Best Luxury Hotels In Kensington

Like The Gore, this hotel is part of the Starhotels Collezione group, an identity reflected in the otherwise quintessentially British hotel’s Italian basement restaurant. The Pelham’s vintage interiors have been refreshed by designer Kit Kemp, yet retain the original features, stuccoed ceilings and oil painted artworks that nod to its past. Housed in a Victorian townhouse across from the tube station, it’s super convenient for exploring the city. Children love the brand’s VIK (Very Important Kid) programme, with games, activities, menus and amenities. Pets are allowed to stay with you here too. 

Established by celebrity designer Anouska Hempel, Blakes was the capital’s first five-star boutique residence. Its exclusivity and privacy make it popular with celebrities evading the limelight (Princess Margaret, Sarah Ferguson, Gwyneth Paltrow, Lindsay Lohan and Kate Moss are all said to have stayed here). The decor is inspired by exotic lands – each bedroom reflecting a different pocket of the globe. Its urban garden was created by Matthew Williamson, is open for daytime meals, early evening drinks and boasts a glass birdcage like dining pod. While by night, dining takes place in the venue’s organic Mediterranean eatery. Guests at Blakes Hotel have access to the South Kensington Club, with its traditional Russian bathhouse, or can request in-room spa treatments. 

Privately owned, this hotel themes its rooms on high-brow local attractions: the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the Victoria & Albert and the Royal Albert Hall. So does its quirky and interactive Science Afternoon Tea, an award-winning experience – including jams served in petri dishes, chocolate spacemen and dinosaur biscuits – served in the Drawing Room. It’s understandably popular with children, but there’s also a grown-up version, featuring a cocktail flight. Venture beneath the building’s Victorian arches for a more substantial meal, in the Mediterranean eatery Apero. The 111 bedroom South Kensington hotel welcomes small pets in deluxe category rooms and above and won’t charge for their stay. Cots and extra beds can be added on request, for travelling families. 

Kids and pets are welcome at this 150 room townhouse hotel. Enter from the bustling Old Brompton Road, into a haven of calm. In-suite Aromatherapy Associates toiletries, Nespresso machines and a minibar help guests to unwind in their own private space. Or there’s the softly lit classic club-style K-Bar, where you can relax with a cocktail on one of its divinely cosy sofas (look out for the bar’s brass doors, which used to belong to Dublin’s General Post Office, the backdrop for the Easter Rising in 1916). Be sure to make a booking at its restaurant, Town House, too. The Kensington is super stylish, sporting statement lighting and plenty of sumptuously tactile textiles.