Michelle Harbi HILTON LONDON BANKSIDE
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THIS £120 MILLION NEW-BUILD, with its brutalist-inspired architecture and graffiti art by UK artist Niki Hare, are certainly not those of your typical Hilton. Opened in October last year, the hotel is a five-minute walk from Southwark Underground station and ten minutes from both London Bridge and Waterloo stations.
ROOMS: There are 292 rooms, including 26 suites, with entry-level King and Twin Guest rooms measuring 30sqm. The next level up, Deluxe, offers either more space or better views. Executive rooms come with access to the stylish ground-floor Club lounge, which serves complimentary breakfast, drinks and snacks. Standard amenities include free wifi, 42in TVs, desks with media hubs, fridges with free bottled water and soft drinks, tea and coffee facilities, robes, safes and iron/ironing boards. The sleek marble bathrooms have walk-in rainshowers or combined tubs/ showers, plus Peter Thomas Roth products. The decor is attractive and quite masculine, in shades of grey, brown and dark green with smoked-glass and
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leather touches. My room had a fairly narrow window looking down into the inner courtyard and across the surrounding rooftops, but some upper-floor rooms offer views of the Shard and Tate Modern. RESTAURANTS AND BARS: The strong focus on design is continued in the gentlemen’s club-style Distillery bar and industrial-chic Oxbo Bankside restaurant. I was impressed by Oxbo, which serves an all-day menu big on steaks, fish and seafood – I had a terrific lobster cooked on the open kitchen’s Josper grill. Many ingredients are sourced from nearby Borough Market. Service was excellent, although the breakfast buffet was a little chaotic. The Distillery serves good cocktails, 50 types of gin and its own beer on tap.
MEETINGS FACILITIES: There is more than 1,000sqm of event space across the two levels below ground, including a 700-capacity double- height ballroom. LEISURE FACILITIES: Also below ground are a 17-metre swimming pool – always nice to find in a London hotel, and lovely for an early-morning dip – and a gym. VERDICT An excellent addition to Hilton Worldwide’s stable of London properties. It’s good to see the group’s flagship brand taking more risks with design, and it has paid off here – it looks great, while at the same time providing the standards of comfort and service that Hilton is known for. A strong food and drink offering, too.
Tom Otley ALILA DIWA GOA
48/10 Village Majorda, Adao Waddo, Salcette, Goa 403713, India
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OPENED IN 2009, THIS IS A DESIGN-LED PROPERTY, very different from other five-star resorts along the Goa coast, and with a clear focus on the corporate meetings market as well as leisure. It is on the edge of a village with views out across paddy fields, and is about 25 minutes’ drive from Goa International airport.
ROOMS: The 153 rooms come in a number of different categories. Entry level rooms are 44sqm with terraces overlooking the gardens. All rooms have free wifi, but this is very slow and to do any work I had to use my phone’s mobile roaming as a wifi hotspot to download emails to my laptop. There are also 30-plus rooms in the Club (the resort within a resort) which has its own pool and Bistro restaurant. RESTAURANTS AND BARS: The hotel’s restaurants include the all-day dining Vivo overlooking the pool, which has a huge range of Indian and
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international cuisine for breakfast and throughout the day. The signature restaurant is Spice Studio, which is on an elevated platform built around and under an old banyan tree, and has a choice of Indian cuisine from every region of the country. The restaurant also offers a masterclass with the chef to learn about signature Indian delicacies and cooking techniques. There is also the Edge Bar and Lounge, which is a real designer treat – and has an almost nightclub feel to it. MEETINGS FACILITIES: The pillarless hall can take groups
of up to 100 for a banquet, and looks out on to a grassed private events lawn. LEISURE FACILITIES: For a small resort, the leisure facilities are impressive. As well as the infinity and children’s pools, there’s another up at the Club. The Spa Alila has two double treatment rooms, two Ayurveda rooms and five single treatment rooms, each equipped with individual steam room, shower and outdoor patio with daybed. Two of the double rooms have a private Jacuzzi and chilled shower. Spa facilities also include a sauna and a well-equipped gym with a
sensational view over rice fields, as well as an upstairs yoga studio, a relaxation lounge and a retail outlet. VERDICT: The design of this hotel is lovely. Alila means ‘surprise’ in Sanskrit, and it was a surprise: it has a very international clientele – a lot of Europeans, but also family groups visiting friends and relatives – and it mixes a five-star aesthetic with genuine Indian hospitality. The brand has a lot of properties slated to open across Asia, and is definitely one to consider. It is also part of the Global Hotel Alliance.
BBT MARCH/APRIL 2016 115
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