"My wife and I stayed at Hotel Café Royal in London from 12 to 14 May 2026.
When we travel to London, location matters a great deal to us. I often need to take care of business while my wife enjoys the city, looks around and does some shopping. We have been to London many times and have previously stayed at hotels such as The Ritz and The Dilly, so our expectations are not based on brochures alone.
I am also a member of the GHA DISCOVERY loyalty programme, mainly because a number of my previous stays in other cities have been at Kempinski hotels, including the Adlon in Berlin. This time I wanted to see what another hotel within this loyalty universe could offer, and that is why we chose Hotel Café Royal.
We arrived early, left our luggage at the hotel and went for a long walk in London. When we returned, we were allocated a Deluxe Room, which in fact reflected the double upgrade available through the GHA DISCOVERY programme. That kind of recognition matters. It is one of the reasons why loyalty programmes only make sense when the benefits are actually delivered in practice.
The room itself was very good. It was well designed, comfortable and in excellent condition. The bathroom was very nice, and the entrance area had good wardrobe space, which matters more than many hotels seem to understand. The room felt updated, calm and properly maintained.
The staff deserve real credit. Across the hotel, the attitude was service-oriented and professional. In this respect Hotel Café Royal clearly outperforms at least one of the other London hotels I have mentioned. This is important, because guests do not book a five-star hotel only for marble, location and a good bed. They book it because they expect service. Hotel Café Royal seems to understand that.
We had breakfast on both mornings, and it was an excellent experience. If you stay here and have the time, you should give yourself and your partner that start to the day. We also used the bar and in-room dining, and both were fully satisfactory.
We also used the pool and jacuzzi, and that deserves to be mentioned. There is something quite special about swimming in a calm, well-kept pool just steps from Piccadilly Circus. To be able to retreat from one of the busiest and most central parts of London into that kind of quiet, almost hidden, space is a luxury in itself. Bathing this close to such a central landmark is an experience you only find in a small number of selected hotels around the world.
This hotel wins first on location. It is difficult to imagine a much better base in London if you want to combine business, shopping, walking and simply being in the middle of the city. But it also wins on the quality of the rooms, the spa facilities, the loyalty recognition and the attitude of the staff. Everything felt as if it had been thought through and kept in proper order.
Hotel Café Royal is now clearly at the top of my list for future stays in London, whether I come for business, leisure — or, as often happens, a combination of both."
