Review: The Langley, Marriott’s new uber-luxury UK country house hotel
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This is our review of The Langley country house hotel, just outside West London.
The Langley opened last week, the newest entry in the annals of ‘luxury country house hotels near London’. What makes The Langley different to Four Seasons Hampshire, Chewton Glen, The Grove, Soho Farmhouse, Whatley Manor etc is that it is available on hotel loyalty points.
(The only other redemption option is Hilton’s Syon Park which we reviewed here. There is a lot to like about this hotel – it was originally a Waldorf Astoria and is very expensively finished – but it is sat next to a garden centre and overlooks an ugly housing estate.)
The Langley is currently bookable for 35,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. This is, arguably, the best ‘bargain’ in the whole Bonvoy system and I think the hotel is using this as a carrot to fill the rooms whilst it builds up cash guests. I would be very surprised if it is not 60,000 points per night by Christmas.
I value a Marriott Bonvoy point at 0.5p. The Langley is £400+ per night on peak days, getting you well over 1p.
We stayed on Saturday night using points, as did a few other HFP readers. Let me summarise what I found:
the hard product (room quality etc) is very high indeed – I haven’t had Hermes toiletries in a hotel room for a long time, for example
the staff are generally very impressive
the spa, pool and gym complex is outstanding – probably one of the top five hotels spas in the UK
breakfast is a total disaster and there are issues with the restaurant overall – some of these will be fixed quickly, others may be structural
kids are allowed, but little ones will have a far better time at Four Seasons Hampshire for a stay of more than one night
The Langley website is here if you want to find out more.
Introducing The Langley
The Langley, sitting in Langley Park, was originally a hunting lodge for the Duke of Marlborough with gardens designed by ‘Capability’ Brown. Following a massive refurbishment and extension, it is now a 40-room hotel.
Getting there is relatively straightforward. The nearest major railway station is Slough, from where it is a £12 taxi ride. Langley and Iver stations are nearer but may be trickier for taxis. It is an easy drive from London – we took an Uber to Westfield on the way home and it took about 35 minutes.
The hotel is also a modest drive to Heathrow which, as long as you have a car or are happy to pay for a taxi, makes it a very pleasant alternative to the airport hotels.
40 rooms is, of course, very small. Four Seasons Hampshire has 133. This is the rear view:
Here are three shots of the main lobby, which looks fantastic:
and
and
The ground floor of the main building also contains a lounge:
…. and a bar (PR photo as I forgot to take one – all other photos in the review are mine):
The Cedar Restaurant is also on the ground floor – we will come back to this.
If you are wondering how the owners will fill it every night at the sort of rates it charges, it is worth noting that Pinewood Studios is very close. I can imagine Daniel Craig and his co-stars checking in when filming on Bond 25 resumes ….
Rooms at The Langley
The 40 rooms and suites are split equally between the main building and the Brewhouse:
The Brewhouse is directly opposite the main building, and it only take a minute to walk across. This was fine on a sunny June weekend but could cause problems in wet or cold weather. I have no idea how they are going to deliver room service there.
We had two rooms. As a Titanium Elite member of Marriott Bonvoy, I was upgraded to a suite in the Brewhouse with an adjacent but not connecting second room.
The top floor Brewhouse rooms still have original wooden beams in place:
and
This was the non-suite room we had next door – I’m not sure what category this is:
and
The quality of everything was top notch. No expense has been spared. The suite (below) had a double shower and even the standard room had double sinks, although no bathtub.
Toiletries were Hermes, which you don’t see very often. The coffee machine was from Illy. Wi-fi was very good.
Apart from feeling that the room was a little dark – this is always a problem in rooms with very high ceilings because it is hard to fix lights – there was literally nothing with which I could find fault.
Housekeeping was a little sloppy. The clock by the bed was showing the date as Tuesday 29th (on Sunday 9th) and the time was six hours out. The cleaners should be fixing this. The coffee supplies were not refilled at turndown. Turndown turned up at 6.45pm when we were changing for a dinner reservation at 7pm – a Four Seasons would have noted this and told them to come at 7.15pm. Bizarrely, in both rooms one or two windows did not have the blinds lowered at turndown.
I should also mention that I did not get my promised newspaper the next day, and neither did a fellow reader.
This is the end of Part 1. Click here for Part 2 of our The Langley review, also published today, which covers the spa, the restaurant, my view on its suitability for children and one of the most disastrous hotel breakfasts I have ever experienced.
The official website for The Langley is here.
How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)
There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards. Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.
The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.
You can apply here.
Marriott Bonvoy American Express
20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review
You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.
Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status. We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.
The Platinum Card from American Express
40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review
You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:
- American Express Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Rewards Credit Card (10,000 bonus Amex points)
and for small business owners:
- American Express Business Gold (20,000 bonus Amex points)
- American Express Business Platinum (40,000 bonus Amex points)
The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
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