There has been a significant rise in the number of people who, when they travel, want to stay in someone else's home. Apartments, condominiums and villas are rising in popularity as an alternative to hotels, even for relatively short stays.
But there's a third option, a hybrid of sorts. I recently stayed in what, in evolutionary terms, might be seen as the missing link between apartment/condo/villa stays and hotels: A residence-turned-hotel that provides high levels of service, yet also has an ambience and personal touches that are missing even in a small, luxury, boutique hotel.
The Draycott, a five-star London hotel, is a 35-key property a few blocks off fashionable Sloane Square in Chelsea. The only way to differentiate it from its neighboring red-brick townhouses is the Union Jack flying above the entrance.
And it's only after you've climbed the Draycott's steps that you can read the simple brass plate on the door confirming that you've found the right place.
Understated, elegant
This low-key approach to signage isn't entirely due to the hotel's understated character. Zoning ordinances on Cardogen Gardens, the residential street it's on, permit nothing grander. But the modest signage is a good match for the hotel's temperament.
Its owners indulge in a conceit or two -- for example, the Draycott maintains the previous owner's tradition of naming rooms after celebrities (e.g., Robert Morley, David Niven, Vivien Leigh) -- but there's not an ostentatious touch to be found on the property.
A significant plus to being located on Cardogen Gardens is the "garden," behind the hotel, that gives the street its name. Go out the back door of a sitting room and you're in a large private yard (what most Americans would think of as a small park) that's for the exclusive use of neighbors on the block and hotel guests. It's an unexpected perk; the private gardens that dot London's better neighborhoods are typically locked and off-limits to anyone who isn't authorized to enter.
Even for those staying at the Draycott, there are restrictions on using the garden. For instance, the hotel cannot set up tables and bring food outside for guests. But they will organize a picnic for those who want to dine al fresco, and the neighbors don't object if you wander out to the garden sipping a glass of the complimentary champagne that's poured late each afternoon.
The hotel seems a happy confluence of purpose and circumstance. When I first looked around my room, with its antique furniture, old books and eclectic assortment of ornately framed paintings, I also noticed that the TVs were rather small and tucked into shelves in cabinets.
The hotel management did not seem technophobic. There was a Bose Wave iPod docking station and DVD player as well as an "IRIS," a handheld device from which you can order room service, request a Mozart CD or ask for a porter to come to help with your baggage -- anything listed in the hotel service book.
If a guest is satisfied with the overall ambience, I don't think they'll be terribly put off by older TVs. But there is one amenity the hotel should address sooner than later, particularly since 50% of the Draycott's guests are business travelers: My room safe was tiny, a throwback to times when hotel safes were designed to secure only passports, women's jewelry and fancy cuff links.
"They were put in before people carried laptops," said General Manager John Hanna. "But the hotel is quite secure; it has never been an issue, touch wood." Nonetheless ...
40 'concierges' on call
The service level in the hotel is extremely high (there are 40 staff members for the 35-room property), and Hanna said "we pride ourselves in getting to know our guests." Although he also said that the Draycott is "not big enough to have a concierge," in another sense there are 40 concierges. "Anyone on staff will be happy to book theater tickets or try to accommodate requests from guests," he said.
As one would expect in a hotel made up of three interconnected townhouses, there is no formal lobby, but there is an unexpected amount of space devoted to two public sitting rooms near the entrance. The smaller one feels like a private office/library, and if you wander down there in the evening, a staffer will soon appear to ask if you'd like a cup of hot chocolate.
The larger one has a self-serve honor bar, and is the more active of the two; there were always a few guests reading newspapers or chatting quietly. (An unstated benefit of the Draycott is its cosmopolitan clientele. Although Brits and Americans are in the majority, the hotel averages 32 nationalities per month, according to Hanna.)
The Draycott is part of the Mantis Collection, which owns or manages and markets a small group of luxury properties in Africa and Europe; the World cruise ship is also in the Collection. Mantis recently acquired the Lord Milner, a hotel in Belgravia, another posh London neighborhood, as well as the Hotel de la Bere in the Cotswolds, which it plans to rename Ellenborough Park.
Presumably the rechristening won't cause the same sort of problems the group faced when it acquired and renamed the Draycott (it had been Cliveden Townhouse). Hanna said that "we seriously underestimated the impact it would have on the cab drivers" who pride themselves on "the Knowledge," i.e., knowing where every named building in London is. "None of them could find us."
Nightly room rates at the Draycott range from about $243 for a single room to $1,050 for the Draycott Suite.
For more information or to book, call (800) 747-4942 or visit www.draycotthotel.com.