As a former professional hotel reviewer who got his start critiquing London's five-star hotels 20+ years ago, I was extremely curious how a Costes-helmed hotel would fare in the only other major European capital with a truly astounding/ridiculous collection of grand five-stars. I'm not a fan of the Parisian original: ever since I first reviewed it, I've had it near the top of my list of overhyped, overpriced, and massively snobby attitudes all around. (Not that unusual for Paris, but still.) To my considerable chagrin, At Sloane handily fits that description as well. And unlike Paris, London's other five-stars are mostly exceptionally welcoming, not haughty. The property's design has almost nothing in common with the Hotel Costes: it's quintessentially English, and I'm assuming intentionally far less "trendy" than its Parisian sister. Unfortunately it's just as snotty as well – and if there's any other London hotel that charges £600/night for an 18 sq m room (literally labeled as a "Mini" - you can pay £200 more for an extra 4 sq m), I'm unaware of it. Although literally every aspect of the decor is unambiguously stunning, that doesn't make it worth 600 quid a night on the *lowest* end – and that it is not. The hotel's staff in the reception area and restaurant/bar are best described as exceptionally attractive. Unfortunately they're also exceptionally incompetent, and based on a half-dozen stories I've heard from London friends who aren't white, they actively engage in racial profiling. Which is utterly absurd, both in this day & age and in one of Europe's largest melting-pot capitals, and appalling. As for the restaurant: the food is both terrible and absurdly overpriced (even by Parisian standards!), and they actively turn away locals with phony claims that the restaurant or bar is "full." (And said locals are quite posh, given that it's Chelsea, but apparently not hip or young enough for the front desk's standards. Several people I know who were turned away are members of one of London's poshest members clubs.) Almost bizarrely for a new eatery with subpar food, they ask you – quite literally – to move after X amount of time (seemingly an hour for lunch) because they "need the table," even if the restaurant is quite literally almost empty and it's already a prime lunch or dinner hour. This isn't *that* unusual for London – it's the norm at many clubs, and I think it's occurred every single time I've dined at the original Gordon Ramsay – but there's a rather obvious difference a Michelin three-star and a newbie eatery that mostly serves up pretension. The truly ridiculous part is that it's not simply London that has a bumper crop of five-stars; it's that the entire surrounding Chelsea & Knightsbridge area has TONS of them. Two of London's unequivocal best hotels are less than a half-mile away: The Cadogan and The Hari. The latter's the relative bargain of the two – about half the price of At Sloane – but The Cadogan has the type of style
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