London is at no loss for luxury, no matter how you might define it. The city is divided, more or less, into the chic West End and shabby East End, though nowadays the line between both is beyond blurred.
Traditionalists will want to stick to the West End of London, where names such as Four Seasons, Dorchester Collection and Mandarin Oriental accent the skyline. For that classic West London elegance with 21st-century trendsetting, consider the Me London.
The glitzy hotel sits on the triangular corner of Aldwych, on the Strand at the tip of Covent Garden, smack in the center of London's Theatreland. Guests enter the washed-in-white ground floor and are swept up to the first-floor lobby and check-in. The decor of the hotel is minimalist and modern with a monochrome art-deco vibe that comes off in shiny metals, blacks and whites.
The hotel has 157 rooms, including 16 suites, with the most VIP being the Suite Me, a two-floor penthouse. There is a variety of room types, from ones with private terraces on the upper two levels to individual suites with large, separate, marble bathrooms.
On the top floor of the hotel is Radio, the rooftop terrace, complete with a sky bar that offers views over the River Thames and the Westminster skyline. Other facilities include conference space and a fitness center.
A centerpiece of the hotel is its dining options, including the STK Restaurant and Cucina Asellina. For something more casual, opt for the Marconi Lounge in the lobby, named after Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the radio, as the hotel sits in the footprint of the original Marconi House.
Going over to London's East End, namely the Shoreditch neighborhood, luxury comes with slightly different colors. Shoreditch is a once-gritty industrial neighborhood that is now one of the hottest addresses in London. Formerly a working-class area, the neighborhood has climbed the ladder of gentrification in the last 20 years and has emerged as a hotbed of hipsters, high-end hotels and trendy cuisine.
One of the top hotels in Shoreditch is the Andaz London Liverpool Street, a trendy yet approachable luxury hotel. It is just four blocks from the Liverpool Street tube station, housed in a Victorian building that dates back to 1884. Behind the red-brick facade is an entirely modern space, complete with iPad check-in stations and complimentary WiFi. The Andaz has 267 guestrooms, all with a palette of muted grays and whites, with pops of color coming from bright-red armchairs and murals splattered against the walls.
There are seven bars and restaurants at Andaz, but the one not to miss is George, a quintessentially British pub with a vibrant atmosphere that is a healthy mix of guests and locals. The bar serves a menu of traditional pub grub.
For more refined cuisine, consider 1901, a restaurant and wine bar with a locally sourced British menu, cocktails and cheese boards. The Catch Champagne Bar & Lounge is a swanky, candlelit space oozing sex appeal that serves a menu of Champagnes and Bellinis. For Japanese fare, the hotel also has Miyako. Eastway is the all-day dining brasserie.
Other hotel amenities include a 24-hour fitness center, spa services, steam room and 24-hour room service.
The hotel is a five-minute walk from Shoreditch High Street, the district's main drag.