"Not to be outdone by arrivistes thudding onto the top-end scene, the Dorch has been shaking her tail feathers with the biggest refurb in three decades: public spaces supercharged, and two floors of new rooms and suites revealed. Penthouses and a rooftop remain under lock and key until later in 2024. The hotel where Elizabeth Taylor signed her Cleopatra contract in the bath remains out-and-out fabulous—but with a Pierre-Yves Rochon uplift. The Artists’ Bar sparkles with a mirrored ceiling, Lalique crystal pillars girdling the bar, and Liberace’s mirror-ball-clad baby grand. This is the spot for caviar, native oysters, and Petal Head cocktails (Stoli Elit vodka, kumquat, Aperol, and passion fruit) served from a trolley. A hoard of London-centric art glints on the walls: Ann Carrington’s Elizabeth II silhouette in mother-of-pearl buttons, Sue Arrowsmith’s delicate silver leaf with coral branches. Martin Brudnizki’s Vesper Bar invites intimacy with its smoked glass and scalloped armchairs, and the spa (best for Dr. Uliana Gout’s new medical-grade facials) is a pink girly haven. The Grill by Tom Booton, a fun slice of British culinary theater, has a fresh menu; don’t miss the squid bolognese à la Koffmann, given the tick of approval by Pierre Koffmann himself. The new suites have the palettes of an English garden, in leaf green, rose, and heather. If Hôtel Plaza Athénée is the American fantasy of Paris, then this Park Lane dame’s new rooms are the American fantasy of Britishness—one we are happy to buy into. —Lydia Bell Price: Rooms from around $1,146 per nightAddress: 53 Park Ln, London W1K 1QAClosest tube station: Marble Arch" - Condé Nast Traveller, Steve King
