Review: the renovated London Marriott Grosvenor Square hotel, Mayfair

This is our review of the London Marriott Grosvenor Square hotel in Mayfair.

Some of you may remember the Marriott Grosvenor Square as the host of our winter party in January 2020, our last pre-pandemic event.

Since then the hotel has renovated its 237 guest rooms as well as its lobby and M Club lounge. It invited us to stay the night for a full review.

Note that this hotel is not to be confused with the JW Marriott Grosvenor House (reviewed here) which is just around the corner. Amongst many other options, there is also the London Marriott at County Hall on the South Bank, which we reviewed here.

The hotel website is here.

Where is London Marriott Grosvenor Square?

Mayfair remains a prestigious neighbourhood thanks to its many historic buildings and squares, close proximity to Bond Street (for luxury shopping) and high-end dining.

Sandwiched between Soho and Hyde Park, it has always been important thanks to its proximity to Buckingham Palace.

These days, it’s famous for being home to many embassies and consulates. You’ll see plenty of big flags outside grand porticoed houses, although the American Embassy – once across Grosvenor Square from the hotel, in an iconic 1960s building by famous architect Eero Saarinen, has since moved to Nine Elms (the building will soon open as an all-suite Rosewood hotel).

If you’re looking for the quintessential London experience then the location of the Marriott Grosvenor Square will tick many of your boxes.

Although on the Western side of Zone 1, you are within walking distance of Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mall and St James Park; shopping in Bond Street, Regent Street and Oxford Street; and the restaurants, bars and theatres in Soho.

For anything further afield you can jump onto the Central, Jubilee or Elizabeth lines at Bond Street station (with direct trains to Heathrow) or the Bakerloo and Victoria lines at Oxford Circus.

The bottom line is that the Marriott Grosvenor Square’s location is prestigious. Literally opposite the front door is the first ‘all apartment’ Four Seasons development in the world, where you can buy into the Four Seasons lifestyle 24/7.

If you’re looking for an edgier neighbourhood with a bit more grit, then you’ll want to look elsewhere, in and around Shoreditch and East London. You can see our complete list of Central London hotel reviews, listed by neighbourhood, here.

Inside the Marriott Grosvenor Square hotel

The uniform mock-Georgian brick exterior (built in the 60s) disguises what is, internally, a slightly higgledy-piggledy interior layout of corridors and levels.

Walk through the smart entrance and past the top-hatted doorman and you’ll be greeted by a modest lobby.

In the centre is a big floral display whilst the area by the window has been turned into a small lobby lounge and forms part of the recent renovations.

There are three check-in desks in the lobby – nobody was checking in when we arrived at 3pm, so it was straight to the front to get my room key.

In keeping with the rest of the Square, the hotel has just six storeys with guest rooms starting on the first floor.

Junior Suite at Marriott Grosvenor Square

I had been given a junior suite on the first floor. The shape of the hotel is a hollow square with guest rooms on both the exterior and interior sides. A courtyard in the centre allows light in and means first floor rooms have a small patio.

The room itself is an unusual shape. There’s a huge amount of storage on the right, with a row of wardrobes kitted out with fluffy robes, slippers and a safe as well as a stocked mini fridge:

On the left you have a marble bathroom (in real marble – not something you would necessarily expect at a Marriott but very welcome). In this case, it featured a deep Japanese-style bath and large separate shower:

Toiletries are Noir by The White Company, which seems like a relevant partnership, with a pleasant scent. They are wall-mounted in the shower with smart custom bottles.

One of the unique features of the room is that you can open up the bathroom to the bedroom with a sliding door:

The bedroom itself features a large king bed against a tall padded headboard:

Giant bedside tables on each side mean there’s plenty of space for your devices and anything else you’d like to keep by your side:

A USB-A port is integrated into the reading light, otherwise there is a UK mains plug.

Forgotten your adaptor? The row of sockets along the desk features EU and US plugs for added convenience.

To the left of the desk is a mini bar with Vertuo-style Nespresso coffee machine and kettle. The fridge, as mentioned above, is in the wardrobe as there’s no space for it here.

Other features of the room are the large TV as well as two chairs and a coffee table:

Plus the outdoor terrace:

Gym and M Club

Although it was built in 1960, an indoor pool was clearly not high on the list of priorities which is a shame.

In the basement, you’ll find both a gym and M Club executive lounge, which has recently been refurbished. The gym looked good:

The M Club was smart as well, although being in the basement suffered from a lack of natural light. The M Club is where you’ll find the complimentary breakfast buffet if you are staying in an Executive Room or have Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or higher status.

All other guests can pay for an a la carte breakfast from Gordon Ramsay Grill or order room service from the same. This to be fair, is not unreasonably priced – a full English is £19, not bad for Mayfair.

The breakfast buffet was small but covered all the major buffet food groups, with a full selection of English breakfast items (American-style bacon, sausage, hash brown, mushrooms, baked beans and scrambled / cooked to order eggs).

There was a selection of cereals and pastries:

Plus a small platter of cold cuts, including smoked salmon.

Lucky Cat by Gordon Ramsay

As mentioned above, the two restaurants on the upper ground floor of the hotel are both run by Gordon Ramsay.

This includes Gordon Ramsay Bar & Grill for casual dining as well as the sultry Lucky Cat Mayfair, Ramsay’s Asian fusion restaurant. (There’s a new Lucky Cat in the city atop 22 Bishopsgate with grand views.)

Although it overlooks the Square, Lucky Cat features a moody dining room in black wood and dim lighting. At the far end you’ll find the sushi chef’s table.

The menu is a fusion of Chinese and Japanese, ranging from sushi and sashimi to bao buns, tempura and fried rice. Here is some sashimi and the yellowtail tartare:

…. and the bonito-fried duck leg bao, which comes as a large portion of six:

The crispy pork and papaya could have done with something more to cut through the fattiness of the pork belly, but was deliciously crispy. I washed it all down with a small bottle of delicious sake!

It’s not cheap, of course – the combination of Gordon Ramsay and Mayfair makes sure of that – although I never saw the final bill.

Conclusion

Mayfair is London’s most upmarket neighbourhood but that doesn’t mean you have to re-mortage your house to stay there – although you will if you want to stay at the new Rosewood The Chancery a few seconds away, where the lowest category room starts at £1,200.

The London Marriott Grosvenor Square offers a comparatively affordable option in a prime location. In return, you have to accept more limited facilities with just a gym and an M Club available. With so much to do in London, relaxing by a pool is probably not on the top of your list anyway.

Two Gordon Ramsay restaurants round out the hotel offering and attract many external diners, with good service and food in Lucky Cat.

Room rates start at around £300 or 70,000 Marriott Bonvoy points per night. You can find out more, and book, on the Marriott website here.