The Ritz London

"You are not booking a business hotel so much as a Piccadilly institution that happens to run a serious dining room and sit one minute from the office district."

Scored on our six-criterion framework, weighted for a business stay. See how we score.

Why book The Ritz London for business?

Book it when the meeting rewards prestige and position over meeting-room square footage. The Ritz opened on Piccadilly in 1906, built by the Swiss hotelier Cesar Ritz, and it remains one of London's most recognised addresses. For a business traveller that recognition is the point: an American client, a family office, or a senior counterpart reads the address instantly, and the hotel sits on the boundary of Mayfair and St James's, where a large share of London's law firms, private banks and family offices keep their offices within a short walk.

The practical case is the location and the rooms you can meet in. Green Park Underground station is about a minute from the door, on the Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee lines, which puts Bond Street, Green Park and Westminster within a few stops and Heathrow on a direct Piccadilly-line ride. Inside, the Palm Court is the room for a coffee or a lighter working meeting, the two-Michelin-star Ritz Restaurant is the room for the deal dinner, and the Rivoli Bar is where the conversation continues afterward. In 2002 The Ritz became the first hotel to be granted a Royal Warrant, for banqueting and catering, which is a fair shorthand for the standard of the kitchens and the service.

Which room should you book?

For a working trip, book a Junior Suite rather than an entry-level room. The Ritz has 111 rooms and 25 suites, all individually decorated in the Louis XVI style, and the standard Superior and Deluxe rooms, while beautifully finished, are on the compact side and give you little space beyond the bed. A Junior Suite adds a separate sitting area where you can take a call, spread out documents, or host a short one-to-one without using the bedroom.

Position matters as much as category. Ask for a room facing Green Park for quiet and daylight rather than one over Piccadilly, which is a busy road. If you are entertaining, the flagship spaces are the Royal, Prince of Wales and Berkeley suites, but those are priced for occasions rather than routine business travel, so most working guests are better served by a Junior Suite at a fraction of the rate. Whatever the category, the Ritz service culture is the constant: the same attentive, formal standard runs from the smallest room to the largest suite.

What is the setting, dining and service like?

The experience is grand, formal and unhurried, which is the appeal and, for some travellers, the catch. The public rooms are the draw: the Palm Court under its gilded decoration for afternoon tea, the Ritz Restaurant with its painted ceiling and garden views, and the intimate Rivoli Bar for cocktails. The Ritz Restaurant holds two Michelin stars under executive chef John Williams and is a destination in its own right, which is unusual for a hotel dining room and a real asset when you want to impress a client without leaving the building.

Service is the other constant. The Ritz runs a deep, traditional service model, with a concierge team used to arranging theatre, cars, restaurant tables and last-minute requests at short notice, which is exactly what a compressed business trip needs. The tone is deferential and precise rather than casual, so if your idea of a good hotel is a relaxed lobby-bar-and-laptop scene, this is not that hotel; if it is polished, discreet, old-school service, few places in London do it better.

What do guests consistently say?

Read across recent guest reviews and a clear pattern emerges. The most consistent praise is for the service and the sense of occasion: guests repeatedly single out the attentiveness of the staff, the ritual of afternoon tea in the Palm Court, and the feeling that the hotel treats a stay as an event rather than a transaction. Business travellers in particular note how smoothly the concierge handles cars, tables and last-minute changes, which is exactly the quality that matters on a compressed trip.

The recurring criticisms are just as consistent, and they track the trade-offs above. Guests frequently mention that entry-level rooms are smaller than the rates suggest, that rooms facing Piccadilly can catch street noise, and that the formality, including the dress code at meals, can feel stiff to anyone expecting a relaxed modern hotel. A number also flag the price as the main reservation, valuing the experience while acknowledging it sits at the very top of the market.

Taken together, the sentiment is that of a hotel people love for what it is rather than what it is not: a grand, traditional London institution with exceptional service and dining, best suited to a traveller who wants precisely that. The complaints are rarely about failures of execution and almost always about the nature of the place, which is a useful signal, because it tells you the risk is a mismatch of expectations rather than a hotel that lets guests down.

What are the honest drawbacks?

The honest cons are about formality, infrastructure and price. First, this is a traditional grand hotel, not a modern business base: there is no large dedicated business centre or casual co-working lounge, and the dress code in the restaurant and Palm Court, jackets for gentlemen and no jeans or trainers, means you cannot roll in from a flight and eat in travel clothes. For some travellers that formality is part of the pleasure; for others it is friction.

Second, one thing you should not plan around: the Ritz Club, the private members' casino that used to sit in the basement, closed permanently in 2020 and has not reopened, so ignore any old guidance that treats it as an after-hours amenity. Third, the historic main dining room has been undergoing restoration, with the Ritz Restaurant operating from a temporary setting, so confirm the current arrangement when you book a client dinner. Fourth, entry-level rooms are compact for the money and Ritz rates sit at the very top of the London market, so on pure value a Junior Suite here costs more than a full suite at many rivals. None of this undermines the hotel; it simply defines who it suits.

How does it compare with other London business hotels?

Against the field, The Ritz competes on prestige, location and dining rather than on meeting-room facilities or modern flexibility. Use the table to place it against three other hotels on our London-for-business list.

If your priority is a recognised Piccadilly address and a serious in-house dinner, the Ritz is the pick. For a riverside base nearer the City see The Savoy; for quieter Mayfair discretion and a spa look at The Connaught or Claridge's.

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