38 two key, and 74 one key. Most of this country’s keys belong to establishments in London. You can read about those in more depth here.
Which UK hotels have been awarded a new Michelin key?
A total of 16 British hotels have joined Michelin’s lineup of key hotels this year. Outside of London, wellness retreat Saltmoore in Whitby and foodie destination Moor Hall in Oughton (home to Michelin’s newest three star restaurant) were the worthy new recipients of two Michelin keys.
The hotels awarded one key this year included Paul Ainsworth’s Padstow Townhouse in Cornwall, an ‘intimate hotel [that] blends townhouse elegance with coastal charm’; BULL in the Cotswolds town of Burford, which features artwork from Banksy and Damien Hirst and a poker table donated by Idris Elba and Regency House in Belfast, which Michelin said ‘perfectly encapsulates Belfast’s ongoing cultural and architectural renaissance’. Nowhere was awarded three keys this year.
Full list of UK hotels with a Michelin key 2025
Here’s the rundown of every single UK hotel included in Michelin’s guide this year, with new additions in bold.
Three keys
- Bruton: The Newt in Somerset
- Colerne: Lucknam Park
- Great Milton: Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, A Belmond Hotel, Oxfordshire
- London: Bvlgari Hotel London
- London: Claridge’s
- London: Four Seasons Hotel London at Park Lane
- London: Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park
- London: Raffles London at The OWO
- London: The Connaught
- London: The Peninsula London
- London: The Savoy
- Auchterarder, Scotland: The Gleneagles Hotel
Two keys
- Ascot: Coworth Park, Dorchester Collection
- Aughton: Moor Hall
- Bath,: The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa
- Chagford,: Gidleigh Park
- East Grinstead: Gravetye Manor
- Exmouth: Lympstone Manor
- Hampton-in-Arden: Hampton Manor
- Heckfield: Heckfield Place
- Leatherhead: Beaverbrook Surrey
- Lechlade: Thyme
- London: Brown's Hotel, a Rocco Forte Hotel
- London: Corinthia Hotel London
- London: Covent Garden Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- London: 45 Park Lane, Dorchester Collection
- London: Ham Yard Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- London: Haymarket Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- London: Hotel Café Royal
- London: Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, London
- London: Rosewood London
- London: The Beaumont Hotel
- London: The Berkeley
- London: The Cadogan, A Belmond Hotel, London
- London: The Dorchester, Dorchester Collection
- London: The Lanesborough
- London: The Langham, London
- London: The Ritz London
- London: The Twenty Two
- Lyndhurst: Lime Wood Hotel
- Malmesbury: Whatley Manor Hotel and Spa
- New Milton: Chewton Glen Hotel
- Ripon: Grantley Hall
- Rutland: Hambleton Hall
- Taplow: Cliveden House
- Whitby: Saltmoore
- Windermere: Gilpin Hotel & Lake House
- Windermere: The Samling Hotel
- Braemar: The Fife Arms
- Edinburgh: The Balmoral
One key
- Amberley: Amberley Castle
- Bakewell: The Cavendish Hotel at Baslow
- Bath: Bath Priory
- Bath: Homewood
- Bath: The Gainsborough Bath Spa
- Bath: The Queensberry Hotel
- Bath: The Yard, Bath
- Beadnell: Beadnell Towers Hotel
- Bideford: The Collective at Woolsery
- Brampton: Farlam Hall Hotel & Restaurant
- Brighton: Artist Residence Brighton
- Bristol: Artist Residence Bristol
- Bristol: Number 38 Clifton
- Burford: BULL Burford
- Camber: The Gallivant
- Cheltenham: Cowley Manor Experimental
- Cowes (Isle of Wight): Foresters Hall
- Egham: Great Fosters
- Grasmere: Forest Side Hotel
- Hampshire: Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire
- Hastings: The Old Rectory
- Horsham: Leonardslee House at Leonardslee Lakes & Gardens
- Langham: The Harper Langham
- London: ...At Sloane
- London: Artist Residence London
- London: Beaverbrook Town House
- London: Broadwick Soho
- London: Charlotte Street Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- London: COMO The Halkin
- London: Flemings Mayfair
- London: Four Seasons Hotel London at Tower Bridge
- London: Knightsbridge Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- London: L'oscar London
- London: NoMad London
- London: Number Sixteen, Firmdale Hotels
- London: One Aldwych
- London: 1 Hotel Mayfair
- London: Redchurch Townhouse
- London: Shangri-La The Shard London
- London: Sofitel London St James
- London: The Adria
- London: The Emory
- London: The Soho Hotel, Firmdale Hotels
- Newbury: The Vineyard Hotel & Spa
- North Leigh: Estelle Manor
- Oxford: Artist Residence Oxfordshire
- Oxford: Old Parsonage Hotel
- Padstow: Padstow Townhouse
- Southwold: The Swan Southwold
- St Mawes: The Idle Rocks
- St Mawes: Hotel Tresanton
- Thornbury: Thornbury Castle
- West Cornwall: Artist Residence Cornwall
- Willesborough: Boys Hall
- Windermere: Linthwaite House Hotel
- Woodstock: The Feathers Hotel at Woodstock
- St. Anne (Alderney): The Blonde Hedgehog
- St. Helier (Jersey): Longueville Manor
- Ballantrae: Glenapp Castle
- Cumnock: Dumfries House Lodge
- Dornoch: Links House at Royal Dornoch
- Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street
- Edinburgh: Gleneagles Townhouse
- Edinburgh: Prestonfield Edinburgh
- Foyers: Foyers Lodge
- Grandtully: The Grandtully Hotel by Ballintaggart
- Isle of Skye – Sleat: Kinloch Lodge
- Resolis: Newhall Mains Dingwall
- Stirlingshire: Cromlix Hotel
- Tain: Glenmorangie House
- Bala: Palé Hall
- Dolgellau: Penmaenuchaf
- Narberth: Grove of Narberth
- Belfast: Regency House Belfast
ICYMI: 3 British hotels have been named the best in the world right now.
Plus: The legendary 1920s seaside hotel that is getting a multimillion-pound makeover.
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