Hotel review: An Inspector Calls at... The Savoy, fresh from its £220million makeover

By THE INSPECTOR

Gleaming: The Savoy reopened this week in the wake of a £220million makeover


Almost immediately after booking a room (no easy task if you're looking for a standard double, but you might have more luck with the royal suite at £10,000 a night), someone calls back and says: 'Just want to check whether you'd like still or sparkling water at turn-down, sir.'

'Both, please,' I reply, greedily. 'And is there anything else we can help with before you arrive?'

Well, yes, the neighbours have been irritating, my bike has a flat and I would love someone to fix the tumble dryer.

'Everything's fine.'

The Savoy re-opened this week to thunderous applause. Even before anyone had checked in, there were standing ovations - and that was just on account of its long and colourful history.

But there was also a touch of anxiety about what its principal owner, Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, might have done to the place.

As makeovers go (£220 million is the latest estimate), they don't come much bigger or grander. But, cleverly, some people won't notice any difference at all.

On arrival, it's clear that the carpet in the front hall has gone, replaced by black and white marble tiles, and the 1904 frieze - Bertram Pegram's Idylls Of A Golden Age - has been returned to its original pale green.

'As a way of celebrating the new Savoy, we would like to offer you an upgrade to one of our suites, if that's acceptable,' says the receptionist. Oh, all right then - and we are escorted up to the eighth floor via a wood-panelled, rickety lift, where Salvatore, a butler, is waiting for us.

He shows us into the Noel Coward suite, an art deco one-bedroom apartment with splendid photographs of the great man and views (just about) across the Thames to the National Theatre and Royal Festival Hall.

The windows are disappointingly small and streaked with dirt. And I'm surprised you can't get Sky Sports (but can buy a porn movie). The bathroom is sumptuous, the bed huge and, on the whole, Coward would be chuffed.

Downstairs, there's a long queue outside the famous American Bar, where the original white piano, Terry O'Neill's photos and Hanky Panky cocktails are still very much to the fore.

Along the passage outside is the new 'hotel museum' displaying all kinds of memorabilia, including wonderful photographs of Marilyn Monroe. There's a charming note from Princess Margaret, written to the general manager on July 26, 1951, in which she enthuses: 'Everything was looking tremendously romantic... the gaiety of the cabaret and watching Margot [Fonteyn] trying to keep up her reputation as a dancer with you!'


Room with a view: Guests can see the London Eye from some windows


One big innovation is the Beaufort Bar, next to the Thames Foyer (now with a giant metal gazebo at its centre), built on the hotel's original cabaret stage where George Gershwin used to perform. We are seated at a table bang in the middle and admire the slinky black look, offset by gold leaf in the alcoves and a swanky Murano chandelier. It's a sexy room.

Gordon Ramsay's Savoy Grill won't be open for another few weeks, so you eat in the River Room, which has gone all modern and has horrible piped music. But I like the leopard-print carpet and I love my 'pan-roasted hazelnut crusted scallops', though the 'glazed cheek and belly pork big' is far too fatty. Only two days into its new run, you would expect a theatre such as this to be buzzing and it is.

A cabaret act is in full throttle in the Beaufort Bar and over at the American Bar everyone is defying the national consensus about austerity.

We squeeze in next to a group of five American women, who tell us they'd planned their visit to London to coincide with the re-opening. Their verdict? 'Really neat.'

They would have enjoyed breakfast the next morning - except for the music (frankly, I would rather hear the traffic below on the Embankment). Service is flawless and my poached eggs sitting on a flat mushroom the size of a beer mat are a restorative sight next to some crispy bacon and succulent tomatoes. Very neat indeed.

A hotel can not live on nostalgia alone and Fairmont, which is managing the project, has done this establishment proud. But it's the history and the stories that will draw the crowds.

I like the one about Churchill, who, eating alone in the Grill shortly before the Battle of Britain, beckoned to a member of staff.

Cutting his filet steak in two, he gave one half to the waiter and said: 'Put this in an envelope. We are all in this together.'


Travel Facts

The Savoy
The Strand
London
WC2R OEU
020 7836 4343
www.fairmont.com
Doubles from £350, excluding VAT, room only


source :dailymail