Do you have something like this as well: a small home in each of the big cities to which you travel every now and again? A “place of treat”, so to speak, where everything fits for years – until something even better suddenly comes along and you simply reassign the position of “favorite hotel”, because you are just flashed. And all of a sudden you have found a new great (hotel) love!

In London, the Rocco Forte Brown’s Hotel is exactly that to me – it has recently become my absolute favorite among all the countless opportunities in Great Britain’s capital. The question as to why is easily answered: it is very English, like a sophisticated country house, and yet not tacky in the slightest. It is classy without being overloaded, has rooms with tendril wallpaper and it still feels effortless. It has style and manages to be cool at the same time. That is a great art, and I love it all the more for it.

And the location, on Albemarle Street in the lovely Mayfair district, is unbeatable anyway. The boutiques of Bond Street, the back-street galleries – all this is just a short walk away, and the Burlington Arcade can be reached in no time as well. This really is London at its finest.

And as if an additional edge was needed, there is also the culinary experience: The restaurant “Beck at Brown’s” is under the direction of the three-Michelin-star chef Heinz Beck, who rose to fame with the “La Pergola” in Rome. Now in the heart of London, he conjures up Italian specialties in perfection – almost exclusively using British ingredients from the surrounding area. That too is an art; one which he has mastered.

It is no wonder that Rocco Forte’s “Brown’s”, with its only 115 rooms and 33 suites, is part of Leading Hotels of the World – and that it has easily become my favorite hotel in London.

Foto: © Hotel Photography – Rocco Forte Hotels