The Milestone London Luxury Hotel

Detailed Review

The Milestone Hotel & Apartments is located directly opposite the Royal Family's Kensington Palace and boasts panoramic views of Kensington Gardens and the Royal Parklands. The historic 19th-century hotel is within walking distance to Kensington High Street's elegant shopping district and near The Royal Albert Hall. The West End, London's vibrant and avant-garde theatre district, is just five minutes away by taxi. The award-winning Cheneston's restaurant offers delicious international dishes in luxurious surroundings.

Press Quotes

"The Milestone's beautiful public rooms are awash with fresh flowers, dark woods, antique furnishings, and fabric wallcoverings, creating the cozy atmosphere of a private manor house." Frommer's 08

Independent Reviews

The Milestone Hotel
By Sarah Shuckburgh

One of the Leading Small Hotels of the World, with many international awards for excellence, the Milestone Hotel combines impeccable service with the elegant furnishings of a country house. Its motto is "no request too large, no detail too small" and guests are shamelessly pampered.

Champagne, sherry or green tea is served on arrival. At bedtime, you’ll find a little hardback book on the pillow, a floating votive candle, slippers laid out on a laundered bedside mat, and a hot-water bottle tucked under the duvet. Every afternoon, tea is served in the book-lined drawing room. Sink into plumped cushions and choose homemade scones, tiny sandwiches and cakes from a three-tiered silver cake-stand. For a discreet dinner, you can book the Oratory, screened by a curtained doorway from other diners in the Cheniston restaurant.

The head chef - Silvia Bellinato - combines the rustic cooking of her native Italy with traditional English dishes. Later, you could order a midnight feast of roast poussins, Cornish pasties, foie gras d’oie and brioche, creme brulee, fudge and champagne. Twenty-four hour butler service is included in all suites, and can be requested in other rooms.

Bea Tollman, the owner, has designed each room herself, with great panache and attention to detail, creating immaculate cocoons of plush and chintz, tassels and brocade, themed mixtures of fabrics, pictures and knick-knacks, and vases of fresh flowers. This is not a hotel for those who like minimalism or bare walls.

Regular guests become attached to particular rooms, and it is easy to see why. Each room is unique. From the airy Viscount Suite on the fourth floor you can gaze at Kensington Gardens through original 19th century leaded windows, or recline on the kingsize four-poster bed in the afternoon sunshine. The Safari Suite is tented and draped with animal prints, and has rugs and ornaments from Africa. Under the eaves is the romantic Paris Studio, with jacuzzi bath, and peaceful views of Kensington Gardens through double-glazed windows. Room 507, one of the cheapest, is high up in a Dutch gable. Sitting at the leather-topped desk at the circular window, with gentle breezes wafting from the roof-lights on each side, you can look out across the park to Kensington Palace. Or you could rent a luxurious apartment with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, kitchen and sitting room - if you don’t want to cook, just order meals and a butler from the hotel.

The hotel was originally two Victorian townhouses, built in Dutch revival style. The cast iron milestone near the front door survives from a time when London was one and a half miles away. A few minutes’ walk takes you to the shops of Knightsbridge or Kensington High Street, or to the Royal Albert Hall, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Serpentine Gallery. Just across Kensington Gardens are Notting Hill and Portobello Road.

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• The Milestone Hotel and Apartments
  By Angela Moore

  The Milestone Hotel and Apartments takes its name from a cast-iron milestone which still stands in its original position within the hotel’s boundary. The hotel is a marriage of two handsome red brick late Victorian houses, topped off by cupolas, domes and serried ranks of chimneypots. It stands on the westernmost point of Kensington Gardens; many rooms have sweeping views across to the gates of Kensington Palace.
  
  Indoors, it’s easy to see why this is a listed building. In the little Park Lounge excellent period features remain: leaded windows, beautifully sculpted ceilings. It’s plush and cluttered in here: heavy drapes and tapestry-covered chairs, book-lined shelves and little tasseled lamps; ornate gilded frames. Not so much English chic as English tongue-in-chic – but sumptuously comfortable and friendly, with the pleasant murmur of people taking tea.
  
  The racing-themed bar, with its Grand National prints and tartan walls, leads through to the conservatory. In contrast to the rest of the hotel, this is kitted out in dramatic black and white – an airy alternative room in which to have lunch or an evening aperitif. The restaurant, Cheneston’s, has the marvellous addition of a tiny eight-person snug called The Oratory, where – should you so desire – you could dine privately or give a press conference (it is often put to this use.) There’s also tiny basement gym with a resistance swimming pool.
  
  The hotel has 45 rooms, six suites and six apartments attached. All are opulent, strewn with quirky pieces, a mix of antique and repro. Fans of white space and clean lines should go elsewhere. Each room is individually designed, some to a theme, so they vary in décor. Due to the nature of the building they also vary in size and shape, so you might discover an unexpected wrought-iron balcony or a pair of armchairs in an elevated nook. Amenities across all rooms are excellent, from the luxurious marble bathrooms to the hi-tech office facilities; extras include free cellphone rental.
  
  One large room has Kensington Palace views and a Saville Row theme: the walls are covered in sober pinstriped fabric and a half-made suit hangs on a tailor’s mannequin. There are enormous pinking shears displayed on the wall, along with caricatures of besuited Englishmen; furniture includes an antique tailor’s chest. Another room is more feminine, with pale gold walls and a beautiful roll-top bed, swathed in primrose silk.
  
  Suites are also themed; they vary from the split-level Club Suite with a mini-billiards table in the upstairs sitting room to the Tudor Suite, which has a separate salon complete with original Victorian ceiling, a minstrel’s gallery, two working fireplaces and a healthy scattering of sofas.
  
  Perhaps of necessity, with such a variation in room décor, the Milestone has a policy of careful screening of its guests’ preferences. If you have an aversion to tophats, they will not put you in the Ascot Suite; if you’re in town to work, they’ll ensure you get a room with plenty of desk space. You choose from a selection of soaps and repeat guests will find a selection of their favourite CDs and DVDs in their rooms.
  
  Service levels are high across the hotel. You’re encouraged to eat or drink when and where you like; if you feel like a midnight feast, a hamper will be delivered to your room. Maid service is twice a day and the turn-down extends to floating votive candles, hot-water bottles and reading torches. If you book a suite, you get a personal butler, on call 24 hours a day. The hotel prides itself on this sort of highly personal, at-home, just-ask-us service. If you make full use of this, and if you can appreciate the sense of fun about the rooms, odds are you will enjoy the Milestone.

  © Travel Intelligence. All rights reserved

• “It’s all ornate gilding and period furnishings at this sumptuous Kensington boutique hotel near Hyde Park with superior suites.”

  Theatrical and OTT. A tented safari suite, a military room with medals, a Savile Row room of pinstriped dummies - but largely repro rather than original furnishings. Fantastic service helps it lay claim to top league.