"The Emory is located close to Hyde Park, Harrod's, as well as Hyde Park Corner and Knightsbridge Underground stations. It has a hidden and very discrete courtyard entrance. Its location may not be London's most convenient spot, but is, for sure, one of the city's most prestigious areas with endless shopping opportunities near-by and its streets of surprising cleanliness.
The welcome was mixed: The doormen, who collectively excelled during the entire stay, were amazing and our receptionist friendly. Nevertheless, check-in seemed unprepared. It took forever, also due to technical issues related to the payment system. The front desk team only realized it was the birthday of one of us after quite some time.
Our upgrade related to our Signature booking was not generous at all, with the hotel being empty and higher categories being offered at extra charges. The first room we saw had an integrated shower/ bath tub construction, which we did not like, so another room was found.
Even though pre-communication had been excellent, not all promised items were present: no welcome champagne, no non-alcoholic beer as an add-on as promised, still some nice decoration and a delicious Cédric Grolet cake.
The card did not take note of our birthday though, which reflects a lack of care in preparation.
The new room was spacious with a wonderful bed, a nice living room area, a pleasant, yet small bathroom with excellent bathroom amenities and a great washlet. Still, the bathroom construction was not very convenient, with water flowing from the wet area towards the wooden floor occasionally.
Speaking of the floor: We were surprised at heavy traces on use, such as stains on the wooden floor. Furthermore, mold in one corner of the shower was proof of a lack of care by housekeeping.
The equipment of the free minibar was more than generous with a variety of snacks, spirits, tasty beer and lovely soft drinks. Our tries to customize the minibar were rewarded with varying success. It took quite some time until the team understood that regular drinks and non-alcoholic drinks should be placed in the bar.
There is a butler service at the Emory, providing one complimentary bottle of high-end wine per day and an unpacking and pressing service. This service was initially not explained to us, another reason why we did not feel quite welcome in the beginning. Also, the butlers were either not extraordinarily friendly or did not fully note our requests.
There is a House Car service, serving a 2 mile radius from the hotel, which we used once getting to know the very friendly driver Tony. The distance limit is set rather strictly and bookings in advance are not possible. This reflects another experience we made at the hotel: A lack of flexibility and customer orientation with some matters which cost close to no money, and a massive supply of very expensive goods in the minibar or as presents on the other hand. It felt contradictionary.
After a bumpy start at the first breakfast, we quickly learned to love the really great and attentive breakfast team and the enormous quality of the à-la-carte only breakfast items. The serving of pastries was not transparent, we were eligible for Cédric Grolet pastries, others were not.
The rooftop bar completely blew our minds: Breathtaking views of London, tasty drinks, and the most amazing service Fergus provided, all thumbs up to that!
Two more names that deserve special praise: Eden and Josh, both tried to really make the arrival day's shortcomings forgotten and offered us very generous upgrades, which we ultimately did not accept, as we had already made ourselves comfortable in the original room. From that time on, more personal exchanges evolved and our general feeling towards our stay improved on a daily base. We enjoyed the amenities as well as the atmosphere of the room. And also the very relaxing spa and pool area, which was very calm and of breathtaking design.
In the end, a very friendly and guest-oriented check-out took place. The team had learned about our original frustrations and they made sure to reduce our rate by a full night's rate, once more, a very generous gesture, which we accepted with some hesitation, as our stay had become far better throughout our visit.
In the end, the material supplies felt like overwhelming luxury, yet, the attention to detail in service was missing in many instances, which leaves an overall favourable impression, but fails to meet the full promise of luxury"
A Tripadvisor traveler review
Feb 20, 2026