Charlotte Street Hotel, Firmdale Hotels

By now the Firmdale hotels, thanks in no small part to Kit Kemp’s inimitably colorful interiors, need little in the way of introduction. They’ve been successful enough that it’s easy to overlook what a departure they were for a London hotel scene that was suffering from an excess of minimalist-inspired seriousness. Charlotte Street was one of the first, and it brought — and continues to bring — a delightful dose of joie de vivre to London’s high-end hospitality world.

The setting is Bloomsbury, and the interiors pay plentiful tribute to the neighborhood’s cultural heritage, displaying original artworks by the storied Bloomsbury Set themselves. You’re equidistant from the British Museum and the theatres of the West End, so if you leave without taking in a bit of culture, it’s nobody’s fault but your own.

But it’s not all high art and self-improvement here. All of the Firmdale hotels are decadent, in their way, from the faultless comforts of the lavish bedrooms and marble bathrooms to the innocently hedonistic dining and drinking options — here it’s Oscar Restaurant and Bar that brings hotel guests and Bloomsbury locals together over a plate and a tipple. When you step through Charlotte Street’s doors, you’ve entered a fully realized world that’s more luxe, more stylish, and more carefree than the world outside — and that, if anything, is what hospitality is all about.