COMO The Halkin

Many of the world’s most stylish hotels are heavy on the public spaces, pouring money into lounges, libraries, drawing rooms, even private cinemas, while relegating the paying guests to cramped, uninspired rooms. How this works as a business proposition is quite beyond our understanding, but in this case it’s irrelevant — London’s Halkin hotel turns this stereotype inside out. Here the public spaces amount to little more than a small but handsome lobby and bar (and of course a restaurant, of which more later), while the rooms get the star treatment.

And what rooms they are, outfitted in what can only be described as Milanese Zen, rich leathers and soothing muted colors doing their best to expand the already generous space (which in London counts as a real luxury). Each floor takes on as its theme one of the four ancient elements (five, if you count sky), but the differences are subtle enough to avoid gimmickry; all four are as unassumingly elegant as can be. The marble bathrooms are expansive, and the COMO Shambhala bath products add to the culture shock — you may have to walk outside and see the building’s Georgian façade to reassure yourself that this is indeed London.

The location, in quietly upscale Belgravia, is a perfect match for this chic yet grown-up hotel — attractive yet not too ostentatious, and providing easy access to Knightsbridge, Hyde Park, Sloane Street and Picadilly. It also affords easy access to the Halkin’s sister hotel, the Metropolitan, whose spa is open to Halkin guests, and whose restaurant, Nobu, extends the courtesy of priority bookings to guests of both hotels.