The Dorchester, London: Rooms, Rates and Our Honest Review

The Dorchester, the London flagship of Dorchester Collection, opened in 1931 on Park Lane, facing Hyde Park. It holds a Forbes Five-Star rating and Two MICHELIN Keys in 2026, and its restaurant, Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester, holds three MICHELIN stars. On our numbers it is a very good hotel at a top-of-the-market price. Its 100 most recent guests scored it 9.26 out of 10, 10th of the 16 London luxury hotels we scored, and it was among the most expensive in London on every stay we priced: $1,372–1,957 a night, room only, before about $259–314 a night collected at the hotel on three of our four stays.

Our verdict: book it for a family trip or a classic grand-hotel stay, which is where its reviews are strongest. Families write 37% of them, and guests who mention children, breakfast or an upgrade scored it between 9.42 and 9.8. If what you want is the happiest guests in Mayfair for the money, the scores point elsewhere: the Connaught (9.79), the Cadogan (9.48) and 45 Park Lane next door (9.39) all scored higher, and the last two cost less on every date they had rooms.

The Dorchester by Our Numbers

On 1 October 2026 we priced the Dorchester through our own booking engine (the one behind hotels.biirdee.com) on the same four stays we check at every hotel, 10–13 Nov 2026, 27–30 Dec 2026, 12–15 Mar 2027 and 15–18 Jul 2027, two adults, lowest rate per night, plus a two-night midweek stay (Tuesday to Thursday of the third week) in every month of the coming year. Taxes the hotel collects at checkout are extra. We also scored its 100 most recent verified guest reviews ourselves: the mean out of 10, the share scoring 9 or more and the share under 7.

What the Scores Say

Service carries the Dorchester's reviews: 77% of written reviews mention it, and those averaged 9.4, above the hotel's overall 9.26. Food (30% of reviews, 9.33) and breakfast (24%, 9.42) also score above the line, and the one review in ten that mentions an upgrade averaged 9.8. The weak spot is consistency rather than any single topic: 11% of recent guests scored a stay under 7, against 1% at the Connaught and 5% at 45 Park Lane. Of the 16 London hotels we scored, only Rosewood London (14%) and Mandarin Oriental Mayfair (13.7%) had a larger share of unhappy guests; Four Seasons at Park Lane had the same 11%.

Who stays helps explain the hotel. Families wrote 37% of its recent reviews, more than couples (36%) and far more than at the Connaught (11%) or Claridge's (15%), and reviews that mention children averaged 9.75. Over its whole history on our platform, 192 reviews, the Dorchester averages 9.4.

March is the month to aim for: a midweek night cost $1,315, against $1,944 in the third week of November, a 48% spread. September ($1,526) and May ($1,599) are the next-best months, and summer holds steady at $1,831–1,855 from June to August. Our engine had no rooms in January, February or October 2027; we found no seasonal closure, so for those months a rate comes on request. Dates within a month matter too: our 10–13 November test stay was $1,569 a night, well below the $1,944 for the third week of the same month.

The Dorchester or Its Rivals?

Next door, 45 Park Lane is the obvious alternative and, on reviews, the stronger one: 9.39 across its last 100 reviews (December 2023 to August 2026, an older window), with 93% of guests scoring 9 or more and 5% under 7, and service mentioned in 67% of written reviews at an average of 9.79. It also cost less on the two stays where it had rooms: $1,522 against $1,569 in November and $1,660 against $1,957 at New Year, for a Park View Studio. The catches are availability and flexibility. Our engine had no rooms there after December, and on those two stays the only refundable option was the London Balcony Suite, at $4,015–4,288 a night.

Across London, the Dorchester charges top-of-market rates without top-of-market scores. In March it was the dearest London hotel we priced apart from the Chancery Rosewood, which has a single review on our platform; at New Year and in July only the Chancery and Mandarin Oriental Mayfair cost more. Three higher-scoring hotels cost less on every one of our dates: Raffles London at The OWO (9.54, $1,072–1,479), the Cadogan (9.48, $714–1,453) and the Lanesborough (9.42, $975–1,394). The Connaught (9.79) had no rooms on our engine at all. For the Mayfair classics, see our guides to the Connaught, Claridge's and the Berkeley; for the other big names, the Peninsula London, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park and Rosewood London. On MICHELIN Keys, the Dorchester holds Two; Claridge's, the Connaught, the Peninsula London and Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park hold Three.

Rooms, Dining and the Spa

The Dorchester's ground floor reopened in January 2023 after the hotel's largest project in more than 30 years, designed by Pierre-Yves Rochon and Martin Brudnizki: the lobby and The Promenade were redone, the James Bond-themed Vesper Bar replaced The Bar at The Dorchester, and the new Artists' Bar is home to Liberace's mirrored piano. Forbes describes the refreshed rooms in "shimmering shades of silver and rust", with an Art Deco feel, and singles out the Roof Suites for their large balconies over Hyde Park.

Dining is the headline. Alain Ducasse at The Dorchester holds three MICHELIN stars in the 2026 Great Britain and Ireland guide, its tenth year at three stars under executive chef Jean-Philippe Blondet. Around it sit The Grill at The Dorchester, China Tang (Art Deco Cantonese), afternoon tea with live music in The Promenade, and the Vesper Bar. The Dorchester Spa is rated Four-Star by Forbes for 2026.

On our engine, the entry room is a Superior double, the cheapest rate on all four of our stays. The first suite up is a Junior Suite, which ran from $1,933 a night in March to $3,056 in November. The dearest key on our dates was a park-view Deluxe King suite with breakfast at $9,978 a night over New Year, and the Regal Suite was $8,296 in November.

Choice thins out for 2027. Our engine offered 13 room types for the November stay and 12 at New Year, but only 4 for March and 3 for July, with no breakfast or refundable rate on either. If a particular suite or a flexible rate matters for spring or summer 2027, ask early rather than waiting for the engine to fill in.

What Our Desk Sees

Our desk's recent Dorchester Collection bookings were at Hôtel Plaza Athénée, the Principe di Savoia and the Beverly Hills Hotel, all short stays of one to two nights. In London, Claridge's and the Connaught are among the most-booked hotels on our desk, and those stays are short too, about 1.3 nights on average. For what the whole collection costs month by month, see our Dorchester Collection prices page; for the brands side by side, Maybourne vs Dorchester Collection.

The Dorchester FAQs