Claridge's London: Rooms, Rates and Our Honest Review

There has been a hotel at 51 Brook Street since James Mivart opened one in 1812, and it has been Claridge's since 1856. Richard D'Oyly Carte bought it in 1893 and reopened it in 1898 after C.W. Stephens' redesign; the ballroom arrived in 1929, and Oswald Milne gave the lobby its Art Deco look. Today it is the flagship of Maybourne: Forbes Five-Star, Three MICHELIN Keys and No. 13 in The 50 Best Hotels 2026, up from No. 16 in 2025, when Maybourne called it the highest-ranked hotel in the UK.

Recent years have been about digging down and opening up. A five-floor basement now holds Claridge's Spa, with a heated pool under a multi-vaulted ceiling, plus a gym, the wine cellar and the kitchen; Blair Associates restored the ballroom in 2021; and John Pawson's ArtSpace Café opened in 2023. Then the dining room changed hands. Claridge's Restaurant closed after its final service on 10 May 2026, and in mid-June it reopened as Dante Mayfair, a permanent restaurant and bar run by Linden Pride and Nathalie Hudson of New York's Dante, a year after their summer residency, Dante Takes Claridge's.

Rooms, Restaurants and Bars

Michelin counts 269 rooms. The suites are the work of leading designers, topped by The Penthouse by Rémi Tessier, and the public rooms are the ones people picture: a Chihuly chandelier in the Foyer, where afternoon tea is served along with the Reading Room, and the designer-dressed Christmas tree each winter.

For a drink there is Claridge's Bar, the Fumoir and the Painter's Room, as well as the bar at Dante Mayfair, the restaurant and bar that has replaced the old dining room (Michelin lists it without a star). Claridge's Bakery and the ArtSpace Café cover the daytime. The only Michelin-starred table anywhere in Maybourne in 2026 is across Mayfair at the Connaught: Hélène Darroze, with three stars.

Claridge's by Our Numbers

On 1 October 2026 we priced Claridge's through our own booking engine (the one behind hotels.biirdee.com) on the same four stays we checked at every hotel, 10–13 Nov 2026, 27–30 Dec 2026, 12–15 Mar 2027 and 15–18 Jul 2027, plus a two-night midweek stay in every month of the coming year, and we scored its 100 most recent verified guest reviews ourselves. Rates are the lowest per night the engine charged at booking; taxes the hotel collects at checkout are extra. Live rates change daily, so treat these as the rates on 1 October 2026.

What the Numbers Say

Claridge's has two price seasons on our numbers. For most of the year it is unusually flat, $1,238–1,239 a night in every month we could price from January to April and from July to September. Then the festive season lifts the floor to $2,036–2,039 in November and December; December's $2,039 is 65% above January's $1,238. May, June and October 2027 showed no rooms on our engine; if you want early summer, ask us early (the Claridge's stay our desk booked over the past year was in early summer).

The reviews explain the 9.21. Service dominates them, coming up in 63% of written reviews, and those reviews average 8.83, below the hotel's overall score: at Claridge's, service is where stays go wrong as well as right. Breakfast (16%) also averages 8.83, while food in general (18%) scores a healthier 9.43. The sharpest signal is noise: the 8% of reviews that mention it average just 5.67, so ask us to request a quiet room. And the few that mention upgrades (5%) average 3.5, so don't plan the stay around one.

Couples write 68% of the reviews, the highest share at any Maybourne hotel, and the inventory on our engine suits them: one or two room categories (Superior and Mayfair rooms) and no suites on any of our dates. For suites, connecting rooms or the Penthouse, book through us and we will request them from the hotel.

Claridge's is ninth of the 14 luxury hotels we scored in London and third of Maybourne's four there, behind the Connaught and the Emory (on only 43 reviews) and just ahead of the Berkeley. What holds it back is the tail: 89% of its guests scored 9 or more, more than at the Dorchester (82%) or the Lanesborough (86%), but 8% scored under 7.

On price it depends on the season. In November its $1,626 was second only to the Peninsula London ($1,675) among the hotels in the table; in March its $1,239 was below both the Peninsula ($1,251) and the Dorchester ($1,372); and in July the same $1,239 was the lowest rate in the table, under the Lanesborough ($1,292), the Cadogan ($1,453) and the Dorchester ($1,667). For the full head to head with its Maybourne siblings, see Claridge's vs the Connaught vs the Berkeley.

What Our Desk Books Here

Claridge's is among the Maybourne hotels our desk books most. Over the past year that meant an extended, multi-room early-summer stay, with entry rooms at about $800–1,100 a night, taxes in, on the stay we booked. London stays are short for our clients: our Claridge's and Connaught bookings average about 1.3 nights each.

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