If you’re a regular upmarket traveller, soon enough you will ceased to be surprised by London’s luxury hospitality options: one five star hotel is, eventually, much like another. Enter the Shangri-La Hotel at The Shard London, Signature Suites. A mouthful to say but, rest assured, a treat like no other to stay in. The height of decadence in every sense (you’ll get a view like no other from a suite in London’s iconic The Shard), a few nights in the Signature Suites truly does make a visit to remember.
Starting at the top, both figuratively and literally, has to be the imaginatively named Shangri-La Suite: one of the largest and most spectacular suites around (at 188 square metres), it’s serviced with a personal butler service, a private lift and some of the most rarefied interior design you’re likely to have encountered. It’s no wonder the decor is so elegant when you hear that lauded Italian design maestros Francesca Muzio and Silvia Orlandini are behind the elegant custom made silk wallpaper and beautifully constructed furnishings. Then there’s the bed; not satisfied withe the quotidian Egyptian cottons that are ten-a-penny in any top-end hotel, the guys at Shangri-La are so determined for you to have the best nights sleep that they’ve used patented body-contouring technology and Frette 1000-thread count linen to make the boastfully titled Shangri-La bed. And boy, is it something to boast about. The only downside being that your bed at home really won’t cut it after this: you’ve been warned!
If that marble clad shower and Jacuzzi bath pushes things over the edge and gives you pangs of guilt, then consider the other two Signature Suites: the Westminster Suite and the London Suite. Don’t think of them as a step down – although you might not be touching the clouds, you’re still higher than 99% of London….probably. In terms of privileges and features, you get Shangri-La’s hallowed pillow menu (throw the kitchens a curve ball: trust us, they can handle it), a dressing room that you can spin around and vogue in till your hearts content, and, of course, a bathroom full of Acqua Di Parma – cause, y’know, who needs a washbag? We’ve stayed in more hotels than you could rattle a Bus Boy’s trolley at, but this one might just be top of the heap: whatever you do, just don’t look down.
