Lockdown Leader: The Lanesborough Hotel
The illustrious Knightsbridge establishment is encouraging people to nominate a NHS Member of Staff for receipt of prizes ranging from an afternoon tea experience to drinks in The Library Bar, via spa treatments and overnight stays.
Given that the Oetker Collection’s portfolio of global hotels includes Le Bristol Paris, Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc and Brenners Park-Hotel & Spa in Baden-Baden, to call the group ‘prestigious’ would be some understatement. Now, though, one of the most sparkling jewels in the group’s crown, The Lanesborough, is drawing plaudits for reasons beyond hospitality excellence, by offering healthcare workers a complimentary gift once industry restrictions have been eased.
Each Friday since the start of lockdown, The Lanesborough has been picking out a lucky winner from public nominations of heroic healthcare workers to enjoy a different experience from the hotels repertoire of treats. Winners are announced each week on Instagram.
Whilst most prize-clinchers will get to indulge in their gift once restrictions are lifted, recipients of the first honours - the NHS staff of St George’s Hospital, Tooting - got to partake in a Peggy Porschen Afternoon Tea on St George’s Day, Thursday 23 April (think savoury finger sandwiches, scones, the hotel’s signature ‘Peggy’s Pink Pavlova’, lemon and elderflower tartlet, strawberry and Champagne cupcake and so on).
Other winners will enjoy drinks in the cosy but vibrant ambiance of The Library Bar – a veritable “liquid museum” of spirits including cognacs dating back to the 1770s, and a place where mixology is taken to intoxicating levels by award-winning experts including Bar Manager Mickael Perron and Head Bartender Sofiane Barthélémy.
Some pampering in The Lanesborough Club & Spa, a subterranean haven in which treatments by Tata Harper (aka the ‘Queen of Green’, thanks to the authentically organic nature of the products) include facial cupping, Japanese massage and a singing bowl ritual, have also been offered up, while other care workers awarded the weekly prize will be rewarded with a full night’s stay in a hotel, nestling opposite Hyde Park and within easy reach of both Knightsbridge and Oxford Street, in which all rooms come with butlers.
The last prize will be given out will be on next Friday 26 June, so submit your nominee here if you know a healthcare hero who makes the grade.
In a separate initiative to support the aforementioned hospital specifically, The Lanesborough is also channelling public donations to St George’s Coronavirus Appeal, and pledging to donate 10 per cent of any gift vouchers purchased until 4 July 2020, while also delivering boxes of afternoon tea to a hospital with whom it shares an emotional affinity.
Why? Because the building on Hyde Park Corner, which became The Lanesbrough on New Year’s Eve 1991, was, from 1733 when it was founded by a group of physicians, the site of St George’s Hospital. And there’s nothing like shared historical heritage to get Londoners pulling in the same direction in a good cause.
These initiatives see The Lanesbrough join Claridge's (which has welcomed around 40 key workers into suites which usually start from £650 per night) since early April; The Rosewood (which has been delivering meals to staff at Great Ormond Street Hospital) and The Berkeley (which has been running a drive-through service for London Emergency Services, serving around 250 meals per day) in the luxury London hospitality scene’s sterling efforts to help those who, in a time of such unprecedented crisis, are helping the wider public the most.