A butterfly house, ice-cream parlour and in-house plastic surgeon are just a few of the novel features of the 137-bedroom London Syon Park, the new Waldorf Astoria Hotel which opens today in West London.
Situated in the heart of the 200-acre Syon Park, the home of the Duke of Northumberland, the hotel has been developed at a cost of £70m by The Ability Group and is being operated by Hilton Worldwide under its luxury Waldorf Astoria brand.
London Syon Park is the 24th Waldorf Astoria in the world. The others include the Bentley in London, the original Waldorf-Astoria in New York and the Trianon Palace, Versailles, France.
Created by the Gorgeous Group, the food and beverage concepts include the Capability restaurant, which offers a fine-dining British menu and a chef's table in the hotel's greenhouse, the Clubhouse for all-day casual dining, Peacock Alley bar, Brownie's Sundae Bar, offering a selection of sweet treats from the pastry kitchen, and the Sun Deck terrace for summer barbecues.
The hotel's spa, Kallima, offers 11 treatment rooms and the services of cosmetic surgeon Alex Kardis, who will be running non-surgical treatments.
Among the 200 staff at the property is a first for a British hotel - a butterfly keeper, who will look after the 250 butterflies which are a focal point of the entrance lobby.
Other key members of staff include the general manager, Dale MacPhee, was who previously general manager of the Trafalgar hotel, London, and executive chef Lee Streeton, who joins the hotel from Brown's Hotel, London.
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By Janet Harmer
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