MEET YOUR GUIDE
Here’s a fab interview with Andy Hotels Makes for a fascinating – and illuminating – backgrounder for this walk.
This is a standalone walk. It can be enjoyed before or after its complementary walk: Untold Stories of London’s Luxury Hotels.
New York Times First
“London Walks puts you into the hands of an expert on the particular area and topic of a tour.” The New York Times
Guide Next
It all comes down to the guiding. Andy – we call him Andy Hotels – is an acknowledged expert on luxury hotels and the golden age of travel. The official historian of Brown’s Hotel, Andy Hotels is the author of the definitive histories of Brown’s and The Savoy. No surprise then that he’s the go-to expert for television documentaries and radio interviews on the subject.
The Walk
Let us go then, you and I and Andy Hotels, up the red carpet and through the portals into the world of white glove service. The walk is your Platinum Pass to what goes on behind the gilded doors and top-hatted doormen of the city’s luxury living quarters. It’s your entrée to a cast of characters more intriguing than a novel by frequent guest Agatha Christie, from royals to roués, writers to rakes, bon vivants to bankrupts…let alone con artists and crooks, spies and war criminals, actors and musicians, upstairs and downstairs.
We stop by the capital’s finest stopping places during the golden age of luxury hotels. Learn about Oscar Wilde’s fall from grace, Rudyard Kipling dying at his desk and Stephen King’s resulting Misery, Britain’s first phone call, King Zog of Albania checking in with the crown jewels, the world’s greatest chef creating culinary classics, the mystery of the body in the bathtub, the nervous breakdown of the world’s greatest hotelier, Bob Dylan writing lyrics on his dry cleaning inserts and King Charles going public with Camilla. And that’s just for starters.
Yes, welcome to our new five-star walk. Five-star in every respect.
A Smoking Cocktail of a Walk
Ian –
Entertaining, informative and lots of fun. Thoroughly enjoyed Mr Hotels tour of London’s grand hotels and giving us an insite into an exotic world of luxury and opulence. If only he’d arrived on a baby elephant. (Go on the tour to understand the reference)
Carrie –
What a brilliant walk! Andy is a fantastic guide with a wealth of knowledge about London hotels and their history. An outstanding and amusing speaker- thoroughly recommend.
Janice Elias –
Andy is a very knowledgable guide with very cheerful and friendly presentation skills.
Lorraine –
Very interesting walk, Andy was extremely knowledgeable with the history of the hotels, he had a harder job than normal as huge crowds around as the end of the marathon so very noisy but he made sure we could all hear him, highly recommend this walk
Maeve OConnor –
Good evening, Maeve. Gosh, your review is vituperative… So steady as she goes, I’m walking on eggs here. First of all, I hope you’re feeling better. A hope offered up in the spirit of that Maori proverb, “turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.” Closer to home – and slightly paraphrasing her – Charlotte Bronte put it so well when she said, “a ruffled mind makes a restless [pillow] review.” Two weeks on and all passion spent I hope you’ll agree that taking Andy to task “for his very irritating delivery of information” cannot be squared with “we couldn’t hear anything he said.” If he “delivered information”, however irritating you found his delivery, then, by definition, you did hear what he said. And surely what follows from that is your charge that you “couldn’t hear anything he said” is unfounded. In that same vein, “some hotels are not actually there”…are you seriously suggesting that guides – that people – should only talk about what is there today, before our eyes? If I go on a tour of the Place de la Revolution in Paris, I want the guide to talk about the Bastille and the guillotine and the condemned in the death carts and the howling, bloodthirsty mob. I want to see those things in my mind’s eye. I do not want – or need – the guide to tell me what’s right there in front of my eyes today, in the Spring of 2025. To bring the guillotine down on seeing with the mind’s eye is surely to be blind. Lewis Corry ends that marvelous poem of his by saying, “it is a wonderful thing to fly and there is no greater occasion than being alive.” I would say “it’s a wonderful thing to see with the mind’s eye and there is no greater occasion than being alive.” To not see with the mind’s eye is to be blind – and indeed maybe not to be fully alive. Finally, just as I’m sure you’re not “dreadful”, neither is Andy. No, not quite finally. Apart from yours, Maeve, Andy’s had nothing but rave reviews. Indeed, Lorraine T. reviewed the same walk you were on. Lorraine was facing the sun. She said, “it was very noisy but Andy made sure we could all hear him.”
Okay, your review follows, Maeve:
Avoid this guide and this tour . Long winded rambling , very irritating delivery of information , some “hotels” are scaffolding and are not actually there anymore , the guy led us through the crowds from the London marathon which meant we couldnt hear anything he said with screaming babies etc. And yes I know he couldn’t do much about the noise but I would think a professional guide would maybe plan differently for a day with massive crowds and either not run the thing or change his route . This walk is a waste of time and the guide is just dreadful . I left early because I was utterly disgusted .
Catherine Makepeace –
Great walk. Great guide.
Sue –
Auguste Escoffier, Cesar Ritz, Richard D’Oyly Carte, The Count of Savoie, all present and correct on a sunny Sunday morning, a short stumble from Brown’s. Add to the mix James and Sarah, Henry Ford (no not the one of black car fame), King Zog and the Albanian crown jewels, FDR, first telephone calls, a Venetian film set, rising rooms, and heaven forbid en suite bath rooms and electricity. Wow, how the other half lived! A thought to ponder, where did Margaret Thatcher meet Rudyard Kipling?
From revolting peasants to wayward writers, con men, thieves, artists and possibly the most prolific English female serial killer, up from Devon checking in, this walk has them all. To finish the feast, a fine Peach Melba. Amongst all of this intrigue, beware of a chap called Andy Hotels, now that really is a name to conjure with, jokes and all.
Wendy –
A thoroughly entertaining walk. Andy is a great guide and was so helpful when, thanks to travel hold-ups, we thought we weren’t going to make it. Highly recommend this tour.
Steve B –
A unique tour with a very knowledgeable guide! Recommended for anyone.
Harriet Calvert –
This is the best London Walk so far. I love hotels and it was great to hear from Andy some of the stories connected to them. When a member of the group asked a question he would then turn to the rest of us :I have been asked…” This was wonderful and the first time I’ve encountered it on a walk. I will go on any of his further walks. I liked his jokes.