Know Before You Go: Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
One of the most beloved luxury hotels for families in London, the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park combines the quintessential British experience with an ideal location overlooking Hyde Park on one side and Harvey Nichols on the other, great dining, an Instagram-worthy indoor pool, and top-notch service. While the property and rooms are sumptuous and refined, a stay here is anything but stuffy, and our family was well looked after by every team member we encountered.
OVERALL RATING
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Exceptional
Overview
At-a-Glance
Date of stay: March 2023
Length of stay: 3 night / 4 days
Trip type: Family Spring Break trip, combined with a daytrip to Paris and stay in the English countryside
Property type: Historic luxury city hotel
Tailor-made for: Families, foodies, park-goers and shoppers
Highlights
Unexpected suite upgrade with sitting area, spacious bathroom, clever convertible dining couchette and gorgeous lighting design
Stunning indoor pool
Attentive, personalized, and warm service experience with everyone we met during our stay
Generous welcome amenities for adults and kids — customized treats, sparkling tea for adults, juices for the kids
Little Rangers Adventurer package with themed toy and game chest, teepee, and in-room movie night was a big hit (gifted by the hotel)
Great on-site restaurants and bar - dining experience, food quality, and service were all top notch
Paris daytrip and lunch at Epicure (***) at Le Bristol, arranged by hotel concierge
Good to Know
Request a table by the window for breakfast between 10-11am to watch the royal horseguards parade daily through Hyde Park behind the hotel
While the hotel offers excellent dining options, there are also many great dining and afternoon tea options within walking distance
Children’s menus are available in the restaurants and in-room dining
If arranging a babysitter through the hotel, the concierge will send you a CV to review in advance from the nanny agency, and you can charge sitter services to the room
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Location & Setting
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The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is situated between Hyde Park and Harvey Nichols, enjoying one of the most enviable locations in London for dining, shopping, and sightseeing. London City Airport (LCY) is technically the closes airport to the hotel, but most air travelers will arrive via London Heathrow (LHR) or Gatwick airport (LGW). While Heathrow is only 12 miles from the hotel, expect a car transfer to take an hour or longer if arriving during morning rush hour. The Knightsbridge tube stop is located just off the hotel, providing easy access to mass transit, and cabs are readily available in this part of London.
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Property & Grounds
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The property was built in the late 1800s and has been a hotel for more than 100 years. Today, it comprises 181 guest rooms and suites. The hotel backs to Royal Parkland, providing ready access to Hyde Park along with some of the cities best interconnected green spaces (Kensington Gardens, Green Park, and St. James’s Park). In addition to its rooms, the hotel also has an award-winning spa, indoor pool, fitness center, three restaurants (one currently awarded 2 Michelin stars) and a bar, in-room dining.
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Room
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We booked connecting Deluxe Rooms using FoundersCard (affiliate link with preferred member rate) for a steep discount and were upgraded on arrival to a Mandarin Junior Suite connecting to a Deluxe Room. The room configuration was ideal for our family of four. The Junior Suite had a King bed, sitting area with couch, desk, bar, convertible couchette for in-room dining, large wall closet, and a spacious bathroom (shower, no tub) with Duravit smart toilet and Diptyque toiletries. The Deluxe Room had two twin beds, a desk, large wall closet, and a nice-sized bathroom.
The welcome amenities were generous, personalized, and tailored to both the adults and the kids. In our Junior Suite, we had London-themed house-made confections, Saicho sparkling tea, and fruit. In the kids room, they had house-made cupcakes, cookies, fruit, and three different kinds of pressed and bottled juice.
One of our favorite features of the Mandarin Oriental city hotels we’ve stayed at thus far is the gorgeous, smart lighting design elements in the rooms. For example, at night, a motion-activated nightlight would slowly turn on from under the nightstand whenever you got out of bed and then automatically turn off after a minute or so.
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Service
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The service here was nothing less than exemplary with every team member we encountered. People at this hotel went above and beyond with thoughtful touches at every turn. Lloyd, Clef d’Or concierge, expertly helped us make arrangements during our stay, including an unforgettable daytrip to Paris for a long lunch at Epicure (***) at Le Bristol while the girls played at the hotel’s kids club with a babysitter Lloyd arranged with Zoe, his counterpart at Le Bristol. Andre (pictured) ran down to the ballroom doors to meet our girls with an umbrella as we were departing. And so many more than we can possibly name here. Team members greeted us by name, remembered our preferences, and made thoughtful gestures (Would we like white chocolate raspberry mini muffins with our breakfast? When they magically appear, how could we say no?).
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Dining
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While here, we dined at the Mandarin Bar, in-room dining, and had breakfast at Dinner at Heston Blumenthal. Although we were very tempted to do a date night at Dinner at Heston Blumenthal (**) on-site, there are many amazing places to eat in London and M really wanted to go off-site to Claude Bosi by Bibendum (**) for our date night dinner, which was a highlight.
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Family Services & Amenities
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The guest mix seemed pretty evenly divided between adults-only travelers (some business, some leisure) and families. So we were pleasantly surprised by all the family services an amenities here. There were kids bathrobes and slippers, all the activities and games in the Little Rangers Adventurers Package, kids welcome plushes (part of the aforementioned package), kids menus in restaurants and in-room dining, high chairs and boosters, kids welcome amenities of treats and juices, and full-size Childs Farm toiletries in the bathroom.
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Activities
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Inside the hotel, families can swim, do afternoon tea, cooking classes, in-room movie nights, do scavenger hunts and other activities with the Little Rangers Adventurer package (themed toy and game chest, dress-up accessories, plush duck, teepee, DVDs, all tailored to kids interests; NOTE: this package was gifted to us by the hotel). The Little Rangers Adventurer package setup and toy chest even got a “wow” with praise from the babysitter when she arrived for our date night dinner. But the real draw for families here are the plethora of activities that can be found outside the hotel and in London — from having green spaces like Hyde Park in the hotel’s backyard, to shopping outings at Harvey Nichols across the street, and lots of great attractions and activities in the city beyond.
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Wellness
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The hotel has an award-winning spa, large fitness center, and indoor pool suitable to swimming laps. While we didn’t try the spa while here, we did get to check out the spa facilities while swimming, which included a steam room, sauna, and cocoon light therapy chairs in the women’s and men’s locker rooms.
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Wow Factor
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This property delivered wow at every turn, from the minute we arrived until the moment we departed. The focus on details and quality was exceptional and carried consistently through every aspect of the hotel. Plus, the service experience was a cut above.
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Value
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The Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park is priced competitively relative to other luxury hotels in its class in London. The Little Rangers Adventurer package offers a 50% discount on connecting room for families, free meals for kids under 12, and lots of fun activities and games tailored to kids ages and interests. The value for the price to stay here with our steeply discounted FoundersCard rate was exceptional.
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Overall
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We heard so many wonderful things about this property from travel experts and families before we stayed, so we came in with high expectations. But everything we experienced here delivered on the hotel’s impeccable reputation. The sign we saw at St Pancras Station when returning to the hotel from our Paris day-trip captured our feelings about this property perfectly: we only wish we could have had more time here. We would return in a heartbeat.
Rating Legend*
💛💛💛💛💛 Exceptional
💛💛💛💛 Notable
💛💛💛 Standard
💛💛 Substandard
💛 Unsatisfactory
*All ratings are relative to similar-class properties
