UNITED STATES
CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO
MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL

‘Welcome home.’ The note from the manager waiting for me in my suite said it all, really. There on the desk was the writing paper, printed with my name. On the bed was the pillow, embroidered with a ‘B’, in honour of my family name. Such courtesy and kindness did, indeed, make me feel welcome and at home. One of the books on the coffee table was entitled The World’s Best Hotels. It included the hostelry at which I had just arrived. As Julius Caesar nearly said in his famous message from Gaul: Veni. Vidi. Concordavi. I came. I saw. I concurred. For, in very truth, the Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco is undoubtedly one of the best hotels in the world.

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UNTIED STATES
CALIFORNIA
CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA
L’AUBERGE CARMEL & RESTAURANT AUBERGINE
CANTINETTA LUCA
BOUCHÉE CARMEL

Nothing succeeds like excess. And when that excess is of the talents of an hotelier, restaurateur and host, the result is a good deed in a naughty world. Actually, I should say several good deeds, for the talented gentleman in question has given the exquisite little town of Carmel-by-the-Sea not only a lovely place in which to lay one’s head, but also three very good restaurants. Indeed, the blessings multiply further – for his wife is a talented designer (and singer, as I discovered when I joined the happy pair for cocktails one evening) and has imparted her gracious style to the enterprises. They deserve to be called Mr and Mrs Carmel. In fact, they are David and Kathleen Fink, and I am delighted to bring before you their picture. I have recently spent my 60th birthday at their hotel, and I cannot think of anywhere I would rather have spent this significant anniversary.

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UNITED KINGDOM
LONDON
MANDARIN ORIENTAL HYDE PARK HOTEL

From the moment it opened in 1902, there has never been any doubt about the status of the Hyde Park Hotel as one of London’s finest hostelries. The building began life in 1889 as a combination of residential block and gentleman’s club, and its erection was not without controversy. To the folk of the day, its height was startling, particularly given its location – overlooking a Royal park – and questions were asked in Parliament about its propriety. But an aura of respectability was quickly secured. Soon the great Franco-Flemish pile on Knightsbridge was welcoming the great and the good from all over Europe, and the architects of The Ritz, Charles Mewès and Arthur Davis, added their own touch of glamour in the 1920s by remodelling some of the public rooms in their distinctive Louis XV style. Indeed, so much a favourite of the Establishment did the hotel become that it is reliably reported that The Queen and Princess Margaret first learned to dance within its walls.

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