Savoy to sparkle once again

London's famous landmark Savoy hotel http://www.the-savoy.com/ is set to open it's doors again after a massive and financially eye-watering £220 million refurbishment and two and a half years.

The hotel first opened in 1889 and was the capital's first luxury hotel but the years gradually took their toll and years of little investment saw the hotel lose its crown of the glory days and the grand hotels in Mayfair including Grosvenor House, Dorchester and Claridges became more favourable.

The history behind the hotel however can not be matched, the hotel was the first to have electricity, electric lifts known as 'ascending rooms', air-conditioning, private bathrooms and hot and cold running water. Not suprisingly the Savoy was able to attract a whole host of famous and influential guests from Winston Churchill, Coco Chanel and Oscar Wilde not to mention Monet and Whistler who both painted views of the Thames from their rooms.

 The scale and detail of the project has been astonishing with nearly 1000 craftsmen, artists and builders working on the project designed by Pierre Yves Rochons. Lets hope the sparkling new 268 bedroom hotel will be able to recreate the glory days as with an £800,000 cost of refurbishment per room and reporteldy going £100 million over budget it certainly hasn't come cheap.